Richard Brooks (actor)
Richard L. Brooks is an American actor and director, he is best known for his one-off role as the eccentric bounty hunter Jubal Early in the space-western Firefly and assistant district attorney Paul Robinette in the NBC drama series, Law & Order from 1990 to 1993 and reprising his role as a defense attorney on that same show. In 2013, he began Being Mary Jane. Born and raised in Cleveland, Brooks studied acting and voice work at Interlochen Academy of Arts in Michigan, he moved to New York City and was a student of the Circle in the Square Professional Theater School. While in New York, Brooks performed in the Eugene O'Neill Theater Conference production of August Wilson's Fences, which gained him a positive reputation. A subsequent move to Los Angeles found the actor landing numerous television roles, Hill Street Blues s04e10 "The Russians Are Coming" with made-for-TV features as Badge of the Assassin and Resting Place. With Teen Wolf, The Hidden, Off Limits and Shocker, Brooks began his work in the world of feature films.
Brooks appeared as OD in the award-winning film 84C MoPic, directed by Patrick Sheane Duncan. Throughout the 1990s, most of his popularity came from his widespread exposure in his role as Paul Robinette on Law & Order. However, the actor would find himself alternating between the feature films and the stage. After appearing in The Substitute and playing the villain in The Crow: City of Angels, Brooks opted to try his hand at directing, the result was Johnny B Good, it is about a urban black man who makes a positive change after suffering amnesia. Brooks returned to television for the short-lived series G vs E in 1999. In 2001 he made a guest appearance in NYPD Blue. Brooks is well known by some science fiction fans for his appearance on Joss Whedon's Firefly, as a bounty hunter named Jubal Early in the existentialist series finale "Objects in Space", he appeared as Hasdrabul Skaras in "Slayer", the fifth episode of the series Brimstone. He appeared as Detective Ehrle in the short-lived Fox series Drive, alongside Nathan Fillion, with whom Brooks had worked on Firefly.
In addition to his film work, Brooks founded his own production company, Flat Top Entertainment LLC. At the dawn of the millennium, Brooks released his first solo R&B album, Smooth Love, on Flat Top Records. In March 2011, Brooks played the role of Harmond Wilkes in Radio Golf, written by August Wilson, at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York, he played Frederick Douglass in the 2013 PBS series The Abolitionists. Brooks stars as Patrick in the BET original series Being Mary Jane, it premiered July 2, 2013. Brooks stars as Lead Marshal Pollack in Person of Interest, season 3, "The Devil's Share". Brooks played Warden Wolfe in season 4 of The Flash. Richard Brooks on IMDb
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film co-produced, directed and edited by Oren Peli. It centers on a young couple, they set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film utilizes found-footage conventions that were mirrored in the films of the series. Developed as an independent feature and given film festival screenings in 2007, the film was acquired by Paramount Pictures and modified with a new ending, it was given a limited U. S. release on September 25, 2009, a nationwide release on October 16, 2009. The film earned nearly $108 million at the U. S. box office and a further $85 million internationally for a worldwide total of $193 million. Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U. S. rights for $350,000. It is the most profitable film made, based on return on investment, although such figures are difficult to verify independently as this is to exclude marketing costs; the film is the first entry in the Paranormal Activity film series. A parallel sequel and prequel, Paranormal Activity 2, was released in 2010.
The success of the first two films would spawn additional films in the series: the prequel Paranormal Activity 3 in 2011, Paranormal Activity 4 in 2012. A spin-off, The Marked Ones, was released in 2014, the fifth and final installment, The Ghost Dimension, was released in 2015. Young couple Katie and Micah move to a new house in San Diego. Katie claims an evil presence has been haunting her since she was a child, so Micah sets up a camera in their bedroom to record any paranormal activity that occurs while they sleep. A famous psychic Dr. Fredrichs, who reveals that Katie is being haunted by a demon that feeds off the negative energy and is intent on tormenting Katie, advises them not to communicate with the demon and to contact demonologist Dr. Johann Averies if needed. Katie seems interested; the camera manages to capture many strange occurrences, which are minor at first, such as noises, flickering lights, doors moving on their own. However, Micah mocks the demon, worsening the situation.
