2010 Sundance Film Festival

On an unassuming corner in Fort Pierce, Florida, it’s easy to miss the insidious war that’s raging. But on each side of 12th and Delaware, soldiers stand locked in a passionate battle. On one side of the street sits an abortion clinic. On the other, a pro-life outfit often mistaken for the clinic it seeks to shut down. Using skillful cinema-vérité observation that allows us to draw our own conclusions, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, the directors of Jesus Camp, expose the molten core of America’s most intractable conflict. As the pro-life volunteers paint a terrifying portrait of abortion to their clients, across the street, the staff members at the clinic fear for their doctors' lives and fiercely protect the right of their clients to choose. Shot in the year when abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was murdered in his church, the film makes these fears palpable. Meanwhile, women in need become pawns in a vicious ideological war with no end in sight. Film Contact Heidi Ewing, Loki Films

U.S. DIRECTING AWARD: DRAMATIC A trio of brief, yet potentially life-altering, adventures unfold on one seemingly normal autumn day. In a complacent suburban neighborhood, an emotionally troubled businessman (Elias Koteas) wanders around his hometown while waiting for a delayed flight, a starstruck housewife (Edie Falco) embarks on an peculiar trip when she gives her famous neighbor a ride to the local ferry, and an eight-year-old girl takes a wrong turn on the way to school and finds herself in an unexpected adult realm. Eric Mendelsohn (Judy Berlin —Sundance Film Festival 1999) shapes an intense and detailed domestic drama of quiet suspense. With its unconventional visual style, 3 Backyards looks and feels like a film from another time—possibly the past or the near future. Its identifiable characters and often painfully human scenarios work in tandem to pry out unsettling emotional truths of our times—creating a memorable story of turning points in these three lives. Film Contact Rocco Caruso, Caruso/Mendelsohn Productions Phone: (917) 365-1100 Email: roccocaruso@earthlink.net

When successful surgeon Bruno Hamel’s otherwise uneventful world is torn apart by the brutal rape and murder of his eight-year-old daughter, Jasmine, he embarks on a quest for revenge against the perpetrator of this heinous crime. In a game of cat and mouse with the police detectives assigned to the case, Bruno successfully kidnaps the accused murderer as he is transported to the courthouse. With the roles now reversed, this father-turned-predator drives his prey to a remote cabin, where seven days of unspeakable torture await. He even keeps the police apprised of his plan, vowing to turn himself in after the execution of this alleged monster. Director Daniel Grou aka Podz does a masterful job of immersing the audience in this dark and gritty world, deftly capturing the psyche of a sane man gone mad. Far more than your average torture flick, 7 Days is an eye-for-an-eye tale that is chock-full of tension, suspense, and inner conflict. Film Contact Charlotte Mickie, Entertainment One Email: cmickie@e1ent.com

Documentary Spotlight Mormons in California and Utah, following their prophet's call to action, wage spiritual warfare, fueled with money and religious fervor, against LGBT citizens and their fight for equality. This exploration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ involvement in the passage of California's Proposition 8 reveals a secretive, decades-long campaign against lesbians’ and gays’ right to marriage. Directors Reed Cowan, a former Mormon missionary, and Steven Greenstreet deftly investigate this ongoing battle through three telling perspectives: personal, political, and ideological. They are careful not to succumb to emotional rant but choose instead well-researched data and a range of interviews with politicians, historians, and those most affected by the outcome. One such couple is composed of Spencer Jones and Tyler Barrick, who is the direct descendant of Mormon polygamist Frederick G. Williams. Cowan and Greenstreet's film tellingly reminds us that, if any common ground can ever be found, it must be based on truth and transparency. Film Contact Reed Cowan Email: info@mormonproposition.com

