1.
Whiplash (2014 film)
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Whiplash is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle, depicting the relationship between an ambitious jazz student and an aggressive instructor. Paul Reiser co-stars as the students father, the film opened in limited release domestically in the US and Canada on October 10,2014, gradually expanding to over 500 screens and finally closing after 24 weeks on March 26,2015. Over this time the film grossed $49 million, against a budget of $3.3 million. Whiplash premiered in competition in the US Dramatic Category at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 16,2014, sony Pictures Worldwide acquired the international distribution rights. At the 87th Academy Awards, Whiplash won Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Supporting Actor for Simmons, Andrew Neiman is a first-year jazz student at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory in New York. He has been playing drums from an age and aspires to become like Buddy Rich. Famed conductor Terence Fletcher discovers Andrew practicing in the room late one night. At a jazz competition, Andrew misplaces Carls sheet music, since Carl cannot play without it, Andrew steps in, telling Fletcher that he can perform Whiplash from memory. After a successful performance, Fletcher promotes him to core drummer, soon after, Fletcher recruits Ryan Connolly, the core drummer from Andrews former lower-level class. Andrew believes Connolly is the talented and experienced drummer, and is infuriated when Fletcher promotes him to core. Determined to impress Fletcher, Andrew practices until his hands bleed and breaks up with his new girlfriend Nicole, believing she will hold him back. He endures a grueling 2 A. M. tryout session with Fletcher, on the way to another competition, Andrews bus breaks down. He rents a car but arrives late, and realizes he left his drumsticks at the rental office, after a dressing-down from Fletcher, Andrew races back to the rental office to retrieve the drumsticks, but his car is broadsided by a semi-trailer. He crawls from the wreckage, runs back to the theater and arrives on stage bloody, when he struggles to play Caravan due to his injuries, Fletcher halts the performance to tell Andrew he is done. Enraged, Andrew attacks Fletcher in front of the audience and is dismissed from Shaffer Conservatory, at his fathers request, Andrew meets with a lawyer representing the parents of Sean Casey, a former student of Fletchers. Seans parents want to prevent Fletcher from teaching again, Andrew agrees to testify on the condition of anonymity, and Fletcher is fired from Shaffer Conservatory. Months later, Andrew has abandoned drumming and is working in a restaurant while applying to different colleges, one evening he discovers Fletcher performing at a jazz club. After the performance, Fletcher invites Andrew to drink him, seeming more hospitable
Whiplash (2014 film)
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Theatrical release poster
Whiplash (2014 film)
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Director Damien Chazelle at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival.
2.
Rudderless
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Rudderless is a 2014 American musical drama film which was the directorial debut of William H. Macy, and stars Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Felicity Huffman, Selena Gomez and Laurence Fishburne. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 24,2014, the film was released in theaters and through video-on-demand beginning October 17,2014. The film opens as Josh Manning is recording his own songs in his dorm room for demo and is interrupted by one of his floor mates looking for someone. He stops recording, annoyed at the interruption, meanwhile, his father Sam Manning has succeeded in landing a large account at his advertising firm, and calls Josh to celebrate with him and skip that days classes. Josh tells him he cannot make it but his father insists, Sam continues to wait at the bar where he told him to meet him and even leaves a message for Josh who has apparently stood him up. He is distracted by a report of a school shooting incident at his sons campus library on the television in the bar. Sam is consoled by family and attendees while sitting alone to one side as his wife is greeting others and his habits are causing habitual lateness and annoying his employer, who cautions Sam about repeated lateness. Getting up to himself from the side of the boat has caught the chagrin of the governing board of the lake and the wrath of Alaird Dupree. It is clear he dislikes Sam, and the feeling is very much mutual, going for a drink with some coworkers after his day of working, he hides the details of his previous life and his true identity from everyone, even making up humorous stories about his past. Sam notices that The Trill tavern hosts open mic events for musicians, returning to the marina, he encounters Emily waiting for him, who says she is moving to Tulsa and is now the mother of a new son. She requires his signature to place their former house up for sale and she has also brought the remainder of Joshs possessions—demo discs, instruments and gear—which Sam emphatically states he has no room for on his tiny sailboat. Emily tells him she was certain he would want it because they had played together since Josh was younger and he tries his best to ignore the collection of his sons possessions over a meal. He even begins to teach himself some his sons material, after work the next day, Sam decides to perform Home, one of Joshs songs, at The Trill, and catches the attention of Quentin, a young guitarist who was excitedly moved by the performance. The next day, Quentin brings Sam coffee and food and discusses the previous performance, stating he believes there are other songs. Sam declares he is not interested, and continues to listen to more, Quentin tries again the next day and shows him an alternate arrangement possibility for the song. The two end up sharing a meal and playing together for the rest of the night. Sam neglects to tell Quentin that he was not the actual author. At the end of the night, Quentin gets Sam to agree to perform together at The Trill, adding more and more to each arrangement, Quentin shows Sam the 1978 Gibson Les Paul hanging in the store, but is unable to afford it
Rudderless
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Theatrical release poster
3.
Park City, Utah
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Park City is a city in Summit County, Utah, United States. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back, the city is 32 miles southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and 19.88 miles from Salt Lake Citys east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census, on average, the tourist population greatly exceeds the number of permanent residents. After a population decline following the shutdown of the mining industry. The city currently brings in an average of $529,800,000 to the Utah Economy as a tourist hot spot. The city has two ski resorts, Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort. Both ski resorts were the locations for ski and snowboarding events at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Although they receive less snow and have a ski season than do their counterparts in Salt Lake County, such as Snowbird resort. Some scenes from 1994s Dumb and Dumber were shot in the city, outdoor-oriented businesses such as backcountry. com, Rossignol USA, and Skullcandy have their headquarters in Park City. The city has many retailers, clubs, bars, and restaurants, and has nearby reservoirs, hot springs, forests, in the summertime many valley residents of the Wasatch Front visit the town to escape high temperatures. Park City is usually 20 °F cooler than Salt Lake City, as it lies mostly above 7,000 feet above sea level, in 2008, Park City was named by Forbes Traveler Magazine among one of the 20 prettiest towns in the United States. In 2011, the town was awarded a Gold-level Ride Center designation from the International Mountain Bicycling Association for its mountain trails, amenities. The area was traveled by the early Mormon pioneers on their journey to where they settled, one of their leaders, Parley P. Pratt, explored the canyon in 1848. He was given a charter the following year to build a road through it. The basin at the top of the canyon was good for grazing, early on, the area was deeded to Samuel Snyder, Heber C. The settlers named it Parleys Park City, which was shortened to Park City in the early 1900s, the first known discovery of ore in this area was by Colonel Patrick E. Connor, who instigated his men to search the area in bringing non-Mormons to the Utah region. The finding of silver, gold and lead sparked the first silver mines in Park City in the 1860s, Park City’s large mining boom brought large crowds of prospectors setting up camps around the mountain terrain, marking the first mining settlements. Although it was not the first find, the Ontario mine, discovered by Herman Buden in 1872, by 1892 the Silver King Mine and its owners Thomas Kearns and David Keith took the spotlight as one of the most famous silver mines in the world
Park City, Utah
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Park City in 2006
Park City, Utah
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The Silver King Coalition mine was once the world's richest. Photo by
Jack Boucher (1971).
Park City, Utah
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Park City Utah Historical Wood Cabin
Park City, Utah
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Historic Miners Hospital in Park City Utah
4.
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and the most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Utah. With an estimated population of 190,884 in 2014, the city lies at the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo Combined Statistical Area. This region is a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along an approximately 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front and it is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin. The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and numerous other Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City—the word great was dropped from the name in 1868 by the 17th Utah Territorial Legislature. Today, however, less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church. It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913, Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing, and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the banking center of the United States. Before Mormon settlement, the Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. The land was treated by the United States as public domain, the first U. S. explorer in the Salt Lake area is believed to be Jim Bridger in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, some as far north as the nearby Utah Valley. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845, the Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1846. The first permanent settlements in the date to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints on July 24,1847. Upon arrival at the Salt Lake Valley, president of the church Brigham Young is recorded as stating, This is the right place, Brigham Young claimed to have seen the area in a vision prior to the wagon trains arrival. They found the broad valley empty of any human settlement, four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt Lake Temple, which would eventually become a famous Mormon and Salt Lake City landmark. The Salt Lake Temple, constructed on the block that would later be called Temple Square, construction started in 1853, and the temple was dedicated on 6 April 1893. The temple has become an icon for the city and serves as its centerpiece, in fact, the southeast corner of Temple Square is the initial point of reference for the Salt Lake Meridian, and for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon pioneers organized a new state called Deseret and petitioned for its recognition in 1849, the United States Congress rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the Utah Territory, vastly reducing its size, and designated Fillmore as its capital city. Great Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the capital in 1858
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Clockwise from top: The skyline in July 2011,
Utah State Capitol,
TRAX,
Union Pacific Depot, the
Block U, the
City and County Building, and the
Salt Lake Temple.
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Map showing Salt Lake as
Mexican territory in 1838. Source:
Britannica 7th Ed.
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Part of Main Street 1890
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Men lounging outside saloon & Chinese laundry, 1910
5.
Ogden, Utah
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Ogden /ˈɒɡdɛn/ is a city and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately 10 miles east of the Great Salt Lake and 40 miles north of Salt Lake City. The population was 84,316 in 2014, according to the US Census Bureau, the city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a convenient location for manufacturing and commerce. Ogden is also known for its historic buildings, proximity to the Wasatch Mountains. Ogden is a city of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Weber, Morgan, Davis. The 2010 Census placed the Metro population at 597,159, in 2010, Forbes rated the Ogden-Clearfield MSA as the 6th best place to raise a family. Ogden has had a Sister City relationship to Hof since 1954, originally named Fort Buenaventura, the city of Ogden was the first permanent settlement by people of European descent in the region that is now Utah. It was established by the trapper Miles Goodyear in 1846 about a mile west of where downtown Ogden is currently located, in November 1847, Fort Buenaventura was purchased by the Mormon settlers for $1,950. There is some confusion in which Ogden was the first to set foot in the Utah city, peters older brother Samuel Ogden traveled though the western United States on an exploration trip in 1818. The site of the original Fort Buenaventura is now a Weber County park, Ogden is the closest sizable city to the Golden Spike location at Promontory Summit, Utah, where the First Transcontinental Railroad was joined in 1869. Railroad passengers traveling west to San Francisco from the eastern United States typically passed through Ogden, in 1972, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints completed construction of and dedicated the Ogden Utah Temple in Ogden. The temple was built to serve the large LDS population in the area, in 2010, the LDS Church announced a major renovation of the Ogden Temple and the adjacent Tabernacle. The Temple was rededicated in 2014, because Ogden has historically been the second largest city in Utah, it is home to a large number of historic buildings. However, by the 1980s, several Salt Lake City suburbs, the Defense Depot Ogden Utah operated in Ogden from 1941 to 1997. Some of its 1,128 acres has since converted into a commercial and industrial park called the Business Depot Ogden. Ogden is located at 41°13′11″N 111°58′16″W, at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.6 square miles, all land. Elevations in the city range from about 4,300 to 5,200 feet above sea level, the Ogden and Weber Rivers, which originate in the mountains to the east, flow through the city and meet at a confluence just west of the city limits. Pineview Dam is located in the Ogden River Canyon 7 miles east of Ogden, the reservoir behind the dam provides over 110,000 acre feet of water storage and water recreation for the area. Prominent mountain peaks near Ogden include Mount Ogden to the east, Ogden experiences a dry summer continental climate
Ogden, Utah
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Downtown Ogden
Ogden, Utah
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Ogden Utah Temple
Ogden, Utah
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"Ogden" sign over Washington Boulevard at the
Ogden River; toward downtown
Ogden, Utah
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Ogden City Municipal Building
6.
