Welcome to the Rileys to show at Sundance 2010

The march toward the 2010 Sundance Film Festival has taken another giant step with the announcement of the lineups for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions.

Sundance is one of only five festivals each year which I always attend sight unseen -- that is, regardless of what the lineup is (the others are SXSW, Toronto, Los Angeles, and Tribeca). As always, I will be posting reviews of the films, along with pictures and videos of the actors and filmmakers I meet. Most screenings are attended by the cast and crew. They always stay afterward for a Q&A and the audience gets a chance to sit with and then meet them. There is occasionally an afterparty as well.

The numbers are impressive. According to the Sundance Institute, 112 feature-length films were selected representing 38 countries by 43 first-time filmmakers, including 24 in competition. These films were selected from 3,724 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,920 U.S. and 1,804 international feature-length films. 79 films at the Festival will be world premieres.

"Being a seasoned programming team and having the support of a healthy organization afforded us the ability to take risks and re-think all programs this year so we chose to do some things a little bit differently," said John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival. "We believe this makes for an exciting festival that responds to both artist and audience, one that will invigorate the independent film community."

Many high-profile titles are included in today's announcement, including the newest film from the world's hottest young star. It's hard to imagine a more highly anticipated film than Jake Scott's Welcome to the Rileys. Son of Ridley and nephew of Tony Scott (both producers on the film), Jake's film boasts an all-star cast including James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo, and the ubiquitous Kristen Stewart. One would be hard pressed to be unaware of Ms. Stewart given her presence in the record-shattering Twilight and The Twilight Saga: New Moon, currently approaching $500 million in worldwide box office. Welcome to the Rileys would most certainly have generated buzz regardless, but I'm sure the filmmakers don't mind the added attention from Kristen Stewart's international notoriety.

Producer Giovanni Agnelli has been uncharacteristically approachable to fans on the film's IMDb message board, even providing photos from the production. The Twitterverse (or Twiverse for Twilight fans) has been abuzz for months about whether or not the film would be accepted into Sundance, and no doubt the buzz will turn into a cacophony momentarily. It also seems reasonable to assume that most, if not all, of the cast will be present at the World Premiere.

But that's just one...stay tuned for more film previews. The short films will be announced next Monday, December 7. The 2010 Sundance Film Festival takes place from January 21-31 in Park City, Utah. In the coming weeks I'll be posting more of my selections and recommendations. And you can rest assured I'll be putting all these competition films on my list.

Source : pronetworks.org