Four selected for Sundance Institute ‘Editing & Story Lab’

The do-gooders over at the Sundance Institute have announced the four projects that will benefit from the expertise of others. Now in its fifth year, the Documentary Film Editing and Story Laboratory merges creative advisors with the lucky few who get some hands on help.

The Creative Advisors for the 2007 Documentary Editing and Story Lab are: editors Jean-Philippe Boucicaut (CITIZEN KING and MATTERS OF RACE); Kate Amend (THIN, and Academy Award-winner The Long Way Home); Lewis Erskine (Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple and Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind); Mary Lampson (A Lion in the House and HARLAN COUNTY) and accomplished directors Robb Moss (SECRECY and The SAME RIVER TWICE) and Ra’anan Alexandrowicz (THE INNER TOUR and JAMES’ JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM). Here are the brief descriptions of the lucky four projects that should get a Sundance festival birth fairly soon.    

TIBET IN SONG
Ngawang Choephel (director) Tim Bartlett (editor)
Through the story of Tibetan music, this film depicts the determined efforts of Tibetan people, both in Tibet and in exile, to preserve their unique cultural identity after more than a half-century of Chinese occupation. It evokes the courage, defiance and determination that have preserved Tibetan culture in contemporary consciousness.   

THE SARI SOLDIERS
Julie Bridgham (director) Mona Davis (editor)
Six Nepali women on opposing sides of Nepal's political conflict battle to transform their country's future. Amidst an autocratic Monarch's “War on Terror” against the Maoist rebels, the film follows their journey from the war-torn hillsides, to the extraordinary street revolution to reclaim democracy, and their struggles and pursuits for justice.  

RECYCLE
Mahmoud Al Massad (director)
A moderate Muslim father in Jordan faces a setback at every turn. Forced to collect cardboard in the streets of Zarqa, he is barely sustaining his family. As his situation deteriorates he has to make a radical decision to save himself from humiliation.  

TROUBLE THE WATER
Tia Lessin (director) Carl Deal (director) Woody Richman (editor)  
A streetwise young couple survives the flooding of New Orleans by any means necessary, rescuing dozens of neighbors along the way, and using video to capture the storm and its aftermath. This redemptive tale of outlaws who become heroes is set against one of the largest diasporas in American history.