1997 Slamdance Film Festival Diaries
Official Festival Release
Santa Monica, California, October 28, 1996
The Slamdance Film Festival is returning to Park City, Utah, in January
with a new venue for its third year. Despite the older Sundance Film Festival's
attempt to garner all available screening space in Park City, Slamdance
organizers have managed to establish their biggest presence yet for Slamdance
'97.
"With last year's site - The Yarrow - taken right out from under us
by Sundance, we spent several months searching for an alternative space,
which has tuned out to be a jewel on Main Street," said the Slamdance
Executive Director Jon Fitzgerald. The Treasure Mountain Inn will be Slamdance's
festival headquarters from January 17th through 23rd and will show approximately
45 new works, including features, shorts, documentaries and special screenings.
Once the space was reserved, Slamdance organizers were advised to apply
for the appropriate business license. Eager to work with city officials,
Fitzgerald flew to Park City to meet with the Chief of Police. "After
a lengthy discussion, and a short waiting period, we got word that the required
temporary business license would be granted," said Fitzgerald.
Confirmation of the Treasure Mountain Inn came just in time, as film submissions
have already started pouring into the Slamdance office. Organizers expect
the number of submissions to far exceed the 450 entries submitted to last
year's festival. "The greater number of film submissions speaks volumes.
Now, more than ever, filmmakers need an alternative festival. Slamdance
is that alternative," says Creative Director Peter Baxter.
Slamdance has so far selected two films for its '97 fest. The first is "The
Size of Watermelons", directed by first-timer Kari Skogland, starring
Paul Rudd, Donald Logue, lone Skye, and Donovan Leitch. The project was
not submitted to Sundance. The film, which screened at this year's Independent
Feature Film Film Market, will have it's official North American Premiere
at Slamdance.
The second film selected, "Fall", directed by Eric Schaeffer ("My
Life's In Turnaround"), starring Amanda De Cadenet and Schaeffer, will
have a special screening during the fest. This film was originally submitted
for Sundance, but, once invited to Slamance, it was withdrawn from the other
submission process. Shaeffer says, "Slamdance has a quality, the essence
of indie spirit. They seem to support truly independent films, devoid of
the politics that go on with Sundance."
The final deadline for entries into this years festival is November 8, 1996.
Entry fees range from $20-$50. To receive an application, or to get sponsorship
or volunteer information, please call the Slamdance hotline at (310) 204-7977.
Slamdance's mailing address is: Slamdance International Film Festival, 2633
Lincoln Boulevard, #536, Santa Monica, CA 90405.
A Brief History of the Slam International Film Festival
Slamdance traces it roots to the 1994 Independent Feature Film Market (IFFM),
where a small group of filmmakers met and decided to support one another
on a grassroots level. The first test for their idea (and their solidarity)
came after Sundance announced their list of invited films for the 1995 Festival.
Filmmakers Jon Fitzgerald (SELF-PORTRAIT), Shane Kulin (REDNECK) and Dan
Mirvish (OMAHA: THE MOVIE), all had their films declined by Sundance. Instead
of accepting rejection gracefully, they decided to found an alternative
to Sundance they dubbed: "Slamdance '95 Anarchy in Utah - The First
Annual Guerrilla International Film Festival." They put out word to
other filmmakers and the media. Following an unexpected article on the cover
of Variety, the team quickly assembled a roster of a dozen features and
a dozen more short films - half of each world premieres. All the films were
made by first-time directors, had unknown casts and an aggregate budget
under $1 million.
The premiere Slamdance screenings took place at the University of Utah in
Salt Lake City, concurrent with the Sundance Film Festival in January 1995.
By the second night of the Festival, however, Slamdance organizers found
hotel conference rooms in Park City to screen films - one just thirty feet
down the hall from a Sundance screening room. Slamdance organizers and filmmakers
swapped duties in a uniquely cooperative effort - taking turns running the
projectors and handing out fliers for one another. The event was a success;
most of the films found distribution and all were invited on to other film
festivals.
For 1996, Slamdance expanded considerably while maintaining its unique voice
as a festival organized by filmmakers primarily devoted to first-time directors.
The second year welcomed an astonishing 450 submissions, made on all formats.
Of those, Slamdance chose 12 for a new juried section, and screened a number
of out-of-competition films, foreign features, documentaries, videos, and
shorts, as well tributes to Robert Altman and Roger Corman through the course
of the Festival.
Again held concurrent with the run of Sundance, Slamdance '96 unspooled
in two screening rooms at the Yarrow Hotel in Park City. With Jon Fitzgerald
and producer Peter Baxter sharing the helm, Slamdance '96 burgeoned to include
an interactive film market, web site, and a staff of twenty volunteers.
Although still a no-budget effort, the festival program featured advertising
and sponsorship from Panavision, Thrifty Car Rental, 4 Media and Film Finders.
Most evening screenings sold out and attracted distributors, agents, producers
and media.
1996's Grand Jury Prize went to Greg Mottolla's THE DAYTRIPPERS, produced
by Stephen Soderbergh, which went on to screen during the Semaine des Critiques
at Cannes and won awards at the Deauville and Athens film festivals. To
be released by CFP, it screened most recently at the Hamptons International
Film Festival. Greg Foster's LOUNGERS won the Audience Award for Best feature;
Best Documentary went to Mark Wexler's ME AND MY MATCHMAKER and Best Short
film went to PARKING by James Morrison.
Slamdance is starting ventures that will support the independent. This year,
Slamdance hosted a screenplay competition which garnered an astonishing
1,000 submissions, with the winners being submitted to Fox Searchlight Pictures
and the Gersh Agency. "The aim is to be more than a film festival -
our idea is to expand Slamdance into a support system for the independent
filmmaker," Fitzgerald says. Their web-site, slamdance.com, provides
filmmaking information and directories, in addition to the first digital
market of its kind. One way or another, Slamdance is here to stay.
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