During the thirteenth night, the demon angrily screeches and there is a loud thud, causing the entire house to vibrate. Voice recorder tests are conducted by Micah the following morning, which reveal demonic grunting when Micah asks if it would like to use a Ouija board. During the fifteenth night, Katie, in an apparent trance, stands beside the bed and stares at Micah for two hours before going outside. Micah tries to convince Katie to go back inside, but she refuses and appears to remember none of it the next day. Micah brings home a Ouija board; when they leave the house, the camera records an unseen force moving the planchette to form an unknown message on the Ouija board, which spontaneously catches fire. Katie sees the video and pleads with Micah to contact the demonologist. During the seventeenth night, Micah sprinkles baby powder in the hallway and outside the bedroom door; the couple are awakened by creaks, find non-human footprints leading to the attic, where Micah finds a burnt photograph of a young Katie.
Katie calls the demonologist, Dr. Averies, but he is out of the country; the events of the seventeenth night have psychologically terrified the couple, which in turn has strengthened the demon. Over the next few nights, the paranormal activity is intense, they call Dr. Fredrichs back to the house, but he is overwhelmed by the demonic energy upon entering, he apologetically leaves despite their pleas, stating that his presence only makes the demon angrier. The bleak reality causes the couple to lose all hope, which makes the demon strong enough to be able to pull Katie out of the bedroom and bite her, causing her to become possessed. Micah discovers the bite mark and—deciding events are too out of control to remain in the house—he packs to head to a motel. Just as they are set to leave, the possessed Katie insists; the following night, Katie gets out of bed and stares at Micah for two hours before going downstairs. After a moment of silence, Katie screams for Micah. Afterward, Micah exclaims in pain, Katie stops screaming, heavy footsteps are heard coming upstairs.
Micah's body is violently hurled at the camera, knocked off the tripod, revealing a demonic Katie standing in the doorway. She walks into the room, stained with blood, crawls to Micah's body looks up at the camera with a grin; as she lunges toward the camera, her face takes on a demonic appearance just as the scene cuts to black. Epilogue text states that Micah's body was discovered by the police on October 11, 2006, Katie's whereabouts remain unknown. Once Paramount acquired the film, the original ending was scrapped, two new endings were developed for the film, one of them being the one seen in theaters. Katie returns to the bedroom and sits down against the bed with the knife in her hand, rocking back and forth, for two days straight, her friend Amber calls and leaves a message, saying that she is concerned because she hasn't heard from Katie or Micah. Amber comes looking for her, but when she enters the house, she is heard screaming after seeing Micah's body; the creature possessing Katie leaves her body, scaring Amber out of the house before returning to Katie, who resumes rocking back and forth.
Police officers arrive at the house about a half hour and discover Micah's body
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War known as the Second Indochina War, in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or the American War, was an undeclared war in Vietnam and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and other communist allies; the war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war from some US perspectives. It lasted some 19 years with direct U. S. involvement ending in 1973 following the Paris Peace Accords, included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, resulting in all three countries becoming communist states in 1975. American military advisors began arriving in what was French Indochina in 1950 to support the French in the First Indochina War against the communist-led Viet Minh. Most of the funding for the French war effort was provided by the U. S. After the French quit Indochina in 1954, the US assumed financial and military responsibility for the South Vietnamese state.
The Việt Cộng known as Front national de libération du Sud-Viêt Nam or NLF, a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North, initiated a guerrilla war against the South Vietnamese government in 1959. U. S. involvement escalated in 1960, continued in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy, with troop levels surging under the MAAG program from just under a thousand in 1959 to 16,000 in 1963. By 1964, there were 23,000 U. S. troops in Vietnam, but this escalated further following the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which a U. S. destroyer was alleged to have clashed with North Vietnamese fast attack craft. In response, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authorization to increase U. S. military presence, deploying ground combat units for the first time and increasing troop levels to 184,000. Past this point, the People's Army of Vietnam known as the North Vietnamese Army engaged in more conventional warfare with US and South Vietnamese forces; every year onward there was significant build-up of US forces despite little progress, with Robert McNamara, one of the principal architects of the war, beginning to express doubts of victory by the end of 1966.
U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces and airstrikes. The U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The Tet Offensive of 1968, proved to be the turning point of the war; the Tet Offensive showed that the end of US involvement was not in sight, increasing domestic skepticism of the war. The unconventional and conventional capabilities of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam increased following a period of neglect and became modeled on heavy firepower-focused doctrines like US forces. Operations crossed international borders. S. forces. Gradual withdrawal of U. S. ground forces began as part of "Vietnamization", which aimed to end American involvement in the war while transferring the task of fighting the communists to the South Vietnamese themselves and began the task of modernizing their armed forces. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the Case–Church Amendment passed by the U.
