Four Seattle-made films screening at Sundance Film Festival January 20–30

By Seattle Mag January 21, 2011

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It’s time once again for the Sundance Film Festival, that sparkly weekend when Park City, Utah, is overrun with Hollywood hopefuls.

Amid the many allegedly independent films (which nonetheless have mega-budgets and studio support) are some realio-trulio independent films that were made right here in Washington state.

Congrats to all the local filmmakers who won hard-earned spots in the Sundance line-up! Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of these yet (fingers crossed that they’ll screen at SIFF this summer…), but here’s the list, along with quick plot summaries snatched from the Sundance website:

The Off Hours, by Megan Griffiths. In the languid world of the night shift at a highway diner in the Pacific Northwest, Francine’s small-town life consists of quickies in public restrooms and pouring coffee for truckers and townies. Watch the trailer here.

The Catechism Cataclysm, by Todd Rohal. This shish kebab of wild characters melts together stories within stories until the lines between the Bible, Mark Twain, and campfire tales are wiped out, and the viewer is carried down the river into a divinely bizarre and funny tale.

The Oregonian, by Calvin Lee Reeder.
Spend some time with a woman from Oregon who is lost on the road and running away from her past. Now she has a chance to experience everything the grotesque Northwest has to offer, whether she likes it or not. Ed’s note: this looks tres scary! Watch the trailer here, if you dare.

The Details, by Jacob Aaron Estes. After 10 years of marriage, Jeff and Nealy have a young son, an idyllic suburban life, and a marriage that’s stuck. Accordingly, Jeff decides to plant a perfect backyard lawn. Enter the raccoons, who repeatedly tear up his grass. When Jeff tries to eradicate these meddlesome vandals, his efforts initiate a bewildering chain reaction involving a crazy cat lady, multiple infidelities, extortion, organ donation, and somebody on the wrong end of a bow and arrow. Ed’s note: This is the “biggest” film of the bunch, shot in Montlake and starring Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert and Kerry Washington.

 

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