Eric Lavallée

An award-winning photographer, sometime in 2012 (perhaps not Park City) we should be seeing Shaul Schwarz's first foray into the docu scene. Currently in production, and we're hoping well into post, Narco Cultura was among the recently award a grant from the Cinereach folks and worth-noting, Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen are producing the project - Mexico's not so odd pop culture phenomena. Here's a rich look at the upcoming doc.

Producers Alan and Gabe Polsky switched hats in 2011 and directed their first feature film - an adaptation of a chilly novel with a cast that includes Dakota Fanning, Stephen Dorff, Emile Hirsch, Kris Kristofferson and Park City regular Joshua Leonard. Having filmed earlier in the year (see outdoor winter set pic) The Motel Life should be ready to grab one of the Premiere screening slots. The Polsky's were at the fest last year with Elgin James' Little Birds.

Having worked with Franco before on Erased James Franco (short film which sees Franco re-enacts scenes from his filmography and reinterprets Julianne Moore's role in Todd Haynes' Safe) Carter's directorial debut continues with the notion of performance. Maladies will forever be known as the film that set Franco off towards a stint on General Hospital in 2010. With Catherine Keener and David Strathairn we see this as an almost sure bet in the Premieres section.

First-time helmer Ted Koland's Minnesota-shot dramedy (featured on IndieWIRE - see the production pic above) happens to feature a good grab-bag of acting names (Justin Long, Tyler Labine, Addison Timlin, Frances O'Connor and Park City favorite Jess Weixler) and the logline sounds somewhat savoury - canceled wedding, followed by shock and surprise might come across as sincere, slightly dark and poignant. Depending on the film's tone, Lumpy might find itself in the Midnight section or Premieres category.

This might be the year where writer-director David Wein gets to showcase his skillset in January instead of March. A SXSW regular (2008's Sex Positive and 2009's Breaking Upwards), Wein has parlayed a rising indie career with co-consiprator Zoe Lister-Jones into a Fox Searchlight backed production -- the distributor bought the project at the script phase and set him up with old school thesps Bill Pullman and Debra Winger and the next gen in Hamish Linklater and Greta Gerwig. With the film currently in post, we think there is a good chance for this to show up in Park City.