S. Congress; the capture of Saigon by the NVA in April 1975 marked the end of the war, North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities. Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 275,000–310,000 Cambodians, 20,000–62,000 Laotians, 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict, a further 1,626 remain missing in action. The Sino-Soviet split re-emerged following the lull during the Vietnam War and confllict between North Vietnam and its Cambodian allies in the Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea, the newly-formed Democratic Kampuchea begun immediately in a series of border raids by the Khmer Rouge and erupted into the Cambodian–Vietnamese War, with Chinese forces directly intervening in the Sino-Vietnamese War; the end of the war and resumption of the Third Indochina War would precipitate the Vietnamese boat people and the bigger Indochina refugee crisis, which saw an estimated 250,000 people perish at sea.
Within the US the war gave rise to what was referred to as Vietnam Syndrome, a public aversion to American overseas military involvements, which together with Watergate contributed to the crisis of confidence that affected America throughout the 1970s. Various names have been applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most used name in English, it has been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this particular conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ, but less formally as'Cuộc chiến tranh Mỹ', it is called Chiến tranh Việt Nam. The primary military organizations involved in the war were as follows: One side consisted of th
Donovan
Donovan is a Scottish singer and guitarist. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, pop and world music, he has lived in Scotland, London and since at least 2008 in County Cork, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series Ready Steady Go!. Having signed with Pye Records in 1965, he recorded singles and two albums in the folk vein, after which he signed to CBS/Epic Records in the US – the first signing by the company's new vice-president Clive Davis – and became more successful internationally, he began a long and successful collaboration with leading British independent record producer Mickie Most, scoring multiple hit singles and albums in the UK, US, other countries. His most successful singles were the early UK hits "Catch the Wind", "Colours" and "Universal Soldier" in 1965. In September 1966 "Sunshine Superman" topped America's Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week and went to number two in Britain, followed by "Mellow Yellow" at US No. 2 in December 1966 1968's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" in the Top 5 in both countries "Atlantis", which reached US No. 7 in May 1969.
He became a friend of pop musicians including Brian Jones and The Beatles. He taught John Lennon a finger-picking guitar style in 1968 that Lennon employed in "Dear Prudence", "Julia", "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and other songs. Donovan's commercial fortunes waned after parting with Most in 1969, he left the industry for a time. Donovan continued to record sporadically in the 1970s and 1980s, his musical style and hippie image were scorned by critics after punk rock. His performing and recording became sporadic until a revival in the 1990s with the emergence of Britain's rave scene, he recorded the 1996 album Sutras with producer Rick Rubin and in 2004 made a new album, Beat Cafe. Donovan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014. Donovan was born on 10 May 1946, in Glasgow, to Donald and Winifred Leitch, his father was Protestant and his mother was Catholic. He contracted polio as a child; the disease and treatment left him with a limp. In 1956, his family moved to the new town of Hatfield, England.
Influenced by his family's love of folk music, he began playing the guitar at 14. He enrolled in art school but soon dropped out, to live out his beatnik aspirations by going on the road. Returning to Hatfield, Donovan spent several months playing in local clubs, absorbing the folk scene around his home in St Albans, learning the crosspicking guitar technique from local players such as Mac MacLeod and Mick Softley and writing his first songs. In 1964, he travelled to Manchester with Gypsy Dave spent the summer in Torquay, Devon. In Torquay he stayed with Mac MacLeod and took up busking, studying the guitar, learning traditional folk and blues. In late 1964, Donovan was offered a management and publishing contract by Peter Eden and Geoff Stephens of Pye Records in London, for which he recorded a 10-track demo tape, which included the original of his first single, "Catch the Wind", "Josie"; the first song revealed the influence of Woody Guthrie and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, who had influenced Bob Dylan.
