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13 Films Make Their Digital Premieres Through Sundance Institute Artist Services Program

Posted Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 - Comments Off on 13 Films Make Their Digital Premieres Through Sundance Institute Artist Services Program
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Festival Favorites and New Discoveries Now Playing

iTunes │ Amazon Instant Video │ Hulu │ Netflix │ SundanceNOW │ YouTube

Los Angeles, CA (January 18, 2012) — Sundance Institute announced thirteen films supported by the Institute that are for the first time available to rent, download and stream. Look for the films on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, SundanceNOW and YouTube. Films will be available on Netflix on March 1. For a full list of titles and where they are available, visit sundance.org/nowplaying or join Sundance Institute’s social media communities on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Kickstarter.

Films available today include Semper Fi: Always Faithful (currently on the Academy Award shortlist for Best Documentary), Obselidia (Independent Spirit Award Winner), Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade (2007 Sundance Film Festival documentary on the arcade gamer competitions in the ‘80s), New York Times Critic’s Pick Lord Byron and 1994 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award Winner What Happened Was … by Tom Noonan – making its digital premiere 18 years after first screening in Park City, Utah. Special bonus video content from Sundance Institute’s archives will be available for select titles.

These projects are the first to take advantage of the Institute’s Artist Services access to distribution program, announced this summer. Artist Services provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work.

“We are truly excited for these films to reach the leading digital platforms and storefronts for movies. We created Artist Services so films that have shown at the Sundance Film Festival or been part of our Sundance Institute Labs will have a chance to find their audiences and fan bases. Audiences now have a chance to connect with exciting independent work using the devices and services they already love,” said Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute.

New Video® is the exclusive aggregation partner for distribution across all portals participating in the Artist Services program. The Artist Services initiative is made possible by The Bertha Foundation. O’Melveny & Myers generously provided pro bono legal services for the program.

The films and their availability are:

Advise & Dissent (Director: David Van Taylor) — A riveting, in the trenches look into the politicized Supreme Court confirmation battles. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2003 Sundance Documentary Film Grant)

Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade (Director: Lincoln Ruchti) — In 1982, Ottumwa, Iowa’s Twin Galaxies arcade served as the shining beacon of pixilated pop culture, attracting the best of the best in the highly competitive world of arcade video gaming. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2007 Sundance Film Festival)

Clear Cut: the Story of Philomath, Oregon (Director: Peter Richardson) —Conservative logging barons and liberal urban immigrants collide over how college scholarships are distributed in this skillful documentary. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2006 Sundance Film Festival)

Jess + Moss (Director: Clay Jeter) — Sarah Hagan (”Freaks and Geeks”) stars in this lush, playful, award-winning coming of age story. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2011 Sundance Film Festival, Best Feature 2011 Prague Fresh Film Festival)

Lord Byron (Director: Zack Godshall) — This New York Times Critics Pick about a Don Juan from the Bayou charmed audiences and critics at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2011 Sundance Film Festival, 2011 New York Times Critics Pick)

New Low (Director: Adam Bowers) — Adam Bowers wrote, directed and stars in this winning comedy about a neurotic twenty-something choosing love between the best and worst girls he’s ever known.. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2010 Sundance Film Festival, Winner 2011 Amsterdam Film Festival)

Obselidia (Director: Diane Bell) — Winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Alfred P. Sloan Prize and Excellence in Cinematography Award, “Obselidia” is part road movie, part love story, and endlessly fascinating. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2010 Sundance Film Festival, 2011 Independent Spirit Award Nominee)

The Oregonian (Director: Calvin Lee Reeder) — Lindsay Pulsipher (“True Blood”) stars as a girl on the run in this creepy selection from the Midnight section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2011 Sundance Film Festival)

The Redemption of General Butt Naked (Directors: Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasio) — A brutal warlord who murdered thousands during Liberia’s horrific 14-year civil war renounces his violent past and reinvents himself as an Evangelist, facing those he once terrorized. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video. (2011 Sundance Film Festival Winner, Excellence in Cinematography Award)

Semper Fi: Always Faithful (Director: Rachel Libert) — A retired Marine fights for justice on behalf of U.S. soldiers and their families exposed to toxic drinking water while stationed at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2010 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Fund Grantee)

Space Tourists (Director: Christian Frei) — Through the story the world’s first female space tourist, this documentary shows us the intersection of human enterprise and commerce in the final frontier. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (2010 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Directing Award Winner)

What Happened Was… (Director: Tom Noonan) — Tom Noonan’s directorial debut about a skewed vision of a first date. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (1994 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Winner)

The Wife (Director: Tom Noonan) — Therapists and patients confront each other in this delirious, realistic relationship drama. iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, SundanceNOW, YouTube. (1995 Sundance Film Festival)

Sundance Institute Artist Services

Launched in January 2011, the Artist Services program provides Sundance Institute artists with opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing opportunities. Leading digital rights aggregator New Video handles licensing, encoding, delivery and accounting on behalf of filmmakers. The Sundance Institute Artist Services initiative is made possible by The Bertha Foundation. O’Melveny & Myers generously provided pro bono legal services for the program. www.sundance.org/artistservices

Sundance Institute

Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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