Predictions 2010 Sundance Film Festival: Baumbach, Braden King, Susser

I’m not sure what the ratio is, but if Braden King and Spencer Susser see their feature debuts get an invitation in 2010, then they would have been filmmakers who once presented a calling card short film at the festival and returned with a feature length debut.

Greenberg –
With a March release date set and a cast that is often repping Sundance fair, the story of a dysfunctional 40-year-old at a crossroads in his life will add further traction by a spotlight at the fest. Roger (Ben Stiller) wants to “do nothing” for a while, so he agrees to housesit for his younger and more successful brother, giving him a free place to stay in L.A. While in town, he tries to reconnect with his old friends and band mates but times have changed, and old friends aren’t necessarily still best friends.
Sundance Selection Forecast: 60% Chance. Noah Baumbach presented The Squid and the Whale at the fest and won both the Directing and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Awards – so it’s looking good for a return. It appears to be Focus Features’ only option to present a film at the fest.
(ioncinema.com Preview/IMDB Link)

HappyThankYouMorePlease – Actor Josh Radnor’s script and feature debut in filmmaking makes use of Malin Akerman, Kate Mara and Richard Jenkins in a tale of six New Yorkers dealing with love, friendship, and gratitude at a time when they’re too old to be precocious and not ready to be adults. Sundance Selection Forecast: 20% Chance. Great sounding title, and snowbunnies Akerman and Mara would be great bait for a Sundance type sale, but Radnor might hold off until TIFF. (ioncinema.com Preview/IMDB Link)

Here – Music video helmer Braden King saw his Home Movie be selected in last year’s short section and his feature debut, a road movie featuring Ben Foster and Lubna Azabal received grants and awards from the Alfred P. Sloan and Annenberg Foundations, received lab support from Sundance. Co-written by King and Dani Valent, this sees real and imaginary landscapes merge as a solitary satellite mapping engineer charts the Armenian countryside with an expatriate art photographer revisiting her homeland. Sundance Selection Forecast: 90% Chance. Production just wrapped recently, so King will be working overtime during the holidays to make this ready for say, the Dramatic Comp. category. (ioncinema.com Preview/IMDB Link)

Hesher – Making his feature filmmaking debut with regular Sundance attendee Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the likes of Natalie Portman and Rainn Wilson, Spencer Susser directs the tale about a 13 year old boy and his Father, both devastated by the tragic loss of the Mother/Wife, are now living with the elderly Grandma. On his way to school one day, T.J has a chance encounter with Hesher (Gordon-Levitt), a late 20’s year old with a troubled past. Hesher assumes a role as both mentor and tormentor, leading T.J into troubles he could never have imagined. Susser saw his short film, I Love Sarah Jane, selected by the festival in 08′. Sundance Selection Forecast: 75% Chance. The picture is also looking for a distributor.
(ioncinema.com Preview/IMDB Link)

Howl – If there is a shoe-in title among my set of predictions for this Sundance 2010, my money goes on the feature narrative filmmaking debut from the docu duo of Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. They showed The Celluloid Closet at the fest in 1995, and if animation work is indeed complete, this title might actually be one of those big and nowadays rare paydays at a fest. Take a look at the line-up. Based on Allen Ginsberg’s beatnik book of poetry Howl, this focuses on the obscenity trial launched to censor Ginsberg’s groundbreaking book-length poem. Among the real-life characters featured in the film are prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh (David Strathairn), Judge Clayton Horn (Alan Alda), prosecution witness Professor David Kirk (Jeff Daniels), radio personality and prosecution witness Gail Potter (Mary Louise Parker) and literary critic and defence witness Luther Nichols (Paul Rudd). James Franco plays Ginsberg. Sundance Selection Forecast: 90% Chance. Top tier title will most likely visit Berlin as well.

(ioncinema.com Preview/IMDB Link)Look for Part V in my predictions, when the clock strikes twelve.