Sundance Resort
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Sundance Mountain Resort is a ski resort located 13 miles northeast of Provo, Utah. It spans over 5,000 acres on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos in Utahs Wasatch Range, alpine skiing began on the site in 1944. Actor Robert Redford acquired the area in 1968, and established a resort which would later spawn the independent Sundance Film Festival. Sundance is committed to the balance of art, nature and community, the area known today as the Sundance Resort in the North Fork canyon was surveyed in the mid-1800s by Andrew Jackson Stewart Jr. and his sons, Andrew, Scott, and John Stewart. While working for the U. S. government they discovered the view of Mt. Timpanogos and they each received 160 acres of land under the Homestead Act, and nearby lots were given to family members. Soon, members of the Stewart family erected log cabins, by 1911, they owned 2,200 acres and were raising sheep and cattle. They formed a company, North Folk Investment Co. in order to share income, the area was known as Stewart Flats due to the large number of Stewart family members living in the area. To get to Stewart Flats in North Fork before 1920, there was only one unpaved road that had a grade of 18 to 20 degrees on the last half mile. It was referred to as the big dugway due to the formed from dragging large trees down the road. In the early 1920s, a road was built by the Utah County Commission that passed through Stewart Falls as it connected Aspen Grove and Wildwood. Mount Timpanogos became a mountain to hike after 1912, when Eugene L. Roberts. This hike only included 22 students, but sparked the annual Timpanogos Hike, the Timpanogos Hike began after mid-July when there was a full moon. The night before the hike, participants would gather for a celebration that usually had a bonfire, today, the trails around the Sundance Mountain Resort offer views of North Fork, Utah and of Stewart Falls. Many trails also feature plaques to mark flora and fauna in the area and are lined with benches, there are also 3 major biking trails at Sundance that even have ski-lift service after Memorial Day weekend. Ski races began on the Mount Timpanogos Glacier during the annual Timp Kike in July 1941, the race was a slalom race. This race would be three more times in 1947,1948, and 1949. A ski area opened as Timp Haven in 1944. The name was chosen by a contest in which anyone could submit their suggestion, ruth Biddulph submitted the winning name of Timp Haven and was given a season pass
Sundance Resort
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Sundance in the fall.
Sundance Resort
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Panoramic view of
Mt Timpanogos
7.
Utah
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The Utah Railway is a class III railroad operating in Utah and Colorado, and owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The Utah Railway Company was incorporated on January 24,1912, with the name of Utah Coal Railway, shortened to Utah Railway in May of the same year. It was founded to haul coal from the mines to Provo, Utah, in reaction to company disappointment in the service and route of the existing Denver. In addition, the Utah Railway was the first to equip its air brakes with fourteen-pound tension springs instead of the standard seven-pound springs and these gondolas were known to the railroads employees as Battleships. Parent company Mueller Industries, a manufacturer of products, sold the Utah Railway in 2002 to Genesee & Wyoming Inc. a railroad holding company. As of January,2017, the no longer hauls coal. The Utah Railway also owns a railroad, the Salt Lake City Southern Railroad. In addition, switching services are provided in Ogden and elsewhere, the earliest logo was simply the words Utah Railway Company, spelled out on the locomotives and cabooses, and Utah Coal Route on the drop-bottom gondolas. On paper, however, the logo for many years was a circle with a white background. The wording and image in these circular logos changed over the years, the 1948 logo included the words Utah Railway surrounding a gondola with the initials U. C. R. The 1999 logo was an oval with an image of an SD diesel locomotive, in later years the symbol of the Utah Railway Company was the beehive, which is also the Utah state symbol. Genesee & Wyoming corporate website Trainwebs Utah Railway UtahRails. net Utah Railway page
Utah
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Former Union Pacific CA-1
Caboose on display in
Helper. The Utah Railway purchased eight of these cabooses from the UP between 1918 and 1927.
Utah
8.
2015 Sundance Film Festival
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The 2015 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 22 to February 1,2015. A biographical documentary film about American singer Nina Simone, opened the festival, comedy-drama film Grandma, directed by Paul Weitz, served as the closing night film. The awards ceremony was held on January 30,2015 at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse in Park City, the ceremony was hosted by comedian Tig Notaro. Grand Jury Prize, Documentary – The Wolfpack U. S. Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Documentary – The Russian Woodpecker World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic – Slow West Audience Award, Documentary – Meru Audience Award, U. S. S. Documentary – Cartel Land Directing Award, U. S, Dramatic – The Witch Directing Award, World Cinema Documentary – Dreamcatcher Directing Award, World Cinema Dramatic – The Summer of Sangaile Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, U. S. Dramatic – The Stanford Prison Experiment Editing Award, World Cinema Documentary – How to Change the World Editing Award, Dramatic – Dope Cinematography Award, U. S. Documentary – Cartel Land Cinematography Award, U. S. S, Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact – 3½ Minutes U. S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Vérité Filmmaking – Western U. S, the Shorts Awards were presented January 28,2015 at the ceremony in Park City, Utah. Short Film Grand Jury Prize – World of Tomorrow Short Film Jury Award, Fiction – SMILF Short Film Jury Award, International Fiction – Oh Lucy. Sundance Institute/NHK Filmmaker Award – Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre for Mustang,2015 Red Crown Producer’s Award – Stephanie Langhoff for The Bronze. Jury members, for each program of the festival, including the Alfred P. Sloan Jury, presenters of awards are followed by asterisks, Others who presented awards included Adam Scott, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Corrigan, Patrick Fugit and Trevor Groth. For a full list of films appeared at the festival, see List of films at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival
2015 Sundance Film Festival
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Festival poster
9.
2013 Sundance Film Festival
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The 2013 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 17,2013 until January 27,2013 in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah. A record 12,146 films were submitted,429 more films than the 2012 festival,4,044 feature films were submitted and 119 were selected. 8,102 short films were submitted and 65 were selected, the festival had films representing 32 countries, from 51 first-time filmmakers,27 of which had films in competition. For the first time in the history, half of the films featured were made by women. In the U. S. dramatic competition,8 directors were women and 8 were men, in the U. S. documentary competition,8 directors were women and 8 were men. In the dramatic category, however, only 3 of the 18 films were directed by women. Linsanity, a documentary about the rise of Asian American basketball player Jeremy Lin, the Los Angeles Times wrote that it received a rousing response, easily making it one of the most crowd-pleasing documentaries to play the festival this year. The awards ceremony was held on January 26,2013 a few north of Park City, Utah at Kimball Junction at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse. Grand Jury Prize, Documentary - Blood Brother U. S, Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic - Fruitvale World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Documentary - A River Changes Course World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic - Jiseul Audience Award, U. S. Documentary - Blood Brother Audience Award, U. S. S, Documentary - Cutie and the Boxer Directing Award, U. S. S. Screenwriting Award, World Cinema Dramatic - Wajma Editing Award, U. S, Documentary - Gideons Army Editing Award, World Cinema Documentary - The Summit Cinematography Award, U. S. Documentary - Dirty Wars, The World Is a Battlefield Cinematography Award, Dramatic - Aint Them Bodies Saints and Mother of George Cinematography Award, World Cinema Documentary - Who is Dayani Cristal. Cinematography Award, World Cinema Dramatic - Lasting U. S, Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking - Inequality for All U. S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking - American Promise U. S, the Shorts Awards were presented January 22,2013 at the Jupiter Bowl at Redstone Square. Short Film Grand Jury Prize - The Whistle Short Film Jury Award, U. S. Johnston for Aint Them Bodies Saints For the first time since 2009, Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and the U. S. Blood Brother also won top prizes in the U. S. Documentary competition, the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, nineteen of the jury members, which award prizes to films, were announced on December 19,2012. The 5 members of the Alfred P. Sloan Jury, which also took part in the Science in Film Forum Panel, were announced on January 17,2013
2013 Sundance Film Festival
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Festival poster
10.
Sundance Film Festival
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The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the Sundance Institute, is an American film festival that takes place annually in Park City, Utah. With 46,660 attendees in 2016, it is the largest independent film festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29,2017. Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978, as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to more filmmakers to Utah. It was founded by Sterling Van Wagenen, John Earle, the 1978 festival featured films such as Deliverance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Midnight Cowboy, Mean Streets, and The Sweet Smell of Success. The festival also highlighted the work of filmmakers who worked outside the Hollywood system. The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison, and included Verna Fields, Linwood G. Dunn, Katharine Ross, Charles E. Sellier Jr. Mark Rydell, and Anthea Sylbert. More than 60 films were screened at the festival that year, also that year, the first Frank Capra Award went to Jimmy Stewart. The festival also made a profit for the first time, in 1980, Catania left the festival to pursue a production career in Hollywood. Several factors helped propel the growth of Utah/US Film Festival, first was the involvement of actor and Utah resident Robert Redford, who became the festivals inaugural chairman. By having Redfords name associated with the festival, it received great attention, secondly, the country was hungry for more venues that would celebrate American-made films as the only other festival doing so at the time was the USA Film Festival in Dallas. Response in Hollywood was unprecedented as major studios did all they could to contribute their resources, in 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah, and changed the dates from September to January. It was called the US Film and Video Festival, in 1984, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival. The branding and marketing transition from the US Film Festival to the Sundance Film Festival was managed under the direction of Colleen Allen, Allen Advertising Inc. by appointment of Robert Redford. In 1991 the festival was renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redfords character The Sundance Kid from the film Butch Cassidy. The majority of the screenings, including the festivals premieres. The 2013 Sundance London Festival was held April 25–28,2013, Sundance London 2014 took place on April 25–27,2014 at the O2 arena. The Sundance London 2015 Festival was cancelled in an announcement on January 16,2015, Sundance London will return to London in 2016 from June 10–12 at Picturehouse Cinema in Londons West End
Sundance Film Festival
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Sundance Film Festival
11.
William H. Macy
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William Hall Macy, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, teacher and theater director. His film career has been mostly on his appearances in small, independent films. Macy has described himself as sort of a Middle American, WASPy, Macy has won two Emmy Awards and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Since 2011, he has played Frank Gallagher, a character in the Showtime television series Shameless. Macy and actress Felicity Huffman have been married since 1997, Macy was born in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Georgia and Maryland. His father, William Hall Macy, Sr and his mother, Lois, was a war widow who met Macys father after her first husband died in 1943, Macy has described her as a Southern belle. Macy graduated from Allegany High School in Cumberland, Maryland in 1968, at Goddard, he first met playwright David Mamet. After graduating from Goddard in 1971, Macy moved to Chicago, Illinois, working as a bartender to pay the rent. Within a year, he and David Mamet, among others, founded St. Nicholas Theater Company, while in Chicago in his twenties, he did a TV commercial. He was required to join AFTRA in order to do the commercial, and received his SAG card within a year, Macy spent time in Los Angeles, before moving to New York City in 1980, where he had roles in over 50 Off Broadway and Broadway plays. One of his early roles was as a turtle named Socrates in the direct-to-video film The Boy Who Loved Trolls. He also had a role as a hospital orderly on the sitcom Kate & Allie in the fourth-season episode General Hospital. He has appeared in films that Mamet wrote and/or directed, such as House of Games, Things Change, Homicide, Oleanna, Wag the Dog, State and Main. Macy may be best known for his role in Fargo. The role helped boost his career and recognizability, though at the expense of nearly confining him to a narrow typecast of a man down on his luck. In 2003, he won a Peabody Award and two Emmy Awards, one for starring in the role, and one as co-writer. Door to Door is a based on the true story of Bill Porter. His work on ER and Sports Night has also recognized with Emmy nominations
William H. Macy
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Macy at the
2012 Toronto International Film Festival
William H. Macy
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William H. Macy at the 62nd Annual Peabody Awards
William H. Macy
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Macy in 2010
William H. Macy
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Huffman and Macy at a ceremony where each received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 7, 2012
12.
Roger Ebert
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Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked the phrase Two Thumbs Up, used when both hosts gave the film a positive review. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, Ebert lived with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands from 2002. This required treatments necessitating the removal of his jaw, which cost him the ability to speak or eat normally. His ability to write remained unimpaired, however, and he continued to publish frequently both online and in print until his death on April 4,2013. Roger Joseph Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois, the child of Annabel, a bookkeeper, and Walter Harry Ebert. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending St. Marys elementary school and his paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry was Irish and Dutch. In his senior year, he was president and editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper. In 1958, he won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in radio speaking, regarding his early influences in film criticism, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies, I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine. Mads parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin – of the way a movie might look original on the outside, I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies, I lost it at Mad magazine, Ebert began taking classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an early-entrance student, completing his high-school courses while also taking his first university class. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1960, Ebert then attended and received his degree in 1964. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La Dolce Vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. Ebert spent a semester as a student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town on a Rotary fellowship for a year. He returned from Cape Town to his studies at Illinois for two more semesters and then, after being accepted as a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. Instead Kogan referred Ebert to the city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Hoge and he attended doctoral classes at the University of Chicago while working as a general reporter at the Sun-Times for a year
Roger Ebert
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Ebert giving an interview for
Sound Opinions in 2006
Roger Ebert
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Roger Ebert (right) with
Russ Meyer in 1970.