Dylan comparisons followed for some time. In an interview with KFOK radio in the US on 14 June 2005, MacLeod said: "The press were fond of calling Donovan a Dylan clone as they had both been influenced by the same sources: Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Jesse Fuller, Woody Guthrie, many more."While recording the demo, Donovan befriended Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, recording nearby. He had met Jones' ex-girlfriend, Linda Lawrence, the mother of Jones' son, Julian Brian Leitch; the on-off romantic relationship that developed over five years was a force in Donovan's career. She influenced Donovan's music but refused to marry him and she moved to the United States for several years in the late 1960s, they married soon after. Donovan had other relationships – one of which resulted in the birth of his first two children, Donovan Leitch and Ione Skye, both of whom became actors. During Bob Dylan's trip to the UK in the spring of 1965, the British music press were making comparisons of the two singer-songwriters and going so far as to stir up allegations of a rivalry, other luminaries of the pop scene were chiming in.
The Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones said, We've been watching Donovan too. He isn't too bad. His'Catch The Wind' sounds like'Chimes of Freedom'. He's got a song,'Hey Tangerine Eyes' and it sounds like Dylan's'Mr. Tambourine Man'. Donovan is the undercurrent In D. A. Pennebaker's film Dont Look Back documenting Dylan's tour. Near the start of the film, Dylan opens a newspaper and exclaims, "Donovan? Who is this Donovan?" and his associates spur the rivalry on by telling Dylan that Donovan is a better guitar player, but that he had only been around for three months. Throughout the film Donovan's name is seen next to Dylan's on newspaper headlines and on posters in the background, Dylan and his friends refer to him consistently. Donovan appears in the second half of the film, along with Derroll Adams, in Dylan's suite at the Savoy Hotel despite Donovan's management refusing to allow journalists to be present, saying they did not want "any stunt on the lines of the disciple meeting the messiah".
According to Pennebaker, Dylan told him not to film the encounter, Donovan played a song that sounded just like "Mr. Tambourine Man" but with different
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921, is a United States nonprofit think tank specializing in U. S. foreign policy and international affairs. It is headquartered in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D. C, its membership, which numbers 4,900, has included senior politicians, more than a dozen secretaries of state, CIA directors, lawyers and senior media figures. The CFR meetings convene government officials, global business leaders and prominent members of the intelligence and foreign-policy community to discuss international issues. CFR publishes the bi-monthly journal Foreign Affairs, runs the David Rockefeller Studies Program, which influences foreign policy by making recommendations to the presidential administration and diplomatic community, testifying before Congress, interacting with the media, publishing on foreign policy issues. Towards the end of World War I, a working fellowship of about 150 scholars called "The Inquiry" was tasked to brief President Woodrow Wilson about options for the postwar world when Germany was defeated.
This academic band, including Wilson's closest adviser and long-time friend "Colonel" Edward M. House, as well as Walter Lippmann, met to assemble the strategy for the postwar world; the team produced more than 2,000 documents detailing and analyzing the political and social facts globally that would be helpful for Wilson in the peace talks. Their reports formed the basis for the Fourteen Points, which outlined Wilson's strategy for peace after war's end; these scholars traveled to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 and participated in the discussions there. As a result of discussions at the Peace Conference, a small group of British and American diplomats and scholars met on May 30, 1919 at the Hotel Majestic in Paris and decided to create an Anglo-American organization called "The Institute of International Affairs", which would have offices in London and New York. Due to the isolationist views prevalent in American society at the time, the scholars had difficulty gaining traction with their plan, turned their focus instead to a set of discreet meetings, taking place since June 1918 in New York City, under the name "Council on Foreign Relations."
The meetings were headed by the corporate lawyer Elihu Root, who had served as Secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt, attended by 108 “high-ranking officers of banking, manufacturing and finance companies, together with many lawyers.” The members were proponents of Wilson's internationalism, but were concerned about "the effect that the war and the treaty of peace might have on postwar business." The scholars from the inquiry saw an opportunity here to create an organization that brought diplomats, high-level government officials and academics together with lawyers and industrialists to engineer government policy. On July 29, 1921 they filed a certification of incorporation forming the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1922 Edwin F. Gay, former dean of the Harvard Business School and director of the Shipping Board during the war, spearheaded the Council's efforts to begin publication of a magazine that would be the "authoritative" source on foreign policy, he gathered $125,000 from the wealthy members on the council, via sending letters soliciting funds to "the thousand richest Americans".
