Artsies:
The Homesman – 2 1/2 stars (Rated R)
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Actors: Tommy Lee Jones,Hilary Swank, Grace Gummer
Three women who have been driven mad by pioneer life are to be transported across the country by covered wagon by the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy, who in turn employs low-life drifter George Briggs to assist her.
Sundance shorts on tour – 3 stars (Rated R)
Showcasing a wide variety of story and style, the Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour is a theatrical program of eight short films from the 2014 edition of the January Festival, which over the course of its 30-year history has been widely considered the premiere showcase for short films and the launchpad for careers of many now-prominent independent filmmakers. With both fiction and documentary, the diverse 2014 program ranges from beautiful insight and the struggle to understand life to a hilarious, all-too familiar government deposition.
Afronauts
written and directed by Frances Bodomo. USA, 12 minutes.
It’s July 16, 1969: America is preparing to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of kilometers away, a group of Zambian exiles are trying to beat America to the moon.
The Cut
Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction
written and directed by Geneviève Dulude-Decelles. Canada, 15 minutes.
The Cut tells the story of a father and a daughter, whose relationship fluctuates between proximity and detachment, at the moment of a haircut.
Dawn
directed by Rose McGowan, written by M.A. Fortin, Joshua John Miller. USA, 17 minutes.
Dawn is a quiet young teenager who longs for something or someone to free her from her sheltered life.
I Think This Is the Closest to How the Footage Looked
Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction
directed by Yuval Hameiri, co-director: Michal Vaknin. Israel, 9 minutes.
A man with poor means recreates a lost memory of the last day with his mom. Objects come to life in a desperate struggle to produce a single moment that is gone.
I’m a Mitzvah
directed by Ben Berman, written by Ben Berman, Josh Cohen. USA, 19 minutes.
A young American man spends one last night with his deceased friend while stranded in rural Mexico.
Love. Love. Love.
Short Film Special Jury Award: Non-fiction
directed by Sandhya Daisy Sundaram. Russia, 12 minutes.
Every year, through the endless winters, her love takes new shapes and forms.
MeTube: August Sings Carmen “Habanera”
written and directed by Daniel Moshel. Austria, 5 minutes.
George Bizet`s “Habanera” from Carmen has been reinterpreted and enhanced with electronic sounds for MeTube, a homage to thousands of ambitious YouTube users and video bloggers, and gifted and less gifted self-promoters on the Internet.
Verbatim
directed by Brett Weiner, screenwriter: Court Document. USA, 7 minutes.
A jaded lawyer wastes an afternoon trying to figure out if a dim-witted government employee has ever used a photocopier. All the dialogue in this short comes from an actual deposition filed with the Supreme Court of Ohio.
Fartsies:
The Pyramid — not screened (Rated R)
Director: Grégory Levasseur
Actors: Ashley Hinshaw, James Buckley, Denis O’Hare
An archaeological team attempts to unlock the secrets of a lost pyramid only to find themselves hunted by an insidious creature.