Adorable little Abel has problems in the head. His mother collects him from the psychiatric ward hoping not to upset him. She carefully discusses with his teacher how to deal with the absence of Abel’s father. The entire family is on pins and needles, worrying about Abel breaking down. But things take an interesting turn when the little boy emphatically carves out a new role for himself in the family—he decides to become the father of the house. Abel transforms the fear his family has about his episodes into the respect due to the head of the household. Oddly enough, it works! That is, until a stranger shows up at the breakfast table, claiming to be Abel’s father. Diego Luna, in his debut effort, crafts a heartwarming tale of the way one family's dynamic works through peculiar means. Abel is an entertaining and endearing family drama that manages to infuse its foreboding tone with a delightful sense of humor. Film Contact Keleigh Thomas, Sunshine Sachs West Email: thomas@sunshinesachs.com

OBSELIDIA Believing he’s the last door-to-door encyclopedia salesman in the world, George decides to write The Obselidia, a compendium of obsolete things. George believes that love, among other things, is obsolete. In his quest to document nearly extinct occupations, he befriends Sophie, a beautiful cinema projectionist who works at a silent movie theatre. Sophie believes that nothing is obsolete as long as someone loves it. When they interview a reclusive scientist who predicts that 80 percent of the world’s population will be obliterated by irreversible climate change by the year 2100, the two must face the question, if the world is going to disappear tomorrow, how are we going to live today? Diane Bell’s soft-spoken, profound, and disarmingly charming debut feature engages these fateful issues of our time with a warm, sparkling sense of beauty, sincerity, and compassion. Obselidia offers a rare and humane lens through which we can view a world increasingly preoccupied with and inhabited by extinction.

The beautiful Zel is a special woman. Her big house is full of ghosts of all ages from different eras. A psychic advisor, Zel works with her ethereal roommates to help her clients. Although it’s magical, it is also a job as she removes clients’ aches and pains, advises gamblers, and channels cranky spirits to check on their loved ones. Business is good—until the ghosts see “the light” one night. The ghost crew now feel they are trapped and start pressuring Zel for the truth. Writer/director Tim Rutili is also a member of the band Califone, whose members act in the film and provide the lush original soundtrack. The band brought its music-making talent to the film’s construction, treating the footage and story like an album. Zel’s unique existence is a lesson in hope, habit, and folklore. The atmosphere is utterly enchanting, mixed with an odd realism, filled with as much humor as wonder. Film Contact Glen Sherman, Better Angel Films, LLC Email: gs@vanacker.com

Poland 1981: Behind the iron curtain, Janek, the teenage son of a navy captain, forms ATIL (All That I Love), a punk-rock band whose songs express a frustration with socialism and a desire for freedom, echoing the sentiments of the rising Solidarity movement. At the same time, Janek finds love with Basia, a young woman whose father is part of the movement and disapproves of Janek’s military family. When growing social turmoil leads to martial law, Janek’s relationships and ATIL’s music cause serious consequences for his family members, lovers, and friends. Jacek Borcuch refreshes the coming-of-age film and its familiar tropes—teenage rebellion, first love, and sexual exploration—by setting it within a sobering sociohistorical context. His camera captures a conflicting sense of potential change and stifling paranoia, with freedom just out of sight for his protagonists. All That I Love is a bracing, potent reminder that the personal can’t be easily separated from the political. Film Contact Aleksandra Biernacka, TVP S.A. Phone: +48 22 547 6774 Email: festivals@tvp.pl

WORLD CINEMA JURY PRIZE: DRAMATIC Welcome to the jungle known as the Melbourne underworld. Animal Kingdom uses this edgy locale to unspool a gripping tale of survival and revenge. Pope Cody, an armed robber on the run from a gang of renegade detectives, is in hiding, surrounded by his roughneck friends and family. Soon, Pope’s nephew, Joshua "J" Cody, arrives and moves in with his hitherto-estranged relatives. When tensions between the family and the police reach a bloody peak, "J" finds himself at the center of a cold-blooded revenge plot that turns the family upside down. Wielding a formidable cinematic lexicon, writer/director David Michôd shows complete command of every frame as he shifts between simmering intensity and gut-wrenching drama. There isn't a false note in the film as it follows through on the tantalizing promise displayed in his short films and unleashes a fierce new voice in Australian cinema. Film Contact Email: cmickie@e1ent.com