Roger Ebert
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Ebert and his wife Chaz Hammelsmith Ebert (left) giving the thumbs up to
Nancy Kwan (right) at the
Hawaii International Film Festival on October 20, 2010
Roger Ebert
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Ebert (right) at the
Conference on World Affairs in September 2002, shortly after his cancer diagnosis
13.
Life Itself (2014 documentary film)
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Life Itself is a 2014 American biographical documentary film about film critic Roger Ebert, directed by Steve James and produced by Zak Piper, Steve James and Garrett Basch. The film is based on Eberts 2011 memoir of the same name and it premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the 67th Cannes Film Festival. The 41st Telluride Film Festival hosted a screening of the film on August 28,2014. Magnolia Pictures released the film theatrically in the United States and simultaneously via video on demand platforms on July 4,2014, as of July 2016, it is currently nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Documentary. On September 7,2012, a adaptation of the 2011 memoir Life Itself was first announced by Ebert on Twitter. My memoir has been optioned for a doc by Steve James, with Martin Scorsese and Steven Zaillian as exec producers. Steve James said, That’s what made me want to do the movie, and all of that informed the kind of critic he became. It informed everything about who he was and what we came to love about him. On April 4,2013, following Eberts death, the filmmakers expressed their condolences, on November 20,2013, an Indiegogo campaign was launched to raise money for the film. Locations seen in the include the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, the Old Town Ale House, the Chateau Marmont. On January 18,2013, CNN Films announced that it had acquired the rights to air Life Itself on television and it premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Magnolia Pictures released the film theatrically in the US on July 4,2014, dogwoof released the film in the UK on November 14,2014. The film aired on CNN January 4,2015, Life Itself has received universal acclaim from critics. On Metacritic, the documentary has a score of 87 out of 100, based on 35 critics, new York City, NY, Grand Central Publishing. Official website Life Itself at the Internet Movie Database Life Itself at Box Office Mojo Life Itself at Rotten Tomatoes Life Itself at Metacritic
Life Itself (2014 documentary film)
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Theatrical release poster
14.
Bottle Rocket
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Bottle Rocket is a 1996 American crime-comedy film directed by Wes Anderson. It was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson, in addition to being Wes Andersons directorial debut, Bottle Rocket was the debut feature for brothers Owen and Luke Wilson, who co-starred with James Caan and Robert Musgrave. The film was a failure but launched Andersons career by drawing attention from critics. Director Martin Scorsese later named Bottle Rocket one of his favorite movies of the 1990s. Bottle Rocket is also the name of a film directed by Anderson and starring the Wilson brothers and Musgrave—shot in 1992. In Arizona, Dignan rescues his friend Anthony from a psychiatric unit. Dignan has an escape plan and has developed a 75-year plan that he shows to Anthony. The plan is to pull off heists, and then meet up with a Mr. Henry. As a practice heist, the two break into Anthonys familys house, stealing specific items from a previously agreed upon list. Afterward, critiquing the heist, Dignan reveals that he took a pair of earrings not specified on the list and this upsets Anthony, as he had purchased the earrings for his mother as a gift and specifically left them off the list. Anthony visits his sister at her school and asks her return the earrings. Dignan recruits Bob Mapplethorpe as a driver because he is the only person they know with a car. The three of them buy a gun and return to Bobs house to plan their next heist, the group bickers as Dignan struggles to describe his intricate plan. The group steals a small sum of money from the bookstore and go on the lam, Anthony meets Inez, one of the motel maids, and the two spark a romance despite their language barrier. Bob learns that his marijuana crop back home has been discovered by police, Bob leaves in his car the following day to help his brother, without telling Dignan. Before leaving the motel themselves, Anthony gives Dignan an envelope to give to Inez, Dignan delivers the envelope to Inez while she is cleaning a room, not knowing the envelope has most of his and Anthonys money inside. Inez does not open the envelope and hugs Dignan to say goodbye, as Dignan is leaving, Inez asks an English-speaking male friend of hers to chase after Dignan and tell him she loves Anthony. When he delivers the message he says, Tell Anthony I love him, Dignan fails to realize he is speaking for Inez and does not deliver the message
Bottle Rocket
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Home video release poster
15.
Robert Redford
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Charles Robert Redford Jr. is an American actor, director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, and philanthropist. Redford is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, Redfords career began in 1960 as a guest star on numerous TV shows, including, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Twilight Zone, among others. He earned an Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Voice of Charlie Pont and his greatest Broadway success was as the stuffy newlywed husband of Elizabeth Ashley in Neil Simons Barefoot in the Park. Redford made his debut in War Hunt. His role in Inside Daisy Clover won him a Golden Globe for best new star and he starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which was a huge success and made him a major star. The popular and acclaimed All the Presidents Men was a film for Redford. The first film that Redford directed, Ordinary People, was one of the most critically and publicly acclaimed films of the decade, winning four Oscars, and in the same year, he starred in Brubaker. He starred in Out of Africa, which was a critical and box office success. He released his film as a director, A River Runs Through It. Redford won the 1980 Academy Award for Best Director in 1981 for directing Ordinary People and he was previously nominated for Best Actor in 1974 for his performance in The Sting, and went on to receive Best Director and Best Picture nominations in 1995 for Quiz Show. He won a second Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2002, in 2010, he was made a chevalier of the Légion dHonneur. He has won BAFTA, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe, in April 2014, Time Magazine included Redford in their annual TIME100 as one of the Most Influential People in the World, declaring him the Godfather of Indie Film. In 2016, President Barack Obama honored Redford with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, Redford was born on August 18,1936, in Santa Monica, California to Martha W. and Charles Robert Redford, Sr. a milkman-turned-accountant. He has a stepbrother, William, from his fathers remarriage, Redford is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Scots-Irish ancestry. Redfords family moved to Van Nuys, California, while his father worked in El Segundo and he attended Van Nuys High School, where he was classmates with baseball pitcher Don Drysdale. He has described himself as having been a bad student, finding inspiration outside the classroom and he hit tennis balls with Pancho Gonzales at the Los Angeles Tennis Club to warm him up. After graduating from school in 1954, he attended the University of Colorado in Boulder for a year and a half. While there, he worked at the restaurant/bar The Sink, a painting of his likeness is prominent in the bars murals, while at Colorado, Redford began drinking heavily, and as a result lost his half-scholarship and was kicked out of school
Robert Redford
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Robert Redford in 2012
Robert Redford
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Redford in
Barefoot in the Park, 1967
Robert Redford
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Redford at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Robert Redford
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Redford with
Melanie Griffith and
Sônia Braga, promoting
The Milagro Beanfield War at the
1988 Cannes Film Festival
16.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
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Beasts of the Southern Wild is a 2012 American drama film co-written, co-scored and directed by Benh Zeitlin. It was adapted by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar from Alibars one-act play Juicy, after playing at film festivals, it was released on June 27,2012, in New York and Los Angeles, and later distribution was expanded. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards at the 85th Academy Awards, in the categories Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, at age 9, Wallis became the youngest Best Actress nominee in history. As a storm approaches a southern Louisiana bayou community called the Bathtub, six-year-old Hushpuppy and her ailing, hot-tempered father Wink are optimistic about their life and their future. The children in school are being taught by Miss Bathsheba about nature, at home, Hushpuppy fends for herself while her father is missing. When he returns, he is wearing a gown and bracelet. They argue, and when Hushpuppy returns to her house, she sets it on fire. A chase ensues between the two, and she ends up getting slapped by Wink, when she retaliates by punching him in the chest, Wink collapses. Hushpuppy, realizing the damage she has caused, runs for only to find her father missing when she returns. Meanwhile, in the Arctic, the frozen Aurochs in an ice shelf start drifting into the ocean, many of the Bathtub residents start fleeing due to the threat of an approaching storm. Wink reappears, staggering along the side of the road, he finds Hushpuppy, in an effort to make his daughter feel better, Wink attempts to scare off the storm by firing a rifle at the clouds. The next day, the two tour the devastation and connect with surviving residents, Wink hatches a plan to drain the water away by destroying the levee. He and a group of friends plant dynamite and blow a hole in the wall using an alligator gar. Authorities arrive and enforce a mandatory order, removing the residents of the Bathtub to an emergency shelter. Wink receives surgery, but it is too late to restore his health, at the first opportunity, the evacuees leave and escape back to their homes. Aware of her father’s condition, Hushpuppy searches for her absent mother and she and her friends swim to a boat, which takes them to a floating bar, known as the Elysian Fields. Hushpuppy meets a cook who may be her mother, though the woman doesnt recognize her, the cook says that the girl can stay with her if she wants, but Hushpuppy says that shes got to go home. Hushpuppy and her friends home where she confronts the Aurochs
Beasts of the Southern Wild
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Theatrical release poster
17.
Fruitvale Station (film)
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Fruitvale Station is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. The film stars Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant, Forest Whitaker is one of the films producers. Kevin Durand and Chad Michael Murray play the two BART police officers involved in Grants death, the names of the officers were changed for the film. Fruitvale Station debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and it was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best First Film. The film was released in theaters July 12,2013 and it received critical acclaim upon its release and earned other awards. The film shows scenes of him and his girlfriend arguing about Grants recent infidelity and it later shows Grant unsuccessfully attempting to get his job back at the grocery store. He briefly considers selling some marijuana but in the end decides to dump the stash, Grant later attends a birthday party for his mother and tells her afterward that he will take the BART train to see fireworks and other New Years festivities in San Francisco. On the return train, Katie, a customer at the store where Grant used to work, recognizes Grant. A former inmate, from when Grant was in prison, then recognizes Grant and attempts to assault him, amid the chaos, Grants girlfriend calls and asks where he is, he assures her he is fine. In the end, after Grant is restrained on the station platform, Grant is rushed to a hospital but later dies. There is also footage of a gathering of people celebrating Grants life on New Years Day 2013 with the real-life, when you know somebody as a human being, you know that life means something. He was able to meet John Burris, the attorney for the Grant family, through a mutual friend and he also worked closely with the Grant family, after gaining their trust. In January 2011, Forest Whitakers production company was looking for new filmmakers to mentor. Coogler met Head of Production, Nina Yang Bongiovi, and showed her his projects, shortly after, he had a meeting with Whitaker, who decided to support Fruitvale. Coogler met with advisers of Sundance Screenwriters Lab and he developed the script with the help of Creative Advisors Tyger Williams, Jessie Nelson and Zach Sklar. The film received funding from the Feature Film Program and the San Francisco Film Society, Coogler had Michael B. Jordan in mind to play the role of Grant before writing the script. In April 2012, Jordan and Octavia Spencer joined the cast, Spencer also received a co-executive producer credit as she directly participated in funding the film and contacted investors when a deal was lost during the filming. Notable investors included Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, a bestselling novel adapted as a successful film, in April 2012, Hannah Beachler signed on to serve as the films production designer
Fruitvale Station (film)
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Theatrical release poster
Fruitvale Station (film)
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Ryan Coogler accepts the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic with the crew at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
18.
Little Miss Sunshine
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Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama road film and the directorial debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer Michael Arndt, the film stars Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin, and was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million. Filming began on June 6,2005 and took place over 30 days in Arizona, the film had a limited release in the United States on July 26,2006, and later expanded to a wider release starting on August 18. Little Miss Sunshine had a box office gross of $100.5 million. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and it also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature and received numerous other accolades. Sheryl Hoover is a mother of two living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her brother, Frank, who is gay and a scholar of Proust, is living at home with the family after having attempted suicide. Sheryls husband Richard is a Type A personality striving to build a career as a motivational speaker, Dwayne, Sheryls son from a previous marriage, is a Nietzsche-reading teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he can accomplish his dream of becoming a test pilot. Richards foulmouthed father, Edwin, recently evicted from a retirement home for snorting heroin, Olive, the daughter of Richard and Sheryl and the youngest of the Hoover family, is an aspiring beauty queen who is coached by Edwin. Olive learns she has qualified for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant that is being held in Redondo Beach and her parents and Edwin, who has been coaching her, want to support her, and Frank and Dwayne cannot be left alone, so the whole family goes. Because they have money, they go on an 800-mile road trip in their yellow Volkswagen Type 2. Family tensions play out on the highway and at stops along the way, later on, the vans horn starts honking unceasingly by itself. Throughout the road trip, the family suffers numerous personal setbacks, Richard loses an important contract that would have jump-started his motivational business. Frank encounters the ex-boyfriend who, in leaving him for a rival, had prompted his suicide attempt. Edwin dies from an overdose, resulting in the family smuggling the body out of a hospital. The climax takes place at the beauty pageant, after a frantic race against the clock the family arrives at the hotel, and are curtly told by a pageant organizer that they are a couple minutes past the deadline. A sympathetic hired hand instead offers to register Olive on his own time, as Olive prepares for the pageant, the family sees Olives competition, slim, hypersexualized pre-teen girls with teased hair and capped teeth. They wear lip gloss, adult-like swimsuits, and glamorous evening wear while performing highly elaborate dance numbers with great panache and it quickly becomes apparent that Olive is a mere amateur by comparison
Little Miss Sunshine
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Theatrical release poster
Little Miss Sunshine
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A
Volkswagen T2 Microbus, similar to the one in the film
Little Miss Sunshine
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Five modified vans were used during filming to capture various angles of the characters, including this one through the windshield.
