by Steve Ayorinde/Talent Press

The order of importance is not given. Nor is it needed anyway. But the good news for black brothers and sisters at the Berlinale is that Africa is the focus this year, curiously sandwiched between sex and soccer.

The soccer bit is understandable, given Germany's preparation as the host of the FIFA World Cup in 2006. “Shoot Goals, Shoot Movies!“ therefore, was rightly conceived as the theme for the short film competition on football and culture at the Berlinale Talent Campus.

Good idea, but since the mundial will not be held until next summer, it would have been better to let the talents showcase their films at next year's festival, as a prelude to the soccer tournament itself. To prepare film buffs for the fever pitch tournament in 2006, you will probably need a film like Hannes Stöhr's One Day in Europe", about the day of the European Cup Final as experienced by four different nationalities, except if you are neither a fan of Deportivo La Coruna nor of Galatasaray.

[A scene from "Sometime in April". Image provided by the Berlinale.]

By Stephen Garrett

Annually at Sundance screenings, audiences watch a quick festival trailer that celebrates, in its own quirky way, the pursuit of independent filmmaking. But this year’s trio of shorts, produced by celebrated online filmmaking studio JibJab, have been unusually inappropriate—pushing edgy sarcasm to the point of outright mockery. It starts with the letters in the word “Independent” dissolving away into “Inept,” then ridicules personal vision as being a destructive and borderline homicidal impulse, and finally ends with a song about how indie types refuse to work for “the Man” while scores of the festival’s corporate sponsors flash on the screen. It’s disheartening to see Sundance get so jaded about itself, when the bulk of the movies on display are such uniquely independent celebrations of eccentric minds, alternative visions and what it means to be human.

[From Eugene Jarecki's “Why We Fight.” Photo Courtesy of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.]

By Stephen Garrett

With all but one of the Dramatic Competition films unspooled, Sundance has recovered fitfully from a soft start with a handful of accomplished works showing that the pulse of independent American film is still steady and strong. Among the first to give the festival its muscle is "Hustle & Flow", Craig Brewer’s improbably earnest drama about a pimp who decides to become a rapper. Mainstream in its execution, leavened with self-effacing humor and buoyed by a charming cast, this crowd-pleasing underdog story takes an almost ridiculous premise that just as easily could have ended up on "Chappelle’s Show" and turned it into a rousing fable of reinvention.

[A scene from Noah's Baumbach's "The Squid and The Whale." Photo courtesy the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.]

by K Beck

Lions Gate Films has acquired worldwide rights to David LaChapelle's first feature documentary "Rize", a film about the emergence of an urban dance movement from Los Angeles that took Sundance by storm this weekend in Park City.

“A dynamic combination of music and dance, 'Rize' brings a heretofore unknown culture to the screen,” said Tom Ortenberg, Lions Gate Films Releasing president, in a statement. “We were dazzled by its beauty and energy and look forward to introducing 'Rize' to audiences around the world.”

Long time festival attendee, renowned fashion photographer, music video director, and now feature documentary filmmaker La Chapelle premiered his riotous and uplifting new film on Friday at the Library in Park City, with 11 of the featured dancers from the film in attendance, all watching the movie for the first time. Their hoots, hollahs and shout outs were infectious for the receptive audience that gave the film and its subjects a standing ovation; they were rewarded with a lengthy Q & A that included a live singing of "Amazing Grace."

[Photographer/Director David LaChapelle chatted with friends and fans outside the Library in Park City over the weekend prior to a screening of his krumping clowning dance doc set in South Central L.A., "Rize." The word is that it's pretty damn good too. Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]

by Jonny Leahan

"There comes a moment in time when human behavior is capable of the most ferocious and irrational activity. This capacity to go berserk, to have no semblance of feeling for the human condition at all -- apparently it lies in us.”
- Stephen Lewis, UN Envoy for Africa, in “Shake Hands with the Devil”

While it’s true that war has been around as long as human beings have, and is not likely to go away any time soon, few would deny that today’s conflicts are some of the most varied and volatile the world has ever seen. The recent genocide in Rwanda, the seemingly endless Chechen War, the deep rift between Israel and Palestine, and the bloody US occupation of Iraq all provide tragic examples of hostilities with complex origins that are often difficult to comprehend.

[Lt. General Roméo Dallaire in Peter Raymont’s documentary “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire.” Photo courtesy 2005 Sundance Film Festival.]

by Stephen Garrett

Mostly balmy weather in the Wasatch mountains has given way to mostly tepid dramatic competition selections at the beginning of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. No breakout movie has yet to emerge from the line-up: the fare has been engaging in fits and starts, with admirable aspects and worthy intentions giving way to executions that solidly fall short of greatness. Two films that come closest, though, are both set in high school, and both mix their laughs with a satisfyingly dark undercurrent—but both also demand that the viewer buy into their very stylized conceits.

[A scene from Rian Johnson's "Brick." Photo courtesy 2005 Sundance Film Festival.]