POV’s coordinating producer Andrew Catauro attended the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT.
Just a few days ago, my first ever Sundance experience came to an end (I’ve got the gift bag and a pesky headcold to prove it.). Now through the steam of my TheraFlu, I want to report back on the world premieres of two POV films that were screened at this year’s festival.
Granito, the sixth(!) film that director Pamela Yates has been invited to present in Park City, is scheduled for broadcast during POV’s 25th anniversary season in 2012. Read on for the Sundance program description and exclusive videos of the post-screening discussion at the world premieres of Granito and If a Tree Falls.
From the Sundance Film Festival website:
Sometimes a film makes history; it doesn’t just document it. Such is the case with GRANITO, the astonishing new film by Pamela Yates. Part political thriller, part memoir, GRANITO takes us through a riveting, haunting tale of genocide and justice that spans four decades, two films, and in many ways, Yates’s own career.
Embedded in Granito is Yates’s seminal 1982 film, When the Mountains Tremble, which introduced the world to the tragedy of the genocide carried out against the Mayan people by the Guatemalan government and propelled Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchú to the international stage. During filming, Yates was allowed to shoot the only known footage of the army as it carried out the genocide. Twenty-five years later, this film and its outtakes become evidence in an international war-crimes case against the former commander of the army, and Yates reunites with Menchú, now a Nobel laureate, and others who continue to contribute their granito (tiny grain of sand) in a continuing quest for the truth. Watch trailer »
Winner of the Editing Award in this year’s U.S. Documentary Competition, Marshall Curry’s film If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front will be broadcast on POV in September. Our own Doc Soup Man conducted a mid-festival interview with Curry (posted earlier this week), and in the video below you can check out some of the audience questions following the world premiere on Friday, January 21.
Thanks to the Sundance Film Festival for giving us permission to shoot these audience Q&As during this year’s festival.
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