Little Miss Sunshine
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To make Abigail Breslin's character (center) appear larger than the other girls, she wore a padded suit. Much of the equipment and costumes exhibited during the pageant were provided by actual contestants' parents.
19.
An Education
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An Education is a 2009 coming-of-age drama film based on a memoir of the same name by British journalist Lynn Barber. The film was directed by Lone Scherfig from a screenplay by Nick Hornby and it stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a bright schoolgirl, and Peter Sarsgaard as David, the charming con man who seduces her. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards in 2010, Best Picture and Writing for Nick Hornby, and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan, an Education premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. It screened on 10 September 2009 at the Toronto International Film Festival and was featured at the Telluride by the Sea Film Festival in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US, the film was shown on 9 October 2009, at the Mill Valley Film Festival. It was released in the US on 16 October 2009 and in the UK on 30 October 2009. In 1961 London, Jenny Mellor is a 16-year-old schoolgirl preparing for Oxford University when she meets an older man driving a Bristol 405, David Goldman. He takes her to concerts, clubs and fine restaurants, easily charming and manipulating her parents into approving of the relationship, later, Jenny discovers that David is a con man who makes money through a variety of shady practices. She is initially shocked but silences her misgivings in the face of Davids charm, Jennys parents invite Graham, a boy Jenny knows from Youth Orchestra, to Jennys birthday party but David arrives and Graham goes home. A few days later, David takes Jenny to Paris as a birthday gift, when David proposes marriage, Jenny accepts and leaves school. However, she later discovers David is already married, when she reveals her discovery to David, he drops out of sight. Jenny despairs, feeling she has thrown her life away but, with the help of her favourite teacher, Carey Mulligan as Jenny Mellor Peter Sarsgaard as David Goldman Dominic Cooper as Danny, Davids friend and partner in crime. Rosamund Pike as Helen, Dannys girlfriend, alfred Molina as Jack Mellor, Jennys father. Cara Seymour as Marjorie Mellor, Jennys mother, emma Thompson as Miss Walters, the headmistress at Jennys school. Olivia Williams as Miss Stubbs, Jennys concerned teacher, sally Hawkins as Sarah Goldman, Davids wife. Matthew Beard as Graham, a boy Jenny knows from the Youth Orchestra, ellie Kendrick as Tina, Jennys friend from school. Hornby was the boyfriend of Amanda Posey, the films producer, both the memoir and the film also allude briefly to Peter Rachman, the notorious post-World War II London property speculator, who Goldman is working for. Barbers full memoir, An Education, was not published in book form until June 2009, Hornby said that what appealed to him in the memoir was that Shes a suburban girl whos frightened that shes going to get cut out of everything good that happens in the city. That, to me, is a big story in popular culture and its the story of pretty much every rock n roll band
An Education
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UK release poster
An Education
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Mulligan during a Q&A following the screening of An Education at the Ryerson Theatre on 25 September 2009.
An Education
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Carey Mulligan and
Peter Sarsgaard at the New York premiere in October 2009
20.
Reservoir Dogs
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Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 American crime thriller film that depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist. The film was the debut of writer and director Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino and criminal-turned-author Edward Bunker have minor roles and it incorporates many themes that have become Tarantinos hallmarks, violent crime, pop culture references, profanity, and nonlinear storytelling. The film has become regarded as a classic of independent film and it was named Greatest Independent Film of all Time by Empire. Reservoir Dogs was generally received, and the cast was praised by many critics. Although it was not given much promotion upon release, the became a modest success in the United States after grossing $2.8 million against its $1.2 million budget. The film was successful in the United Kingdom, grossing nearly £6.5 million. A soundtrack was released featuring songs used in the film, which are mostly from the 1970s, eight men eat breakfast at a Los Angeles diner before carrying out a diamond heist. Six of them use aliases, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, the others are mob boss Joe Cabot and his son and underboss Nice Guy Eddie Cabot, who are responsible for planning the job. After the heist, White flees the scene with Orange. At one of Joes warehouses, White and Orange rendezvous with Pink, who believes that the job was a setup and that the police were waiting for them. White informs him that Brown is dead, Blue and Blonde are missing, Pink has hidden the diamonds nearby, he argues with White over whether or not they should get medical attention for Orange. Blonde arrives with a policeman, Marvin Nash. Some time earlier, Blonde meets with the Cabots, Blonde has completed a four-year jail sentence. To reward him for not having given Joes name to the authorities for a lighter sentence, in the present, White and Pink beat Nash for information. Eddie arrives and orders them to retrieve the diamonds and ditch the getaway vehicles, leaving Blonde in charge of Nash, Nash denies knowledge, but Blonde ignores him and resumes the torture, cutting off his ear with a straight razor. He is about to set Nash on fire, but is dead by Orange. Orange explains to Nash that he is a police officer
Reservoir Dogs
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Theatrical release poster.
Reservoir Dogs
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The film's opening sequence, a slow-motion scene playing "
Little Green Bag " by the
George Baker Selection.
21.
The Cove (film)
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The Cove is a 2009 documentary film directed by Louie Psihoyos which analyzes and questions dolphin hunting practices in Japan. It was awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2010, the film is told from an ocean conservationists point of view. The migrating dolphins are herded into a cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears, the film argues that dolphin hunting as practiced in Japan is unnecessary and cruel. Since the films release, The Cove has drawn controversy over neutrality, secret filming, the film was directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos. Portions were filmed secretly in 2007 using underwater microphones and high-definition cameras disguised as rocks, audience Award at the 25th annual Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. It was selected out of the 879 submissions in the category, the film follows former dolphin trainer and activist Ric OBarrys quest to document the dolphin hunting operations in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. In the 1960s, OBarry helped capture and train the five wild dolphins who shared the role of Flipper in the hit series of the same name. The show, very popular, fueled widespread public adoration of dolphins, days later, he was arrested off the island of Bimini, attempting to cut a hole in the sea pen in order to set free a captured dolphin. Since then, according to the film, OBarry has dedicated himself full-time as an advocate on behalf of dolphins around the world, after meeting with OBarry, Psihoyos and his crew travel to Taiji, Japan, a town that appears to be devoted to dolphins and whales. In a nearby, isolated cove, however, surrounded by fences and Keep Out signs. In the cove, a group of Taiji fishermen engage in dolphin drive hunting, the dolphins that are not sold into captivity are then slaughtered in the cove and the meat is sold in supermarkets. Attempts to view or film the killing in the cove are physically blocked by local police and the Japanese local government who treat the visitors with open intimidation, derision. Foreigners who come to Taiji, including The Coves film crew, are shadowed and questioned by local police. In response, together with the Oceanic Preservation Society, Psihoyos, OBarry, the film also reports on Japans alleged buying of votes of poor nations in the International Whaling Commission. The film then cuts to a scene showing a meeting of the International Whaling Commission. OBarry marches into a meeting of the Commission strapping a TV showing the footage on his chest, OBarry walks around the crowded meeting room displaying the images until he is escorted from the room. The film used specialized camouflaged high-definition cameras that were designed to look like rocks and these hidden cameras helped capture footage and were so well camouflaged that, according to director Louie Psihoyos, the crew had a hard time finding them again. The film received positive reviews from critics
The Cove (film)
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Canadian
free-diving world champion
Mandy-Rae Cruickshank swimming with dolphins in a photograph used for the film's movie poster
The Cove (film)
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Ric O'Barry at the Cove in Taiji, Japan 2014
22.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (film)
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Based on Stephen Trasks stage musical of the same name, the film follows a fictional rock band fronted by an East German transgender singer who survives a botched sex change operation. Hedwig subsequently develops a relationship with a man, Tommy, becoming his mentor and musical collaborator, only to have Tommy steal her music. The film follows Hedwig and her band, the Angry Inch, as they shadow Tommys tour, while exploring Hedwigs past. The musical has developed a cult following. Despite largely positive reviews critics and audiences, the film was a box office bomb. Mitchell received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor and the Premiere magazine Performance of the Year Award, Hansel Schmidt is an East German slip of a girly boy who loves rock music, and is stuck in East Berlin until he meets Sergeant Luther Robinson, an American soldier. Luther proposes marriage to Hansel, this plan will allow Hansel to leave communist East Germany for the capitalist West, however, in order to be married, the couple must consist of a man and a woman and according to Luther, there will be a full physical examination. Hansels mother, Hedwig, gives her child her name and passport, the operation is botched, however, leaving Hansel – now Hedwig – with a dysfunctional one-inch mound of flesh between her legs, the eponymous Angry Inch. Hedwig goes to live in Junction City, Kansas as Luthers wife, on their first wedding anniversary, Luther leaves Hedwig for a man. That same day, it is announced that the Berlin Wall has fallen and East Germans are flooding freely into the West, meaning as material gains go, Hedwigs sacrifices have been for nothing. Hedwig recovers from the separation by picking up odd jobs. Babysitting for the commander of the fort, she befriends Tommy Speck — a shy. For six months, she teaches him rock history, lyrics, grooming, Hedwig gives him the stage name Tommy Gnosis for his graduation. Feeling her inch, Tommy leaves her and goes on to become a successful rock star by stealing the songs Hedwig wrote alone. The internationally ignored Hedwig and her band, the Angry Inch, are forced to support themselves by playing in a chain of failing seafood restaurants called Bilgewaters, Hedwig is following Tommys tour while pursuing a copyright lawsuit. In between songs, she reflects on her story through flashbacks and stories told directly to either disinterested restaurant patrons or her small. Throughout the film, Hedwig refers to Aristophanes speech in Platos Symposium and this myth, retold by Hedwig in the song The Origin of Love, explains that human beings were once round, two-faced, four-armed, and four-legged beings. Angry gods split these early humans in two, leaving the people with a lifelong yearning for their other half
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (film)
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Theatrical release poster
23.
Precious (film)
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Precious, Base on Nol by Saf, or simply Precious, is a 2009 American drama film, directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire, the film stars Gabourey Sidibe, MoNique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey. This film marked the debut of Sidibe. The film, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, under its title of Push. At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, Precious won the Peoples Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The films title was changed from Push to Precious, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Precious was also an official selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. Lionsgate gave the film a release in North America on November 6,2009. Precious received largely positive reviews critics, the acting, the story. In the films opening weekend in limited release, it grossed $1.8 million, as of February 2010, the film had grossed over $47 million domestically, ranking no.65 for 2009, recouping its $10 million budget, and making it a box office success. Precious received six Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture, Geoffrey Fletcher won for Best Adapted Screenplay. MoNique won the award for Best Supporting Actress, for which she received an ovation at the ceremony. In 1987, 16-year-old Claireece Precious Jones lives in the New York City ghetto of Harlem with her mother, Mary. Precious has been raped by her father, Carl, resulting in two pregnancies, the family resides in a Section 8 tenement and survives on welfare. When Precious second pregnancy is discovered, her school principal arranges for her to attend an alternative school. Precious finds a way out of her daily life by escaping into daydreams in which she is loved and appreciated. Inspired by her new teacher, Blu Rain, Precious finally learns to read and she meets sporadically with social worker Ms. Weiss, who learns about incest in the household when Precious reveals who fathered her children. While Precious is in the giving birth to her second child, Abdul, she meets John McFadden. Upon returning home, her mother carelessly drops 3-day-old Abdul and hits her, Precious fights back and runs away from her home with Abdul
Precious (film)
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Theatrical release poster
Precious (film)
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Carey at the premiere of
Tennessee in 2008. Daniels stated he cast her as Ms. Weiss based on her performance in that film.
