Predictions 2010 Sundance Film Festival: Philippon, Marslett, Romanek

If my predix come true, this will be a fest heavy on first time filmmakers in the feature length film categories, which is nothing new of course. I’ve listed four new names below that could make their big time debuts at the fest.

Lullaby for Pi – If the festival is looking for this year’s “Once”, they might look for it in the musically inclined feature starring Rupert Friend, who actually uses his pipes for the film. Killer Films is one of the production companies involved in a tale that sees Tom, a bewitching blues-jazz singer (Friend). Sadly, since his wife passed away, he can no longer sing nor smile. He spends his nights in the hotel room where they first met, waiting for her phone call that will never come. First time director Benoît Philippon directs. Sundance Predictions Forecast: 30% Chance. Will look for an ideal place to premiere and find deals for other territories. (ioncinema.com Preview/IMDB Link)

Main Street – Scottish stage director John Doyle’s directing debut is based on 90 plus year-old’s Horton Foote latest script (Foote is the scribe for To Kill a Mockingbird). Set with Orlando Bloom, Amber Tamblyn, Patricia Clarkson, Ellen Burstyn and with Colin Firth headlining, this is set in the once thriving tobacco warehouses in Durham, NC, to the current run-down and closed shops of Five Points, a diverse group of residents and their respective life changes when outsider Gus Leroy (Firth) brings something new and potentially dangerous into their quiet town. Sundance Predictions Forecast: 30% Chance. Cluster of Sundance acting vets and a wink to Hollywood’s history, this might be an interesting mainstream-ish addition for the fest. Title is available for pick up.
(IMDB Link)

Mars – It certainly helps to have a Sundance name friendly actor (Mark Duplass) on board the project, but helmer Geoff Marslett will probably carve out a fan base of his own with this sci-fi animated comedy about “the discovery of life on Mars places a robotic expedition and a manned mission in a race to the Red Planet. On the way we discover that love – biological, spiritual, and even mechanical – can flourish in all kinds of ways.” The filmmaker was among the names profiled in Filmmaker Magazine’s Top 25 New Faces of Indie Film. Sundance Predictions Forecast: 70% Chance. Indie sci-fi film is sooooo Sundance and SXSW. (IMDB Link/Official Website)

Never Let Me Go – Romanek’s debut film One Hour Photo was a Park City hit in 2002, and his long awaited sophomore feature could be presented at the fest, especially with this being the lieu where Carey Mulligan paved the way to Oscar? Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel; this is a poignant love story that begins with Ruth (Keira Knightley), Kathy (Mulligan) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield), who spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them. Sundance Predictions Forecast: 30% Chance. This may be a title that Fox Searchlight decides to keep for the fall. (ioncinema.com Preview/IMDB Link)

Of Montreal: In a Fit of Hercynian Prig, Oculi – Filmed during their Skeletal Lamping tour, IMDB is crediting newbie Jason Miller and the filmmaker of Great World of Sound as the co-directors of this concert/road trip film. Essentially this is co-joined to the eventual release of the band’s False Priest album in the Spring, so the doc is of interest beyond the basic fan base core, then Craig Zobel might be returning to the fest with film and group in hand. Sundance Predictions Forecast: 10% Chance. If the fest passes on the concert doc, then SXSW might want to grab it. (IMDB Link)