Using these funds, the first issue of Foreign Affairs was published in September 1922, within a few years had gained a reputation as the "most authoritative American review dealing with international relations". In the late 1930s, the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation began contributing large amounts of money to the Council. In 1938 they created various Committees on Foreign Relations, which became governed by the American Committees on Foreign Relations in Washington, D. C. throughout the country, funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. Influential men were to be chosen in a number of cities, would be brought together for discussions in their own communities as well as participating in an annual conference in New York; these local committees served to influence local leaders and shape public opinion to build support for the Council's policies, while acting as "useful listening posts" through which the Council and U. S. government could "sense the mood of the country". Beginning in 1939 and lasting for five years, the Council achieved much greater prominence within the government and the State Department, when it established the confidential War and Peace Studies, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
The secrecy surrounding this group was such that the Council members who were not involved in its deliberations were unaware of the study group's existence. It was divided into four functional topic groups: economic and financial and armaments, political; the security and armaments group was headed by Allen Welsh Dulles who became a pivotal figure in the CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services. The CFR produced 682 memoranda for the State Department, marked classified and circulated among the appropriate government departments. A critical study found that of 502 government officials surveyed from 1945 to 1972, more than half were members of the Council. During the Eisenhower administration 40% of the top U. S. foreign policy officials were CFR members. During the Kennedy administration, this number rose to 51%, peaked at 57% under the Johnson administration. In an anonymous piece called "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" that appeared in Foreign Affairs in 1947, CFR study group member George Kennan coined the term "containment".
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The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It tells the fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard—who hike in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch; the three disappeared. The purportedly "recovered footage" is the film. Myrick and Sánchez conceived of a fictional legend of the Blair Witch in 1993, they developed a 35-page screenplay with the dialogue to be improvised. A casting call advertisement in Backstage magazine was prepared by the directors and Donahue and Leonard were cast; the film entered production in October 1997, with the principal photography taking place in Maryland for eight days overseen by cinematographer Neal Fredericks. About 20 hours of footage was edited down to 82 minutes; when The Blair Witch Project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 1999, its promotional marketing campaign listed the actors as either "missing" or "deceased".
Owing to its successful run at Sundance, Artisan Entertainment bought the film's distribution rights for $1.1 million. It had a North American release on July 14, 1999, before expanding to a wider release starting on July 30. While critical reception was positive, audience reception was split; the film was regarded to have popularized the found-footage technique used by successful thriller films such as Paranormal Activity and Chronicle. A sleeper hit, The Blair Witch Project grossed nearly $250 million worldwide on a modest budget of $60,000, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time; the film spawned two sequels—Book of Shadows and Blair Witch—released in October 2000 and September 2016, respectively. The Blair Witch franchise has expanded to include novels, video games, comic books and additional merchandise. In October 1994, film students Heather and Josh set out to produce a documentary about the fabled Blair Witch, they travel to Burkittsville and interview residents about the legend.
Locals tell them of Rustin Parr, a hermit who lived in the woods and kidnapped eight children in the 1940s, killing seven of them on the orders of the witch. After spending the night at a motel, the students explore the woods in north Burkittsville to research the legend. Along the way they meet two fishermen, he tells them of a young girl named Robin Weaver, who went missing in 1888. His companion, however, is skeptical of the story; the students hike to Coffin Rock, where five men were found ritualistically murdered in the 19th century. Their bodies disappeared; the group camps for the night. They move deeper into the woods the next day and locate what appears to be an old cemetery with seven small cairns and set up camp nearby; that night, they hear the sound of twigs snapping from all directions but assume the noises are from animals or locals. The following day, they try to hike back to the car but are unable to find it before dark and make camp, they again fail to find the source of the noises.
In the morning, they find that three cairns have been built around their tent during the night, which unnerves them. As they continue, Heather learns. Mike reveals he kicked it into a creek the previous day out of frustration, which prompts Heather and Josh to attack him in a rage, they realize they are now lost and decide to head south. They reach a section where they discover a multitude of humanoid stick figures suspended from trees, they again hear sounds that night, including those of children laughing, among other strange noises. After an unknown force shakes the tent, they hide in the woods until dawn. Upon returning to their tent, they find that their possessions have been rifled through, Josh's equipment is covered with slime; as they continue, they come across a log on a river identical to one. They realize they have walked in a circle, despite thinking they traveled south all day, once again make camp. Josh suffers a breakdown while holding the camera, taunting Heather for their circumstances and her constant recording of the events.