Precious (film)
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The film's director, Lee Daniels, said that he was, at first, "embarrassed" to screen Precious at the Cannes Film Festival because he felt that it would show African-Americans in a negative light, due to its content.
Precious (film)
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Actress Mo'Nique who played the role of "Mary Johnston" in the film, received critical acclaim for her performance, which earned her a
Golden Globe, a
SAG Award, a
BAFTA and an
Academy Award.
24.
Napoleon Dynamite
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Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 American comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt, Sean C. Covel and Jory Weitz, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess, the film stars Jon Heder in the role of the title character, for which he was paid $1,000. After the films success, Heder re-negotiated his compensation and received a cut of the profits. The film was Jared Hess first full-length feature and is adapted from his earlier short film. Napoleon Dynamite was acquired at the Sundance Film Festival by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Paramount Pictures and it was filmed in and near Franklin County, Idaho in the summer of 2003. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004, the films total worldwide gross revenue was $46,118,097. The film has developed a cult following. Napoleon Dynamite is a socially awkward 16-year-old boy from Preston, Idaho, Kip, who is 32, is unemployed and boasts of spending hours in Internet chat rooms with babes and aspiring to be a cage fighter. Napoleon daydreams his way through school, doodling ligers and fantasy creatures, Napoleon likes to make up stories about himself while having a sullen and aloof attitude. Napoleons grandmother breaks her coccyx in an accident and asks their Uncle Rico to look after the boys while she recovers. Rico, a middle-aged and flirtatious former athlete who lives in a campervan and he uses the visiting opportunity to team up with Kip in a get-rich-quick scheme to sell numerous items door-to-door. Kip wants money to visit his Internet girlfriend LaFawnduh, while Rico believes riches will help him get over his dreams of NFL stardom. A friendship soon develops between the three outcasts, during this time, preparations begin for the high school dance. Pedro asks Deb to be his partner, which she accepts, while Napoleon chooses. Inspired by a poster at the dance, Pedro decides to run for class president, pitting him against Summer Wheatley. The two factions put up flyers and give out accessories to the students to attract voters, Kip, meanwhile, is head-over-heels in love since LaFawnduh has come to visit him from Detroit. She gives Kip an urban makeover, outfitting him in hip-hop regalia, Ricos ongoing scheme causes friction with Napoleon when Rico begins spreading embarrassing rumors about him, to evoke sympathy from his prospective customers. Rico later tries to sell Deb a breast-enhancement product, claiming it was Napoleons suggestion, which causes her to break off their friendship
Napoleon Dynamite
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Theatrical release poster
Napoleon Dynamite
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The cast of Napoleon Dynamite.
25.
Mark Ruffalo
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Mark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, humanitarian, social activist and film producer. He made his debut in an episode of CBS Summer Playhouse. He was part of the original cast of This Is Our Youth, following were his roles in 13 Going on 30, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, and What Doesnt Kill You. In 2010, he starred in the psychological thriller Shutter Island, for the latter, he received nominations for the SAG Award, BAFTA Award, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also co-starred in the mystery films Now You See Me, Ruffalo gained international prominence by portraying the Marvel Comics character the Hulk in The Avengers and Avengers, Age of Ultron. The same year, he portrayed Dave Schultz in Foxcatcher, for which he was nominated for awards, including a Golden Globe, Ruffalo was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His mother, Marie Rose, is a hairdresser and stylist and he has two sisters, Tania and Nicole, and a brother, Scott. His father is of Italian descent, from Girifalco, and his mother is of half French Canadian, Ruffalo attended both Catholic school and progressive schools. Ruffalo has described himself as having been a kid, although he struggled from undiagnosed dyslexia and ADD as a child. Ruffalo spent his teen years in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where his father worked and he competed in wrestling in junior high and high school in Wisconsin and Virginia. With the Orpheus Theatre Company, he wrote, directed, and starred in a number of plays, Ruffalo had minor roles in films like The Dentist, the low-key crime comedy Safe Men and Ang Lees Civil War Western Ride with the Devil. He appeared opposite Tom Cruise as a detective in Michael Manns crime-thriller Collateral. In the mid 2000s, Ruffalo appeared as a lead in View From the Top,13 Going on 30, Just Like Heaven. In 2006, Ruffalo starred in Clifford Odets Awake and Sing. at the Belasco Theatre in New York, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In March 2007, he appeared in Zodiac as SFPD homicide inspector Dave Toschi, in 2007, Ruffalo played divorced lawyer Dwight Arno, who accidentally kills a child and speeds away, in Terry Georges film Reservation Road, based on the novel by John Burnham Schwartz. In 2008, Ruffalo starred as a con man in The Brothers Bloom with Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz,2008 also saw Ruffalo in Brian Goodmans What Doesnt Kill You with Ethan Hawke and Amanda Peet, which was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2009, he played a role in the film Where The Wild Things Are as Maxs mothers boyfriend. In 2010, he co-starred in the Martin Scorsese thriller Shutter Island as U. S, marshal Chuck Aule, the partner of Leonardo DiCaprios character Teddy Daniels
Mark Ruffalo
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Ruffalo in June 2014
Mark Ruffalo
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Ruffalo at the
2007 Toronto International Film Festival
Mark Ruffalo
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Ruffalo at the Toronto premiere of
The Avengers in 2012
26.
Katie Couric
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Katherine Anne Katie Couric is an American journalist and author. Couric has been a television host on all Big Three television networks in the United States and she worked for NBC News from 1989 to 2006, CBS News from 2006 to 2011, and ABC News from 2011 to 2014. In addition to her television roles, she hosted Katie. Some of her most important notable roles include co-host of Today, anchor of the CBS Evening News and she also reported for nearly every television news broadcast across ABC, CBS and NBC. Courics first book, The Best Advice I Ever Got, Lessons from Extraordinary Lives, was a New York Times best-seller, in 2004, Couric earned induction into the Television Hall of Fame. C. Although her mother was Jewish, Couric was raised as a Presbyterian, in a report for Today, she traced her patrilineal ancestry back to a French orphan who immigrated to the U. S. in the 19th century and became a broker in the cotton business. Couric attended Arlington Public Schools, Jamestown Elementary, Williamsburg Middle School, as a high school student, she was an intern at Washington, D. C. all-news radio station WAVA. She enrolled at her fathers alma mater, the University of Virginia, Couric served in several positions at UVAs award-winning daily newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. During her fourth year at UVA, Couric was chosen to live as Senior Resident of The Lawn and she graduated in 1979 with a bachelors degree in American Studies. Courics first job in 1979 was at the ABC News bureau in Washington, between 1984 and 1986, she worked as a general-assignment reporter for the then-CBS affiliate WTVJ in Miami, Florida. During the following two years, she reported for WRC-TV, the NBC owned- and -operated station in Washington, D. C. work which earned her an Associated Press award, Couric joined NBC News in 1989 as Deputy Pentagon Correspondent. From 1989 to 1991, Couric was an anchor substitute and she also subbed for Daniels, Norville, and John Palmer as the news anchor on Today. In 1989, Couric joined Today as national political correspondent, becoming a substitute co-host in February 1991 when Norville had to leave, Norville did not return and Couric became permanent co-anchor on April 5,1991. While at NBC, Katie Couric occasionally filled in for Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News, from 1989–1993, Couric also filled in for Maria Shriver on the Sunday Edition of NBC Nightly News and for Garrick Utley on the Saturday Edition of NBC Nightly News. In addition, during her time on Today she served as a host of the annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade for 15 years from 1991-2005, Couric hosted or worked on a number of news specials, like Everybodys Business, Americas Children in 1995. Similar entertainment specials were Legend to Legend Night, A Celebrity Cavalcade in 1993, Couric has also co-hosted the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. She has broadcast with Bob Costas, beginning with the 2000 Summer Olympics, John F. Kennedy, Jr. gave Couric his first and last interviews. Couric has won multiple television reporting awards through her career, including the prestigious Peabody Award for her series Confronting Colon Cancer, Couric has also interviewed former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Harry Potter author J. K
Katie Couric
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Couric at the 2012
Tribeca Film Festival
Katie Couric
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Katie Couric hosting the 63rd Annual Peabody Awards
27.
Doug Aitken
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Doug Aitken is an American multimedia artist. Doug Aitken was born in Redondo Beach, California in 1968, in 1987, he initially studied magazine illustration with Philip Hays at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena before graduating in Fine Arts in 1991. He moved to New York in 1994 where he had his first solo show at 303 Gallery and he currently lives and works in Venice, California, and New York. Aitkens video works have taken place in such culturally loaded sites as Jonestown in Guyana, Africas diamond mines, Aitken has created an array of site-specific installations, sometimes synthesizing interactive media with architecture. A recent site-specific work is Underwater Pavilions, which consist of three sculptures that were moored to the ocean floor off Catalina Island, CA. By merging the language of architecture, land art, and ocean research and conservation. In contrast to areas of the sculpture that have a rough and rock-like surface, mirrored sections reflected the seascape and, when approached, activated to become a kaleidoscopic observatory. The environments created by the changed and adjusted with the currents and time of day, focusing the attention of the viewer on the rhythm of the ocean. The artwork created a variety of converging perceptual encounters that played with the fluidity of time and space, the sculptures were created in partnership with Parley for the Oceans and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Another site-specific project, titled Mirage, will premiere at Desert X, near Palm Springs, since the mid-1990s, Aitken has created installations by employing multiple screens in architecturally provocative environments. Diamond sea, for example, includes three projections, one suspended video monitor, and one full-color, illuminated transparency photograph in a dimly lit space. Multiple speakers create an immersive experience, the multi-screen film explores a guarded region in the Namib desert in southwestern Africa known as Diamond Area 1 and 2. The territory, estimated at over 40,000 square miles and sealed off since 1908, hysteria uses film footage from the past four decades that shows audiences at pop and rock concerts working themselves into a frenzy on four screens in an X formation. In 2010, Aitken exhibited his work House, a study of destruction featuring the artists parents, in the winter of 2007, Aitkens Sleepwalkers was presented at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The project included actors such as Donald Sutherland and Tilda Swinton, as well as musicians Seu Jorge, five interlocking vignettes shown through eight projections were displayed upon the exterior walls of the museum so as to be visible from the street. Concurrent with the exhibition, Aitken also presented a happening inside the museum that featured live drummers and auctioneers, in 2008, Aitken produced another large scale outdoor film installation, titled Migration for the 55th Carnegie International show titled Life on Mars in Pittsburgh, PA. The first installment in a trilogy entitled Empire, the work features migratory wild animals of North America as they pass through and curiously inhabit empty. Continuing Aitkens work in large scale outdoor video installation, his artwork SONG1, created for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, challenged the standard of public art in Washington D. C
Doug Aitken
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Aitken's Sleepwalkers displayed at the Museum of Modern Art 2007
28.
God Help the Girl (film)
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God Help the Girl is a 2014 British musical drama film written and directed by Stuart Murdoch of the band Belle and Sebastian. The film premiered in-competition in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on 18 January 2014, the film opened the Generations section at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival on 9 February 2014. After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Amplify acquired the rights of the film. It was released theatrically and Video on demand on 5 September 2014 in the United States, Eve escapes from the psychiatric hospital where she is being treated for anorexia nervosa and makes her way to Glasgow, hoping to become a musician. At a gig, she meets James, a lifeguard and aspiring songwriter and he introduces her to his guitar student Cassie, and the three become friends. Eve meets Anton, the arrogant singer of Wobbly-Legged Rat, a Glasgow band attracting attention from a radio station. She gives him a tape of her music to pass on, James convinces Eve she needs bass and drums to finish her songs. They and Cassie form a band, God Help the Girl, Anton admits he never gave Eves tape to the radio producers, saying she needs better production and musicianship, and they argue. James discovers Eves relationship with Anton and becomes distanced from her, feeling alone, Eve takes drugs and returns to hospital. She tells James she plans to attend college in London. After God Help the Girl performs their final concert, the station play Eves tape. The next day, she leaves for London, emily Browning as Eve Olly Alexander as James Hannah Murray as Cassie Pierre Boulanger as Anton God Help the Girl received mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 68% of 40 reviews have given the film a positive review, dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that God Help the Girl is a slender exercise in self-conscious charm. David Fear of Esquire praised it as rife with the kind of giddy thrills, jonathan Romney of Film Comment Magazine said that its easy to categorize Murdochs film as a vanity project, but if it is, its a very honest one. David DArcy of Screen International said the film has a soft whimsy that connects to a time before video clips put editing rhythms into overdrive, with God Help the Girl, he proves to be a predictably literary and musical filmmaker. Its not funny or clever, or even musically very interesting, rodrigo Perez of Indiewire wrote, A major gaffe, God Help The Girl finds a great artist taking on a huge challenge and stumbling painfully on its ambition almost every step of the way. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a musical that feels like one long B-side. Murdoch responded to Sahims article on Twitter, writing, God knows Ive yearned to know and love women and men of many nations, official website God Help the Girl at the Internet Movie Database God Help the Girl at Rotten Tomatoes
God Help the Girl (film)
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Film poster
God Help the Girl (film)
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God Help the Girl won the Special Jury Award at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival.
