THE SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL BRINGS TOGETHER A VIRTUAL "WHO'S WHO" OF THE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL WORLD TO CELEBRATE THE FEST'S PLATINUM ANNIVERSARY.
(LOS ANGELES, CA - January 7, 2014) The Slamdance Film Festival announced their Jury members for the 20th Anniversary today, which includes many of the minds behind Fantastic Fest, Filmmaker's Alliance, and WithoutABox, to name a few. As in previous years, juries of leading industry experts and esteemed filmmakers determine the Slamdance Grand Jury Awards for Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, and Short Film categories. These awards will be presented on January 23rd during the Awards Ceremony.
"We are thrilled to have such independent filmmaking revolutionaries judging for our 20th Anniversary's diverse slate of films. These exemplary jurors have embraced our motto of being a film festival 'by filmmakers, for filmmakers'," stated Peter Baxter, Slamdance President & Co-Founder.
The 2014 Slamdance Film Festival will take place from January 17th - 23rd, 2014 in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn, located at 255 Main Street, Park City, UT 84060.
All Access, Industry, Local's, and Student Festival Passes are available online. Individual tickets are also available. To purchase passes or tickets, Click Here.
JURORS FOR THE 2014 SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL:
Tom Hall is the Director of The Sarasota Film Festival in Sarasota, FL. Previously, Hall held the position of Artistic Director and Director of Programming at the Sarasota Film Festival (2005 - 2010) and Programming Director at newportFILM in Newport, RI (2009-present). In addition, Hall was Programmer for The Nantucket Film Festival in Nantucket, MA (2002-2005), as well as a former Director of New Media for Bravo/The Independent Film Channel (1997-2000). He has also worked in the Industry and Guest Services Offices at The Hamptons International Film Festival (2002-2003). In January of 2010, Tom was named one of Spring Board Media's 20 under 40 in Film. Tom has directed short films for Bob Mould's Carnival of Light and Sound Tour and was an inaugural member of the indieWIRE blogging community with his blog, The Back Row Manifesto, which is now a standalone website. A graduate of the University of Michigan ('94), Hall resides in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and two sons.
Matt Harrison's feature film Kicked In The Head was Executive Produced by Martin Scorsese, released theatrically by Universal and premiered as an official selection at Cannes. His network and cable television directing credits include Sex And The City for HBO. Matt's feature film Rhythm Thief won a Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. He recently completed his new comedy My Little Hollywood and is now preparing his sixth feature film. The production division of Harrison's company Film Crash produced the feature film Big Heart City starring Seymour Cassel (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) and Shawn Andrews (Dazed And Confused). Matt currently teaches film at UCLA Extension and has taught graduate film at CalArts. He has lectured at New York University Tisch, AFI, São Paulo School of Film in Brazil, Syracuse University, and The New School For Social Research.
Katie Mustard has overseen the production of 32 feature films, 20 short films, three feature documentaries, and dozens of commercials. In 2013, Katie produced the documentary The Console Wars, and the narrative features We'll Never Have Paris by Simon Helberg; Paul Bettany's directorial debut Shelter, and The World Made Straight. Katie has her ninth film premiere at Sundance this year with Appropriate Behavior. Other Sundance premieres include Restless City, The Missing Person, The Greatest, Special, The Son of No One, and Night Catches Us which went onto be nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Katie also produced Made In China (winner Best Feature at SXSW Film Festival 2009), Natalie Portman's short film Eve, A Case of You, and In The Morning, which screened at over 50 film festivals and before the US Congress on Human Rights.
Tim League is the Alamo Drafthouse CEO and Founder. League graduated from Rice University in 1992 with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Art/Art History. After a two-year stint at Shell Oil, Tim left engineering to enter the theater business. In 1997, Tim and his wife Karrie founded the Alamo Drafthouse where Tim remains CEO today. League also co-founded Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the United States, and recently launched Drafthouse Films, a distribution label committed to releasing provocative, visionary, and artfully unusual films from around the world. The Alamo is expanding nationwide to New York, San Francisco, and Dallas, with many more locations on the horizon.
Herb Stratford is the Programming Director at the Napa Valley Film Festival. He also serves as a film critic in Tucson, Arizona with a weekly presence in print, on radio, and on television. Additionally, he is a Criticwire critic on IndieWire and a freelance writer and artist. Prior to all this, he restored a 1,200-seat 1929 art deco movie palace in Tucson - The Fox Tucson Theatre. He lives in Tucson, Arizona and Napa, CA when not in Park City.
Monteith McCollum is an inter-media artist working in film, sound, and sculpture. His films have screened at festivals and museums, including The Museum of Modern Art, Hirshhorn, Wexner Center for the Arts, and various festivals, including SXSW, Slamdance, Hot Docs, and Amsterdam & Osnabruck European Media Arts Festival. His films have garnered dozens of festival awards, including an IFP Truer Than Fiction Spirit Award. His first feature Hybrid premiered at Slamdance in 2001 and was broadcast on PBS's series P.O.V. and ARTE France. His short Lawn also aired on P.O.V as well, and received top prizes at the Los Angeles Film Festival among others. His recent feature A Different Path premiered at South by Southwest in 2010 and was an International Documentary Association Nominee for the Pare Lorentz Award.
