Sundance 2014 | Maryland Film Festival Blog

Posts Tagged 'Sundance 2014'

Jed’s Sundance Updates #4 – FISHING WITHOUT NETS and THE CASE AGAINST 8

Published January 22, 2014 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: Cutter Hodierne, David Boies, FISHING WITHOUT NETS, Kristin Perry, Ryan White, Sandra Stier, Sundance 2014, Ted Olson, THE CASE AGAINST 8

FISHING WITHOUT NETS

FISHING WITHOUT NETS first appeared in 2012 as a short film by Cutter Hodierne and won the Jury Prize for Short Filmmaking at Sundance that year. Maryland Film Festival also presented it as part of our 2012 shorts program and, having been developed from a short at the great Sundance Labs, it premiered as a feature at Sundance 2014 this past weekend.

Shot in East Africa using Somali non-actors, FISHING WITHOUT NETS tells the story of Somali pirates from the Somali perspective.

SUNDANCE5-FISHING WO NETS

Above, director Cutter Hodierne (left), cast members, and crew do Q & A.

THE CASE AGAINST 8

Another noteworthy film, THE CASE AGAINST 8, follows the remarkable legal team led by Bush v. Gore opponents Ted Olson and David Boies as they moved through the court system to challenge Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriages in California. Shot over five years, this extraordinary film offers unprecedented insight into our justice system and the often mysterious process of taking a case to the Supreme Court. HBO will air the film in June.

SUNDANCE6 - THE CASE AGAINST 8 Above, filmmaker and MFF alum Ryan White (right) with Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier, one of the couples involved in the Supreme Court challenge to California’s Prop 8.

– Jed Dietz, MFF Director

Jed’s Sundance Update #2 – PING PONG SUMMER Triumphs!

Published January 20, 2014 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: Michael Tully, PING PONG SUMMER, Sundance 2014

PING PONG SUMMER

After years of development, MFF alum Michael Tully‘s ode to Ocean City and to growing up, PING PONG SUMMER, premiered at Sundance Saturday morning to a rousing response from a packed house. It was one of the earliest sell outs this year.

Michael Tully answers questions after his premiere screening.

Michael Tully answers questions after the PING PONG SUMMER screening.

I dropped by the party Saturday and I’m pretty sure it’s the first Sundance party to feature a ping pong tournament:

Michael Tully plays ping pong at PING PONG SUMMER party.

At the PING PONG SUMMER party, I ran into Johns Hopkins University students Abbey, Clare, and Josh. I’d met them when they attended JHU, in different classes, and came out with a group of film majors And JHU faculty member Linda DeLibero. All are entering the film business.
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-Jed Dietz, MFF Director

MFF Director Jed Dietz Reports Back from Sundance 2014!

Published January 20, 2014 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: FREEDOM SUMMER, Joe Swanberg, Michael Tully, PING PONG SUMMER, Stanley Nelson, Sundance 2014

sundance2014 Maryland Film Festival Director Jed Dietz is onsite in Park City, UT at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival reporting back highlights from the ground. Stay tuned for updates on the MFF blog, and make sure to check out his live radio appearance with 88.1FM WYPR’s Tom Hall on Friday 1/24.

Jed’s Sundance Update #1
The important filmmaker community of Sundance displayed itself right away. Jack Gerbes from the Maryland Film Office and Hannah Byron from Baltimore’s Department of Business and Economic Development were on the plane with me from Baltimore to Park City. Once we landed, I ran into MFF alum Mike Tully (whose Ocean City-set film, PING PONG SUMMER, premieres here) at baggage claim, and then I ran into MFF alum Joe Swanberg in the grocery store. This morning I caught up with a group of Johns Hopkins University students who I’d met at previous Sundance festivals when they were here with faculty member Linda DeLibero. Over 20 MFF filmmaker alums with films are in attendance at this year’s festival.

SUNDANCE1-Stanley Nelson I’m one day and five films in. The picture to the right is of Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Stanley Nelson, (JONESTOWN, FREEDOM RIDERS) doing Q & A after a screening of his great documentary FREEDOM SUMMER about the organizing efforts during the summer of 1964 to enfranchise African American voters in Mississippi.

Stanley Nelson’s film FREEDOM RIDERS, about the courageous band of civil rights activists called Freedom Riders who in 1961 challenged segregation laws in the American South, played at our 2010 film festival.

-Jed Dietz, MFF Director