29.
Stuart Murdoch (musician)
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Stuart Lee Murdoch is a Scottish musician, writer and filmmaker, and the lead singer and songwriter for the indie pop band Belle and Sebastian. Murdochs parents made him take piano lessons during his childhood, and even though he claims not to have enjoyed them at the time, he says he now appreciates this decision vastly. Apart from early musical activities at school, Murdoch first became publicly involved in music as a radio DJ for Subcity Radio at the University of Glasgow. Whilst at university at the end of the 1980s, he became ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and was unable to work for seven years. Murdoch said that the isolation of these years is what led to his becoming a songwriter, That was a big desert at the time, from that, these songs started coming out, these melodies where I could express what I was feeling. In early 1995, Murdoch had largely recovered from his illness and began to look for fellow musicians to form a band and this was also when he began living above a church hall and working as its caretaker, a position he maintained until 2003. In 2004 he told The Guardian, Im not actually a Christian with a capital C, but I had this time when I found myself singing all these old hymns in my kitchen and I couldnt work out why I was doing it. Then one Sunday morning I got up, looked at my watch and it just felt like you were coming home. Twelve years later, Ive never left, murdochs interest in faith has been perceptible in his lyrics over the term of the band. Belle and Sebastians first album included lines about reading the Gospel to yourself, regarding If You Find Yourself Caught in Love, Murdoch told Gross, At the time I was writing it I thought, well, should I be so overt. Because Ive often couched any religious overtones within characters in the past, and then I just thought, come on, youve been doing this for years, why not. Why not just be a bit more straightforward, sexually ambiguous lyrics in Belle & Sebastians music have prompted Murdoch to confirm his heterosexuality in the press, calling himself straight to the point of boring myself. Murdoch has voiced support for gay marriages and he married long-time girlfriend Marisa Privitera on 26 November 2007 in New York City. Marisa is on the cover of Belle and Sebastians DVD Fans Only and their eldest son, Denny, was born in May 2013. Second son Nico was born in November 2016, Murdoch was diagnosed with colour blindness at an early age and does not drink. I like a Scotch whisky but Im allergic to alcohol, would you believe and its only in the last couple of years. I got eczema and one of the things I had to do to get rid of it was give up alcohol, in 2009, Murdoch contributed the song Another Saturday to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night, produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 2010, Murdoch published his first memoir, The Celestial Café, over 2012–2013, Murdoch wrote and directed the musical feature film God Help the Girl, being released internationally and online in 2014
Stuart Murdoch (musician)
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Murdoch performing in Los Angeles in 2003
30.
Memphis (film)
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Memphis is a 2013 musical drama film, directed by Tim Sutton. The film stars Willis Earl Beal in the role of talented singer. The film had its premiere at the 70th Venice International Film Festival on August 31,2013, the film was also awarded the cinema funding grant by Venice Biennale College. The film later screened at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17,2014, vimeo acquired the exclusive 30-day worldwide digital window on the film, while Kino Lorber will theatrically release the film. A singer drifts through Memphis city on a journey of self-discovery, Willis Earl Beal Constance Brantley Larry Dodson Devonte Hull Lopaka Thomas John Gary Williams Memphis received mostly positive reviews from critics. Justin Lowe in his review for The Hollywood Reporter called it A film of quiet intensity, rob Nelson of Variety, praised the film by saying that is a digressive, daringly experimental study of a flailing musician, magnetically played by accomplished bluesman and poet Willis Earl Beal. Memphis at the Internet Movie Database Memphis at Rotten Tomatoes
Memphis (film)
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Film poster
31.
Flea (musician)
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Michael Peter Balzary, better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-American musician and actor best known as a founding member of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Flea briefly appeared as the bassist for such bands as What Is This and he has also performed with rock supergroups Atoms for Peace, Antemasque, Pigface, and Rocket Juice & the Moon. Flea has also collaborated with artists including The Mars Volta, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Alanis Morissette, in 2009, Rolling Stone readers ranked Flea the second-best bassist of all time, behind John Entwistle. In 2012 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2014, Flea returned to acting in the film Low Down, Flea is the co-founder of Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a non-profit music education organization founded in 2001 for underprivileged children. Michael Peter Balzary was born on October 16,1962 in the Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley and he is of Hungarian and Irish descent. His father, Mick Balzary, a fisherman, often took him fishing. When Flea was seven, his family moved to Larchmont, New York for his fathers career, Flea and his siblings stayed with their mother Patricia, who soon remarried to a jazz musician. He was first called Flea as a child for his inability to sit still. Fleas stepfather, Walter Abdul Urban, frequently invited musicians to his house, the family moved again to Los Angeles, California, where Flea became fascinated with the trumpet. He had no interest in music at the time, he idolized jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong. His stepfather was an alcoholic, who eventually became involved in shoot-outs with police. I was raised in a violent, alcoholic household, Flea later said, I grew up being terrified of my parents. It caused a lot of later in life. To cope, Flea began smoking cannabis at 13, and became a daily user, Flea, who was then nicknamed Mike K the Flea, attended Fairfax High School, and was somewhat of an outcast due to his taste in music and sex fetishes. However, he soon met Anthony Kiedis, and after a brief confrontation, Kiedis recalled, We were drawn to each other by the forces of mischief and love and we became virtually inseparable. We found each other and it turned out to be the friendship of my life. Flea was turned on to music by Hillel Slovak
Flea (musician)
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Flea performing with Red Hot Chili Peppers at the 2006
Oxegen Festival using his
Modulus guitar
Flea (musician)
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Flea performing with Red Hot Chili Peppers at Rock in Rio Madrid 2012.
32.
Low Down
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Low Down is a 2014 American biopic directed by Jeff Preiss and based on the memoirs written by Amy-Jo Albany about her father, famed jazz pianist Joe Albany, and his struggles with drug addiction. The film was produced by Anthony Kiedis and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The film premiered in competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19,2014 and it won the Cinematography Award, U. S. Joe Albany was an accomplished jazz pianist during the 1960s and 1970s, performing with the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis. The film made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19,2014, the film also won best film at the New Hampshire Film Festival in 2014. The first official trailer was released on September 18,2014, the film opened to a limited release on October 24,2014 in New York City and October 31,2014 in Los Angeles. Low Down was met with mixed reviews, review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes sampled 46 film critics reviews,24 which are positive and 22 negative, bringing the score to 52%, averaging 5. 7/10. The films consensus reads, Rich in mood and on-screen talent but lacking in narrative depth, official website Low Down at the Internet Movie Database
Low Down
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Theatrical release poster
33.
Only Lovers Left Alive
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A co-production of the United Kingdom and Germany, the film was nominated for the Palme dOr at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Married for centuries and now living half a world apart, two vampires wake as the sun goes down, Adam sits holding a lute, in his cluttered Detroit Victorian, as Eve wakes up in her bedroom in Tangier, surrounded by books. Rather than feeding on humans, they are like addicts, dependent on local suppliers of the good stuff, after influencing the careers of countless famous musicians and scientists, Adam has become withdrawn and suicidal. His desire to connect through his music is at odds with the danger of recognition as well as his contempt for the corrupt and he spends his days recording his compositions on outdated studio equipment and lamenting the state of the modern world whilst collecting vintage instruments. He pays Ian, a naive human rock and roll kid, to vintage guitars and other assorted curiosities, including a custom-made. His reclusive nature adds to his mystique as a musician and composer, Ian promises to discreetly spread rumors about Adam living elsewhere to draw them away. When Eve calls, she recognizes that he is despondent and decides to come to Detroit, soon after she arrives, Adam goes out for more blood and she discovers a small revolver under the bed, finds the wooden bullet and senses that it is newly made. She confronts him when he returns, chiding him for wasting the time and they spend their nights cruising the empty streets of Detroit, listening to music and playing chess. But their idyllic seclusion is shattered by the arrival of Eves younger sister, Ava, from Los Angeles. Ava offers Ian a hit off the flask she secretly filled with blood and brought to the club, before dawn, Ava kills Ian by drinking too much of his blood, and Adam kicks her out of the house. Adam and Eve dispose of Ians corpse in a pool in an abandoned factory. Ians murder, and the appearance of another bunch of Adams fans at the house, desperately hungry for blood, they visit Marlowe, and learn that their long-time friend and mentor has been poisoned by a batch of contaminated blood. After they discuss how Marlowe secretly penned most of Shakespeares plays, Eve takes all of Adams ready cash and leaves him with the promise of a gift. He is captivated by the music from a club, where a Lebanese singer is finishing a haunting song. Eve reappears with a beautiful oud, and as they sit together outdoors and contemplate their likely demise, Adam remarks before the two of them approach the couple with glowing eyes and their fangs exposed. It will happen when it needs to happen, Jarmusch eventually received a US$7 million budget from the German NRW Filmstiftung. Producer Jeremy Thomas later said that Jarmusch is one of the great American independent film-makers – hes the last of the line, people are not coming through like that any more. In January 2012, Tom Hiddleston replaced Fassbender prior to the beginning of filming, the film began shooting in June 2012 in numerous locations, in the Brush Park district of Detroit, Michigan, U. S. Tangier, Morocco, and Hamburg and Cologne, Germany
Only Lovers Left Alive
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Cast and director at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Only Lovers Left Alive
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English theatrical poster
34.
Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory
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Alive Inside, A Story of Music and Memory is a 2014 American documentary film directed and produced by Michael Rossato-Bennett. The film premiered in competition category of U. S, documentary Competition program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18,2014. It won the Audience Award, U. S, the film deals with the subject of people suffering from Alzheimers disease and how music therapy can help and ease their suffering. A Kickstarter crowdfunding project to finish the film and develop an app was successfully funded on 31 July 2012, after its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, BOND/360 did a service publicity deal for the theatrical distribution of the film. The film was released on July 18,2014 in the United States, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The film received positive response from critics, rob Nelson in his review for Variety said that Michael Rossato-Bennett captures some amazingly transformative results in the treatment of dementia through music. Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter gave the positive review. Steve Greene from Indiewire in his said that Alive Inside provide a sense of idealism amid bleak situations. When discussing the impact of music on an environment so often typified by isolation, one of the patients describes his desire for freedom
Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory
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Promotional poster
35.
Frank (film)
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Frank is a 2014 comedy-drama film directed by Lenny Abrahamson, produced by David Barron, Ed Guiney and Stevie Lee and written by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan. It stars Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, the film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. It was released theatrically in Ireland on 9 May 2014 and on DVD and it was released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2014. Jon Burroughs, a songwriter, lives a mundane life working in an office. Jon dreams of being a brilliant songwriter one day, but believes his uneventful, one day Jon witnesses a man trying to drown himself while walking along the beach of his town. As the man is taken away to the hospital, Jon talks to Don, who explains the man was a keyboardist in an experimental band, Don laments that the band cannot play its gig that night. Jon mentions that he plays keyboards and is invited to play with them, Jon goes along and meets the rest of the band, Nana, Baraque, Clara, and Frank, the band leader who wears a papier-mâché mask. The band plays strange discordant music while Frank sings nonsensical lyrics, Jon picks up the swing of things and begins to play along with the group, until Clara breaks her theremin and storms offstage ending the concert. Back at home Jon returns to his life, but remains enraptured by his experience on stage. While at work Jon receives a call from Don, who tells him Frank wants him to play with the band again, Jon readily accepts, believing this to be another gig, so he accompanies them to Ireland. Jon quickly discovers the band isnt playing a gig, but rather are recording their first album in a cabin for the next year. Undeterred, Jon decides to leave his job and stay with the band, Don bonds with Jon, and tells him that he first met Frank when they were in a mental institution together. As the months progress it is apparent that the band is mentally unstable, as they spend their time recording bendy straw noises and reinventing music notation. A family of vacationers arrive at the cabin believing it to be empty, Frank somehow convinces the family to leave, and Jon volunteers to use his inheritance nest egg to fund the recording of the album. Throughout the year Jon secretly records the band and posts updates on Twitter, one evening Jon talks to Frank, and tells him that he also writes songs, promising to play them for Frank one day. Clara comes in and tells Jon to play one right now, Jon tries to get out of the situation, but cannot, and ultimately embarrasses himself in front of the band. Clara is very antipathic towards Jon, and continually torments him for being mediocre, later, Don explains to Jon that he wanted to be a songwriter too, and just like Jon lacked talent and was terrible. He plays a song for Jon, who compliments it, despite it being very depressing and awful
Frank (film)
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Theatrical release poster
36.