Andrew Edison (Writer/Actor/Director) is a young Austin-based filmmaker. His first feature, Bindlestiffs won the Audience Award at the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival and went on to be picked up by Kevin Smith as the first acquisition under his Smodcast distribution label. You can check out the film on Netflix Instant Watch, iTunes, and Amazon. Edison is currently working on his sophomore effort, as well as developing studio comedies. He lives in the Slackerwood Hills with his French bulldog, Pee Wee.
David Greenspan is an editor and director for ABC's Grey's Anatomy. David has a BA from Harvard and an MFA from the University of Southern California. His USC graduate film, Bean Cake, won the 2001 Cannes Palme d'Or for shorts. His feature Mall Cop premiered at Slamdance 2005 and will be released this March.
Lise Raven is a Writer/Director/Producer. Raven's first feature film, Low, was one of the founding Slamdance Film Festival films, after which she wrote and directed three films for the Showtime Cable network. In 2000, Raven moved to Berlin, Germany after being awarded the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm Artist Residency in Film. Raven's feature film project Snipe received development funding from the Irish Film Board. Lise was selected to develop Snipe at the prestigious Moonstone Director's Lab in Drymen, Scotland. Raven is also an Assistant Professor at Drexel University Department of Cinema and Television. Raven's feature film Kinderwald is playing out of competition as the Closing Night Film of the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival.
Jacques Thelemaque is a writer-director, who, in 1993, co-founded Filmmakers Alliance, and in 2004, FA Productions, of which he is co-president. He is the former Chief Community Officer at Withoutabox.com. Jacques has written and directed numerous short films, including Transaction, which played at the Sundance Film Festival, and won the Grand Prix du Jury Award in the Labo Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Thelemaque wrote, directed and produced the feature film The Dogwalker, as well as producing five other feature films. He has been a juror, guest lecturer, or invited speaker for many film schools, film festivals, film organizations, workshops, and other film-related events. He has been a programming associate for the Los Angeles Film Festival since 2011.
Kendall Shanks (formally Kendall Music) is a self-taught artist and filmmaker out of Chapel Hill, NC. Kendall specializes in art and set design. In 2012, Kendall created the characters for the stop motion film Wiggle Room. Wiggle Room would go on to win the 42nd annual USA Film Festival and be one of 56 animated shorts films in contention for an Oscar nomination in 2012. She currently is the production designer for the Shanks FX web series and is in-charge of developing the content for each episode. "If you're making an experimental film, the Shanks FX series is essentially the bible." NoFilmSchool (Nov 2013).
Joey Shanks had his short film Sci-Fly screen at Slamdance in 2013, where he also proposed to his now wife Kendall Shanks during the Q&A's at their last screening. Shanks is a filmmaker who optimizes the DIY approach to making movies. His web series Shanks FX is produced by PBS Digital Studios and gives an in-depth look at how his signature visual effects are achieved. Shanks FX has been featured by IndieWire, NoFilmSchool, USA Today, Colossal, Gizmodo, Geek Magazine, and has received two Vimeo Staff picks.
Skizz Cyzyk has held positions at MicroCineFest, Maryland Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, and has served on juries and advisory boards at many other festivals. This is his 18th year as a Slamdance projectionist, 11th year on the Slamdance advisory board, and 7th non-consecutive year on the Slamdance jury. A filmmaker since 1983, his films include Hit & Stay, Freaks In Love, Little Castles, Managers Corner, and music videos for Beach House and Young Fresh Fellows. He also performs music with Go Pills, The Jennifers, Garage Sale, Half Japanese, and Mink Stole & Her Wonderful Band.
About Slamdance:
The 2014 Slamdance Film Festival will run concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival, January 17-23, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Slamdance continues to serve as a showcase for the discovery and development of emerging independent talent and unique cinematic visions. Slamdance is the only festival programmed entirely by filmmakers. With over half of 2013's feature films having found distribution after premiering in Park City, Slamdance continues to be a fertile ground for new filmmakers to begin their careers.
Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and Lynn Shelton (Humpday).
The organization supports its alumni beyond the festival, by increasing exhibition opportunities through international and domestic On The Road events and developing commercial distribution through Slamdance Studios. 2013 VOD releases include Daniel Martinico's OK, Good, Rudd Simmons' The First Season, Monteith McCollum's Hybrid, and Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal's Stranger Things. Slamdance's 2013 On The Road program has traveled to Austin, Detroit, Los Angeles and New York, further supporting award-winning feature films such as Nicole Teeny's Bible Quiz, Matt Johnson's The Dirties and James E. Duff's Hank and Asha, as well as a selection of local short filmmakers.
The 2014 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include MixBit, Blackmagic Design, Vimeo, and The Directors Guild of America. Further support is given by Different By Design, Pierce Law Group, InkHead Promotional Products, Gawk, and Variety. Slamdance is once again proud to partner with sponsors who share our unique vision, and support emerging artists who are pushing the boundaries of independent filmmaking.
Slamdance is proud to introduce MixBit and Blackmagic Design as festival award sponsors. The Slamdance Trailer Competition, presented by MixBit, offers all filmmakers accepted into the 2014 festival an opportunity to create their best trailer. Entrants' work will be presented on MixBit.com and the finalists will have their trailers shown during the festival. The winner will be announced during the Awards Ceremony on January 23, 2014. Blackmagic Design will be joining the presentation with their sponsorship of the 2014 Blackmagic Design Cinematography Award.
Additional information about the Slamdance Film Festival is available at