Los Angeles, CA

The SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL announced their 24th addition of Beyond and Short programs this week.  Each of the films were selected from a very competitive and large pool of submissions which include the return of some  Alumni in the Beyond lineup.  Each film is presented by emerging filmmakers that are primarily heading in to their sophomore film.

“The films in the Beyond Program exhibit singular directorial vision while sharing a common commitment to challenge audiences to step outside their comfort zones,” says Slamdance Beyond programmer, Josh Mandel. “These bold and adventurous filmmakers represent the most current voices in American independent film, and will continue to push boundaries in the years ahead.”

Slamdance 2018 will showcase a short film lineup made up of productions from 26 countries, including: North America (US+Canada), Iran and beyond.

Short Films  in the Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Anarchy and Experimental sections are all eligible for the 2018 Oscar® Qualifying Shorts competition.

Anarchy Shorts ushers in another year of incendiary works of cinema.  “The Department of Anarchy has curated a diverse program of sublime, dangerous, and deviant films that provide shock therapy to the soul.” says Anarchy Shorts programmer, Noel Lawrence. “We hope to provoke, challenge, and enlighten audiences by smashing the status quo on any and all levels.”

Narrative Shorts programmer Taylor Miller had this to say. “In the spirit of Slamdance as an alternative film festival, this year’s slate of narrative shorts contains many films that challenge our conceptions of what constitutes a narrative, what stories are capable of, and what stories are for. We also have embraced works displaying unique talents and voices working in a raw, unpolished filmmaking style. We believe that once again Slamdance will be a place to find vital and bold works valued over short attempts to replicate mainstream accessibility.”

BEYOND PROGRAM

Back at the Staircase
(USA) World Premiere – 77 minutes
Director: Drew Britton

Synopsis: Distant siblings are unexpectedly tasked with planning for the future after their elderly mother suffers a life-threatening accident on the eve of her milestone birthday party.
Cast: Jennifer Lafleur, Stephen Plunkett, Leonora Pitts, Mickey O’Hagan, Logan Lark, Heather LaVine

Funny Story
(USA) World Premiere – 84 minutes
Director: Michael Gallagher

Synopsis: After years of being a neglectful father, a womanizing TV star decides to crash his estranged daughter’s same-sex destination wedding.
Cast: Matthew Glave, Emily Bett Rickards, Jana Winternitz, Nikki Limo, Lily Holleman, Jessica Diggins, Pete Gardner, Reginald VelJohnson

My Name is Myeisha
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Gus Krieger

Synopsis: A beloved teenager crosses over into a hip-hop-musical dreamscape at the moment of her tragic death and contemplates her life; what it was and what it could have been.
Cast: Rhaechyl Walker, John Merchant, Dominique Toney, Dee Dee Stephens, Yvette Cason, Gregg Daniel

The Rainbow Experiment
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Christina Kallas

Synopsis: An investigation uncovers more than just blame at a Manhattan high school when a science experiment permanently injures a student.
Cast: Chris Beetem, Francis Benhamou, Christian Coulson, Kevin Kane, Nina Mehta, Laura Pruden, Connor Siemer, Lauren Sowa, Swann Gruen, Christine McLaughlin

Savage Youth
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Michael Curtis Johnson

Synopsis: The lives of six troubled teens in a racially-divided small town take a violent turn over drugs and broken hearts. Based on true events.
Cast: Grace Victoria Cox, Tequan Richmond, Will Brittain, Chloe Levine, Mitchell Edwards, J. Michael Trautmann, Sasha Feldman, Tomas Pais

ANARCHY SHORTS PROGRAM

AniMal
(Iran)
Director: Bahram Ark, Bahman Ark

A man disguises himself as a ram to cross a border into another land.
Cast: Davoud Nourpour

Breaker
(Japan)
Director: Philippe McKie

In tomorrow’s Tokyo, the technologically-enhanced body of a young mercenary hacker is overrun by a sentient data weapon.
Cast: Yuka Tomatsu / Arisa Hanzawa / Kazuya Shimizu

Clipping. – “Back Up”
(USA) US Premiere
Director: Anna Zlokovic

An unnamed filmmaker stumbles upon a horrifying discovery—an underground cult-like society where adults have baby faces and milk is the drug of choice.
Cast: Daveed Diggs, Antwon, Signor Benedick The Moor

Information Superhighway
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Mathew Nelson

A man participates in an experiment to test artificial intelligence in driverless cars.
Cast: Luke Banham, Elias Harger, Anna Faye Hunter , Michael Lee

Little Wonder
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jojo Carlman

This refreshing tale of puppet sexuality follows Username: Stray_Cat as he trolls internet dating sites and vaguely meditates on the loneliness of death.
Cast: Christine Moore, Daegan Palmero, Brisco Diggs, and David Breen III

Love After TIme
(Taiwan)
Director: Tsai Tsung-han

After a nuclear explosion, two mutant humans fall in love.
Cast: Lee Hong chi, Nana Lee

Manila Death Squad
(Phillipines, USA)
Director: Dean Colin Marcial

An ambitious journalist challenges the leader of a violent vigilante group to a high-stakes drinking game. Its outcome may score her a scoop… or a bullet to the head.
Cast: Sid Lucero, Annicka Dolonius

The Order of the Orchid
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Alex Italics

A lonely spinster’s failed attempt at arranging flowers summons an ominous shadowy figure that sends her into a psychedelic netherworld to confront her own mediocrity.
Cast: Juliette James, Sean T. Randolph

Santa Ana
(Spain, USA) North American Premiere
Director: César Pesquera

Part art-film, part documentary, Santa Ana aims to elucidate the link between evil and the famed Santa Ana winds, extremely dry down-slope winds in Southern California supposedly responsible for a tense, uneasy, wrathful mood among the people of Los Angeles.

Steve’s Kinkoes
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Emma Debany

A man copies posters for his missing (and dead) cat at an otherworldly 24/7 photocopy shop. What will happen to him if he stays forever?
Cast: Timmy Gibson, Chance Bartels, John Archer Lundgren

Media Inc Magazine again will be covering the Slamdance Film Festival this year leading up to and reporting LIVE on the ground at the Treasure Mountain Inn Headquarters in Park City, UT.

HISTORY OF SLAMDANCE

Founded in 1995 by a group of filmmakers including Dan Mirvish, Peter Baxter, Jon Fitzgerald, Shane Kuhn and co-conspirator Paul Rachman whose own film submissions to the Sundance Film Festival were rejected decided not to get angry but rather even.  The rebellious band of artists decided to set up their own film festival across and up the street at the Treasure Mountain Inn Hotel on Main Street in Park City.

Fast forward just over two decades and Slamdance has now evolved into one of the worlds most iconic film festivals within the true and organic #IndieFilm space.

Slamdance Film Festival discoveries and famous alumni include Seattle Filmmaker Lynn Shelton,  Directors Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy), Steven Sodenbergh (Ocean’s Eleven Trilogy), Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses).