IT’S Sundance on the Hudson – without the snow, the gift emporiums or Paris Hilton. To mark its 25th anniversary, the Sundance Institute is opening its first film, theater and music event outside of Park City, starting Thursday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
“Sundance Institute and BAM share a similar mission,” says Sundance founder Robert Redford of the 10-day program. “Through this series, we are bringing to New York audiences a taste of work from artists that the Institute supports through the Sundance Film Festival and development programs in film, film music and theater.” The top attraction is 15 films from this January’s Sundance Film Festival, beginning with the New York premiere of “Little Miss Sunshine,” a dark comedy about a dysfunctional family’s road trip to a kiddie beauty pageant, with Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear.
The premiere is strictly by invitation, but tickets for other showings are on sale at bam.org/sundance – or by calling (718) 777-FILM – for the other titles and events.
Among the more interesting offerings is Laurie Collyer’s “Sherrybaby,” starring Maggie Gyllenhaal in a terrific performance as a substanceabusing ex-convict attempting to reclaim her daughter.
Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossamon star as teen suicides in a punk purgatory in Goran Dukic’s fantasy, “Wristcutters: A Love Story.” Six directors, including such buttonpushers as Larry Clark (“Kids”) and Gaspar Noe (“Irreversible”), contributed sexually explicit segments to “Destricted,” which deconstructs porno movies.
Documentaries on view include Michael Cain and Matt Radecki’s “TV Junkie,” which draws on 3,000 hours of home videos to chronicle the rise and fall of substance-abusing former broadcast journalist Rick Kirkham.
Besides the usual Q & A sessions accompanying each film, there will be special in-depth discussions.
Director Hilary Brougher takes audiences through the development process for “Stephanie Daley” – a drama about a teen (Amber Tamblyn) accused of killing her newborn and a forensic psychologist (Tilda Swinton), to be shown at BAM – at the Sundance Institute’s lab for screenwriters.
Screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie will offer an inside look – with never-seen footage – at how the cult classic “The Usual Suspects” was created.
There will also be several concerts of film music, plus one featuring numbers from Broadway musicals that were developed through the Sundance Institute’s theater program, like “The Light in the Piazza” and “Grey Gardens.”