20,000 Days on Earth
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20,000 Days on Earth is a 2014 British documentary musical drama film co-written and directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. Nick Cave also co-wrote the script with Forsyth and Pollard, the film premiered in-competition in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on 20 January 2014. It won two Awards at the festival, after its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, Drafthouse Films acquired distribution rights of the film. The film released on 17 September 2014 in United States, the film also premiered at 64th Berlin International Film Festival in Panorama Dokumente section, in February 2014 and at the 2014 True/False Film Festival. It also served as the opening film at 2014 Sydney Film Festival on 4 June 2014. It was released on 19 September 2014 in United Kingdom,20,000 Days on Earth received general acclaim upon its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 97% of 38 film critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.4 out of 10. On Metacritic, which assigns a mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics. Official website 20,000 Days on Earth at the Internet Movie Database 20,000 Days on Earth at Rotten Tomatoes 20,000 Days on Earth at Metacritic
20,000 Days on Earth
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Theatrical release poster
37.
Nick Cave
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Nicholas Edward Nick Cave AO is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor, best known as the frontman of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. NME called him the lord of gothic lushness. Born and raised in rural Victoria, Cave studied art in Melbourne, in the 1970s, he formed and fronted the Boys Next Door, which spearheaded Melbournes bourgeoning post-punk scene. They changed their name to the Birthday Party and relocated to London in 1980, disillusioned by life in England, the bands sound and live shows became increasingly violent, and they garnered a reputation as one of darkest and most challenging groups of the 1980s. For this they are credited as an influence on gothic rock. The band, having released three albums and two EPs, fell apart after moving to West Berlin in 1983, after the break up of the Birthday Party, Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 1983, releasing its debut album the following year. The 1996 album Murder Ballads featured Where the Wild Roses Grow, Skeleton Tree, the bands sixteenth and most recent album, was released in 2016. Cave formed the rock group Grinderman in 2006, which has since released two albums. Cave co-wrote, scored and starred in the 1988 Australian prison film Ghosts. of the Civil Dead, Cave also wrote the screenplay for Hillcoats bushranger film The Proposition, and composed the soundtrack with frequent collaborator Warren Ellis. The pairs film score credits include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Road, Lawless, Cave is the subject and co-writer of the semi-fictional day in the life documentary 20,000 Days on Earth. He has also released two novels, And the Ass Saw the Angel and The Death of Bunny Munro, Caves songs have been covered by a wide range of artists, including Johnny Cash, Metallica and Arctic Monkeys. He is an Australian artist like Sidney Nolan is an Australian artist—beyond comparison, beyond genre, Cave was born on 22 September 1957 in Warracknabeal, a small country town in the state of Victoria, Australia, to Dawn Cave and Colin Frank Cave. As a child, he lived in Warracknabeal and then Wangaratta in rural Victoria and his father taught English and mathematics at the local technical school, his mother was a librarian at the high school that Nick attended. When Cave was 9 he joined the choir of Wangaratta’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, at 13 he was expelled from Wangaratta High School. In 1970, having moved with his family to the Melbourne suburb of Murrumbeena, after his secondary schooling, Cave studied painting at the Caulfield Institute of Technology in 1976, but dropped out the following year to pursue music. He also began using heroin around the time that he left art school, Cave attended his first music concert at Melbournes Festival Hall. The bill consisted of Manfred Mann, Deep Purple and Free, Cave recalled, I remember sitting there and feeling physically the sound going through me. In 1973, Cave met Mick Harvey, Phill Calvert, John Cochivera, Brett Purcell and they founded a band with Cave as singer
Nick Cave
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Nick Cave in October 2012
Nick Cave
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Cave performing in Belgium, 1986
Nick Cave
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Nick Cave at a solo concert in
Mainz, Germany on 11 November 2006.
Nick Cave
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Cave reading from
The Death of Bunny Munro in New York City, 2009.
38.
Kylie Minogue
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Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE, often known simply as Kylie, is an Australian singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. She achieved recognition starring in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, where she played tomboy mechanic Charlene Robinson, since then, Minogue has been a recording artist and has achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the entertainment industry. Minogue has been recognised with several nicknames including Princess of Pop. She is recognised as the highest-selling Australian artist of all time by the Australian Recording Industry Association, born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Minogue has for many years worked and lived in London. She signed to PWL in 1987 and released her first studio album Kylie the next year, in 1992, she left PWL and signed with Deconstruction Records and where she created her self-titled studio album and Impossible Princess, both of which received positive reviews from critics. Returning to more mainstream dance-oriented music, Minogue signed to Parlophone and her 2001 single Cant Get You Out of My Head became one of the most successful singles during the 2000s, selling over ten million units. It is recognised as her song and was named the catchiest song ever by Yahoo. Her album Fever was a hit in countries, including the United States. In 2005, while Minogue was on her Showgirl, The Greatest Hits Tour, after treatment, she resumed the tour under the title Showgirl, The Homecoming Tour, which critics viewed as a triumph. Minogue resumed work as an actress and appeared in the films Moulin Rouge, Jack & Diane, and Holy Motors. In 2014, she appeared as a judge on the series of The Voice UK. Her other ventures include product endorsements, children books and fashion, as of 2015, Minogue has had worldwide record sales of more than 80 million. She has mounted several successful and critically acclaimed concert world tours and she was appointed OBE by Charles, Prince of Wales in 2008. She was appointed by the French government as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her contribution to the enrichment of French culture, Minogue was awarded an honorary Doctor of Health Science degree by Anglia Ruskin University for her work in raising awareness for breast cancer. In November 2011, on the 25th anniversary of the ARIA Music Awards, in December 2016, Billboard ranked her as the 18th most successful dance artist of all-time. Kylie was born to Ronald Charles Minogue and Carol Ann Jones in Melbourne, Australia and her father is a fifth generation Australian, and has Irish ancestry, while her mother came from Maesteg, Wales. Jones had lived in Wales until age ten when her mother and father, Millie and Denis Jones, just before Kylies birth, Ron qualified as an accountant and worked through several jobs while Carol worked as a professional dancer. Kylies younger brother, Brendan, is a cameraman in Australia, while her younger sister Dannii Minogue is also a singer
Kylie Minogue
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Minogue at an
amfAR event, 2015
Kylie Minogue
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The music video for "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (1995) (left) was inspired by
John Everett Millais '
Ophelia (1851/52) (right).
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
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William Baker has cited the 1940s "
Vargas Girl " pinups of
Alberto Vargas as an influence, as demonstrated in the music video for "
Spinning Around " (2000)
39.
Ray Winstone
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Raymond Andrew Ray Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his hard man roles beginning with his role as Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and he has also become well known as a voice over actor, and has recently branched out into film production. Winstone was born in Homerton, Hackney, London, Winstone moved to Enfield when he was seven, and grew up on a council estate just off the A10 road. His father, Raymond J. Winstone, ran a fruit and vegetable business, while his mother, Winstone recalls playing with his friends on bomb sites, until Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were arrested for killing three children. Ray joined Brimsdown Primary School and then he was educated at Edmonton County School and he also attended Corona Theatre School. He did not take to school, eventually leaving with a single CSE in Drama, Winstone had an early affinity for acting, his father would take him to the cinema every Wednesday afternoon. Later, he viewed Albert Finney in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, other major influences included John Wayne, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. After borrowing extra tuition money from a mother, a drama teacher, Winstone took to the stage, appearing as a Cockney newspaper seller in a production of Emil. Winstone was also a fan of boxing, known to his friends as Winnie, he was called Little Sugs at home. At the age of 12, Winstone joined the famous Repton Amateur Boxing Club, over the next 10 years, won 80 out of 88 bouts. At welterweight, he was London schoolboy champion on three occasions, fighting twice for England. The experience gave him a perspective on his career, If you can get in a ring with 2,000 people watching and be smacked around by another guy. Deciding to pursue drama, Winstone enrolled at the Corona Stage Academy in Hammersmith, at £900 a term, it was expensive, considering the average wage was then about £36 a week. He landed his first major role in What a Crazy World at the Theatre Royal, Stratford, London, Winstone was not popular with the establishment at his secondary school, who considered him a bad influence. After some 12 months, he found that he was the only pupil not invited to the Christmas party, hammering some pins through a piece of wood, he placed it under the wheel of his headmistresss car and blew out the tyre. As a joke, he went up to the BBC, where his schoolmates were involved in an audition, the play, written by Roy Minton and directed by Clarke, was a brutal depiction of a young offenders institution. Winstone was cast in the role of Carlin, a young offender who struggles against both his captors and his fellow cons to become the Daddy of the institution. Hard hitting and often violent the play was judged unsuitable for broadcast by the BBC, the banned television play was entirely re-filmed in 1979 for cinematic release with many of the original actors playing the same roles
Ray Winstone
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Winstone at the London premiere for
Noah in March 2014.
40.
Nick Offerman
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Offerman was born in Joliet, Illinois and grew up in Minooka, Illinois. He is the son of Cathy, a nurse, and Ric Offerman and he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1993. That year, he and a group of fellow students co-founded the Defiant Theatre, Offerman lived in Chicago in the mid-1990s, where he participated with theatre companies such as Steppenwolf, Goodman, and Wisdom Bridge. At Steppenwolf, he worked as a fight choreographer and master carpenter. During this time, Offerman became acquainted with Amy Poehler, who was involved with the Chicago improv comedy scene. In 2003, he married Will & Grace actress Megan Mullally and has appeared on her talk show. Prior to Parks and Recreation, his most prominent role was as factory worker and he appeared twice on Gilmore Girls, in 2003s The Festival of Living Art and 2005s Always a Godmother, Never a God. In 2007, Offerman co-starred in the Comedy Central series American Body Shop, slate magazine declared Offerman Parks and Recreations secret weapon, and said he regularly stole scenes and has a gift for understated physical comedy. Offerman has also featured in the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital with Rob Corddry. He is the voice of Axe Cop in the series of the same name that premiered on July 27,2013. In the same year, Offerman portrayed Johnny Cool in the Boston episode of Derek Waters Drunk History on Comedy Central. Offerman has appeared in films, such as November, Cursed, Miss Congeniality 2, Armed and Fabulous, Sin City, The Men Who Stare at Goats and The Kings of Summer. He also appeared in the 2006 film Wristcutters, A Love Story as a cop who attempts to arrest Shannyn Sossamons character,2012 saw him in two film roles, as 21 Jump Streets Deputy Chief Hardy and in Casa de Mi Padre as DEA Agent Parker. Additionally, he starred in and produced an independent film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, shot in Austin and he appeared in the 2013 comedy Were the Millers, which starred Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston, and voiced Metalbeard in The Lego Movie. Offerman conceived of and starred in punk band FIDLARs 2013 video for their song Cocaine, Offerman also played an alcoholic college guidance counselor in Believe Me. Offerman played the recurring role Karl Weathers in the season of Fargo. Offerman voiced Grandpa Mike alongside wife Megan Mullally who voiced Grandma Linda in Hotel Transylvania 2, in addition to acting, Offerman is also a professional boat builder and has a side business as a wood craftsman. Offerman makes furniture and other structures such as canoes and boats at his woodshop
Nick Offerman
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Offerman in October 2013
Nick Offerman
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Offerman at the 2014 Sundance Awards Ceremony
41.