Josh has disappeared the next morning, Heather and Mike try in vain to find him before moving on. That night, they hear Josh's agonized are unable to locate him. Mike and Heather theorize that Josh's screams are a fabrication by the witch to draw them out of their tent; the next day, outside her tent, Heather discovers a bundle of sticks tied with a piece of fabric from Josh's shirt. As she searches through it, she finds blood-soaked scraps of Josh's shirt as well as teeth and what appears to be a piece of his tongue. Although distraught by the discovery, she chooses not to tell Mike; that night, Heather records herself apologizing to her family and to Mike's and Josh's families, taking full responsibility for their predicament. They again hear Josh's agonized cries for help and follow them to a derelict, abandoned house containing symbols and children's bloody hand-prints on the walls. Mike races upstairs to find Josh. Mike says, he runs downstairs. Upon reaching the basement, an unseen force attacks Mike, causing him to drop the camera and go silent.
Heather enters the basement screaming, her camera captures Mike facing a corner. So
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the Sundance Institute, takes place annually in Park City, the largest independent film festival in the United States with more than 46,660 attending in 2016. It is held in Salt Lake City, Utah, as well as at the Sundance Resort, it is a showcase for new work from international independent filmmakers. The festival consists of competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature films and short films, a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Midnight and Documentary Premieres; the 2019 Sundance Film Festival began January 24 and ran through February 3. Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978, as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah, it was founded by John Earle. The 1978 festival featured films such as Deliverance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Midnight Cowboy, Mean Streets, The Sweet Smell of Success. With chairman Robert Redford, the help of Utah Governor Scott M. Matheson, the goal of the festival was to showcase American-made films, highlight the potential of independent film, to increase visibility for filmmaking in Utah.
At the time, the main focus of the event was to conduct a competition for independent American films, present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions, to celebrate the Frank Capra Award. The festival highlighted the work of regional filmmakers who worked outside the Hollywood system; the jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison, included Verna Fields, Linwood G. Dunn, Katharine Ross, Charles E. Sellier Jr. Mark Rydell, Anthea Sylbert. In 1979, Sterling Van Wagenen left to head up the first-year pilot program of what was to become the Sundance Institute, James W. Ure took over as executive director, followed by Cirina Hampton Catania as executive director. More than 60 films were screened at the festival that year, panels featured many well-known Hollywood filmmakers; that year, the first Frank Capra Award went to Jimmy Stewart. The festival 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 festival's inaugural chairman. By having Redford's 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 and changed the dates from September to January; the move from late summer to midwinter was done by the executive director Susan Barrell with the cooperation of Hollywood director Sydney Pollack, who suggested that running a film festival in a ski resort during winter would draw more attention from Hollywood. It was called the US Video Festival. In 1984, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival. Gary Beer and Van Wagenen spearheaded production of the inaugural US Film Festival presented by Sundance Institute, which included Program Director Tony Safford and Administrative Director Jenny Walz Selby.
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 Redford's character the Sundance Kid from the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. UK-based publisher C21 Media first revealed in October 2010 that Robert Redford was planning to bring the Sundance Film Festival to London, in March the following year, Redford announced that Sundance London would be held at The O2, in London from 26–29 April 2012. In a press statement, Redford said, "We are excited to partner with AEG Europe to bring a particular slice of American culture to life in the inspired setting of The O2, in this city of such rich cultural history, it is our mutual goal to bring to the UK, the best in current American independent cinema, to introduce the artists responsible for it, in essence help build a picture of our country, broadly reflective of the diversity of voices not always seen in our cultural exports."The majority of the film screenings, including the festival's premieres, would be held within the Cineworld cinema at The O2 entertainment district.
The 2013 Sundance London Festival was held 25–28 April 2013, sponsored by car-maker Jaguar. Sundance London 2014 took place on 25–27 April 2014 at the O2 arena; the Sundance London 2015 Festival was cancelled in an announcement on 16 January 2015. Sundance London returned to London from 2–5 June 2016 and again 1–4 June 2017, both at Picturehouse Cinema in London's West End. Inaugurated in 2014, Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong took place from 22 September to 2 October 2016 and is scheduled again for 21 September to 1 October 2017, it is held at The Metroplex in Kowloon Bay each year. From 2006 through 2008, Sundance Institute collaborated with the Brooklyn Academy of Music on a special series of film screenings, panel discussions, special events bringing the institute's activities and the festival's programming to New York City. M