Megan Mullally
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Megan Mullally is an American actress and a singer. Mullally is best known for playing the wealthy, alcoholic socialite, Karen Walker, on the Emmy Award-winning TV sitcom, Will & Grace, from 2006 until early 2007, Mullally hosted The Megan Mullally Show. Following the short-lived talk show, she has been a regular on shows such as In the Motherhood, Party Down. She has appeared in several guest-starring roles in programs, including Parks and Recreation, Happy Endings,30 Rock, Up All Night, Boston Legal. She has also appeared in such as Why Him. Smashed, and The Kings of Summer, Mullally was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Martha and Carter Mullally, Jr. an actor who was a contract player with Paramount Pictures in the 1950s. Mullally moved to her fathers native Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the age of six and she is of Irish ancestry on her fathers side. She studied ballet from the age of six and performed at the Oklahoma City Ballet during high school, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985. Two weeks later, she was signed by the William Morris Agency, one of her first acting spots was on a McDonalds commercial that also featured John Goodman. She made her series debut in 1986 in The Ellen Burstyn Show and she subsequently guest starred on sitcoms such as Seinfeld, Frasier, Wings, Ned and Stacey, Mad About You, Caroline in the City, and Just Shoot Me. So I get a one day from my agent that Id gotten offered a guest role. I literally fell down onto my knees and testified and wept, I played some former protégée of Jessica Fletcher. Its one of my favorite things Ive ever shot, in 1989, Mullally tested for the co-starring role of Elaine Benes on Seinfeld. Mullally in 1998 landed the role of Karen Walker, Grace Adlers sarcastic, pill-popping assistant and she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in both 2000 and 2006, and was nominated in 2001,2002,2003,2004, and 2005. She is the first of two actresses to win a SAG Award three years in a row. She was nominated each year from 2000 until 2003 for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Also in 2005, Mullally was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her innovation in creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television. Following Will & Grace, Mullally hosted her own talk show and she has hosted Saturday Night Live, guest-hosted the Late Show with David Letterman, hosted the 2006 TV Land Awards, and been a featured performer twice on the Tony Awards
Megan Mullally
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Mullally in June 2014
Megan Mullally
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Mullally at the
San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2011.
42.
Rich Hill (film)
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Rich Hill is a 2014 American documentary film co-produced and directed by Andrew Droz Palermo and Tracy Droz Tragos. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U. S, grand Jury Prize for a documentary. After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, The Orchard, Independent Lens broadcast the film nationally on PBS, while The Orchard distributed the film in the U. S. and Canada outside of linear broadcast. The film was released on August 1,2014 in the United States, the film chronicles challenges, hopes, and dreams of three young residents — Andrew, Harley, and Appachey — of a rural American town. Andrews father has moved the family multiple times and his mother may suffer from agoraphobia, Harley lives with his grandmother in a trailer because his mother is in prison. Appachey was abandoned by his father at age 6 and lives with his mother and he chooses not to take medication for a number of conditions, including bipolar disorder, ADD, OCD, and ODD. The film received positive response from critics, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 83% of 19 film critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 8 out of 10. The sites summary states, As compassionate as it is infuriating, on Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film holds an average score of 74, based on 14 reviews, indicating a Generally Favorable response. Peter Debruge in his review for Variety called it An open-hearted portrait of impoverished American life, duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review and called it A hard-eyed but empathetic glimpse into the hardscrabble lives of struggling Missouri folk. Katie Walsh from Indiewire in her review said, A truly moving and edifying film, dan Schindel in his review for Movie Mezzanine said A wonderful look at pubescent melancholy and rural living. Official website Rich Hill at the Internet Movie Database Rich Hill at Rotten Tomatoes Rich Hill at Metacritic
Rich Hill (film)
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Sundance film poster
43.
The Return to Homs
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The Return to Homs is a 2013 Syrian-German documentary film written and directed by Talal Derki. It is produced by Orwa Nyrabia and Hans Robert Eisenhauer while Diana El Jeiroudi served as the associate producer, the film premiered in-competition at the 2013 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam on November 20,2013, as the opening film of the festival. The film also premiered in-competition in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20,2014 and it won the Grand Jury Prize award at the festival. After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Journeyman Pictures acquired the distribution rights of the film. The films TV rights has been sold to ARTE for France and Germany, NHK for Japan, RTS for Switzerland, SVT for Sweden. It also served as the film at 2014 Human Rights Film Festival on March 28,2014. Their homes, lives and dreams destroyed and in order to gain freedom, they are forced to change course Baset, the Return to Homs received mostly positive reviews upon its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Neil Young in his review for The Hollywood Reporter called the film An unflinching, rousing piece of civil-war reportage, literally dispatched from the conflicts front lines. Eric Kohn from Indiewire praised the film by saying that Return to Homs reveals a far more frenzied, with its climactic freeze frame, Derki captures the mens uneasy combination of desperation and triumph in a single image, With nowhere left to go, they still push ahead. Official Site The Return to Homs at the Internet Movie Database The Return to Homs at Rotten Tomatoes
The Return to Homs
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Promotional poster
The Return to Homs
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The Return to Homs won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival.
44.
To Kill a Man
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To Kill a Man is a 2014 Chilean-French drama film written and directed by Alejandro Fernández Almendras. The film premiered in-competition in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17,2014 and it won the Grand Jury Prize at the festival. On January 29, it premiered at 2014 International Film Festival Rotterdam, the film later screened at the 2014 Miami International Film Festival in The Knight Competition on March 10,2014. It won the Critics Award at the festival and it also premiered in competition at 2014 Fribourg International Film Festival on March 30,2014 and won the Special Jury Prize. After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Film Movement acquired the rights of the film. The film will be release in the United States and Canada in fall 2014, followed with a VOD. The film was selected as the Chilean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, a hard-working and poor Jorge and his family are terrorised by local criminal Kalules clan. Jorges teenage son boldly tries to stand up for his father, Jorge and his wife, Martha, seek justice from the legal system but all their efforts goes to vain. As Kalule is released after his two years sentence in prison, Jorge becomes ready to defend his family. Guy Lodge of Variety, said in his review that “To Kill a Man, ” a grim, john DeFore in his review for The Hollywood Reporter called the film A quiet drama that cares as much about familial alienation as getting away with murder. Lorri Vodi Rupard from The GATE praised the film by saying that The tonality of To Kill A Man is that of stark desperation, a terrifically tense first half culminates in a truly brilliant scene featuring a car alarm used as a lure. The pace subsequently sags, but it all ends with a dramatic pop as sharp as the first of two gunshots in this menacing, morally agnostic film
To Kill a Man
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Film poster
To Kill a Man
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It won the Grand Jury Prize at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival.
45.
Difret
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Difret is a 2014 Ethiopian drama film written and directed by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari. The film had its premiere in-competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival where it won the World Cinematic Dramatic Audience Award, angelina Jolie served as the executive producer of the film. The film later premiered at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section and it was selected as the Ethiopian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. The film chronicles a legal-precedent setting court case that outlawed the kidnapping of brides in Ethiopia. It tells the story of a 14-year-old girl, Hirut Assefa, who is kidnapped on her way home from school and subsequently grabs a rifle and tries to escape, in her village, the practice of abduction into marriage is common and one of Ethiopias oldest traditions. Meaza Ashenafi, the founder of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, arrives from the city to have her team represent Hirut, the case settled out of court and the ban was ultimately lifted. The films director, Mehari, apologized to Bekele for “any misperception and for any harm that may have caused. ”The film subsequently enjoyed a theatrical run in Ethiopia. Difret received mixed reviews upon its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, dennis Harvey of Variety, said in his review that “Difret” presents an important message, albeit in rather clunky narrative terms. More showing and less telling would have made this fact-inspired drama by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari as artistically compelling as it is informative, still, fests and other outlets attracted to social-justice issues will queue up for this relatively rare export-ready Ethiopian feature. Boyd van Hoeij in his review for The Hollywood Reporter called the film A quiet and powerful drama, based on a true story, the film has a score of 58% on Metacritic
Difret
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Theatrical release poster
Difret
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Difret won the Audience Award at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival.
46.
Imperial Dreams
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Imperial Dreams is an American drama film written and directed by Malik Vitthal. The film had its premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20,2014. It won the Audience Award at the festival, the film was released as a Netflix original film on February 3,2017. The title Imperial Dreams references a point in the movie where the nature of emperors of the projects is expounded upon. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% of 11 film critics have given the film a positive review, geoffrey Berkshire of Variety, in his review called the film Bighearted yet surprisingly nuanced. Justin Lowe by his review for The Hollywood Reporter praised the film in calling it An assured debut that stands to connect with a diverse audience, chase Whale of Indiewire graded the film B+ by saying that John Boyega first wowed audiences with his dynamite performance in Attack the Block. Once again playing the anti-hero, Imperial Dreams is another victory lap for this young actor, Imperial Dreams at the Internet Movie Database Imperial Dreams at Rotten Tomatoes
Imperial Dreams
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It won the Audience Award: Best of NEXT at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival.
47.
The Case Against 8
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The Case Against 8 is an American documentary film, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18,2014. Cotner and White won the Directing Award, U. S, Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was subsequently screened at the 2014 SXSW festival. The film screened at the 2014 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, Ontario and went on to screen within such festivals as SXSW and Maryland Film Festival. The film will receive a limited theatrical release in June 2014, screening in New York City, Los Angeles. Official site HBO documentary films site The Case Against 8 at the Internet Movie Database
The Case Against 8
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The Case Against 8
48.
Fishing Without Nets (2014 film)
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Fishing Without Nets is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Cutter Hodierne. The film stars Abdikani Muktar, Abdi Siad, Abdiwali Farrah, Abdikhadir Hassan, Reda Kateb, the film premiered in-competition in the US Dramatic Category at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17,2014. It won an award at the festival, a Somali father turns to piracy in order to support his family. However, he begins to experience intense ethical reservations and it won the Grand Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Fishing Without Nets met with positive response from critics upon its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, dennis Harvey, in his review for Variety, praised the film that Cutter Hodierne makes an accomplished feature debut with this very well-crafted, empathetic hijacking drama. The movie never reaches the heights of its Hollywood cousin. Fishing Without Nets at the Internet Movie Database Fishing Without Nets at AllMovie Fishing Without Nets at Rotten Tomatoes
Fishing Without Nets (2014 film)
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Film poster
49.
52 Tuesdays
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52 Tuesdays is a 2014 Australian coming of age drama film directed by Sophie Hyde. The film centres on a girl dealing with her mother transitioning gender to become a trans man. The film showed at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim, in suburban Australia, 16-year-old Billie lives with her lesbian mother Jane, who is divorced from her father Tom, and with Janes younger brother Harry. One day Jane reveals plans to undergo a transition, now calling himself James. The film is divided into the corresponding 52 segments, each covering one Tuesday, each Tuesday, after visiting James and before returning to Tom, Billie has secret encounters with two older students, Josh and Jasmine, in an apartment Harry allows them to use. Billie films sexual experiments of the threesome, a setback for James is that he has to stop testosterone injections, because of a rare condition of his body not tolerating it. After sending a photograph of herself to Jasmine, Billie gets into trouble as this is considered child pornography. The school principal, James, Tom and Jasmine strongly disapprove it, Billie is shocked that James destroys one of her tapes, and refuses further contact with him. Josh does not want physical contact with Billie anymore because of Toms disapproval, later Billie is willing to destroy a remaining tape, but since it is in James house who she no longer visits, she is dependent on Harry, who finally destroys it for her. When the year is finished, Billie reconciles with James, also Billie, Josh and Jasmine become friends again. The film was released theatrically in Australia on 1 May 2014,52 Tuesdays was met with positive reviews from critics upon its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, earning a 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Geoff Berkshire, in his review for Variety, said that the film Demonstrates a willingness to experiment that bodes well for future endeavors. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter in his said that A thoughtful drama about a mother and daughter whose connection is tested as they both go through intense changes. Tom Clift of Concrete Playground gave a review and said, Honest, insightful and bravely against the grain,52 Tuesdays is a magnificent debut for cast. 52 Tuesdays at the Internet Movie Database 52 Tuesdays at Closer Productions Official Website
52 Tuesdays
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North American theatrical release poster
52 Tuesdays
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52 Tuesdays won the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic at the
2014 Sundance Film Festival.
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Media related to 2014 Sundance Film Festival at Wikimedia Commons
