Unlike previous years, there wasn’t a common, unifying theme at this year’s festival. “The broad range of cinematic expression in this year’s Festival is found not simply in terms of the volume of submissions or its demographics but in the variety of types of filmmakers and the issues they explore,” said Geoffrey Gilmore, Director, Sundance Film Festival, on this year’s selection. “This year we are seeing a convergence of storytelling and art that truly illustrates the spectrum of what is possible in film.”

The festival opened with the world premiere of In Bruges, starring Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell as two London hit men ordered to take a forced vacation in Belgium. The film was shot by cinematographer Eigil Bryld. Other festival highlights included the Salt Lake City Gala, which premiered The Great Buck Howard (shot by Tak Fujimoto, ASC). The festival closed with the world premiere of Neil Young’s CSNY Déjà vu (shot by Mike Elwell), which examined Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s relationship between Vietnam era sentiment and today’s political environment. Premieres shot by ICG cinematographers included Assassination of a High School President (DP M. David Mullen, ASC), Be Kind Rewind (DP Ellen Kuras, ASC), Diminished Capacity (DP Vanja Cernjul), The Guitar (DP Bobby Bukowski), Henry Poole Is Here (DP Eric Schmidt), A Raisin in the Sun (DP Ivan Strasburg), Towelhead (DP Newton Thomas Sigel), U2 3D (DPs Peter Anderson, Thomas Krueger), The Year of Getting to Know Us (DP Lisa Rinzler) and The Yellow Handkerchief (DP Chris Menges).

In the dramatic competition, the Grand Jury Prize went to Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River (shot by Reed Dawson Morano), which is a realistic look at the world of human smuggling and the difficult choices facing poor, single mothers. The Audience Award went to Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness (DP Petra Korner), which is the story of a troubled teenage drug dealer who trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist. The Excellence in Cinematography Award was given to Lol Crawley for his work on Ballast, a rural drama set in the Mississippi Delta. Competition films that were shot by ICG members included Anywhere, USA (DP Patrick Rousseau), Choke (DP Tim Orr), Downloading Nancy (DP Christopher Doyle, HKSC), The Last Word (DP Kes Van Oostrum, ASC), Phoebe in Wonderland (DP Bobby Bukowski), Sleep Dealer (DP Lisa Rinzler), Sugar (DP Andrij Parekh), and Sunshine Cleaning (DP John Toon, ACS).

For non-fiction film fans, Sundance is known for their great program and this year’s selection did not disappoint. The jury selected Tia Lesson and Carl Deal’s Trouble the Water for top honors for the Documentary competition. The film, shot by PJ Raval, Nadia Hallgren and Kimberly Rivers Roberts follows an aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, surviving the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The audience award was given to Josh Tickell’s Fields of Fuel (shot by James Mulryan), a look at America’s addiction to oil. Docs that were represented at the festival shot by ICG members included Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (DP Maryse Alberti), Nerakhoon (The Betrayal) (DP Ellen Kuras, ASC) and Secrecy (DPs Stephen McCarthy and Austin de Besche).

In the past few years, some of the most interesting films have been coming from the Spectrum section, which presents out-of-competition dramatic and documentary films. Perhaps some of the most talked about films in the festival were shot by Local 600 members, including Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? (DP Daniel Marracino), Quid Pro Quo (DP Michael McDonough) and Momma’s Man (DP Tobias Datum).

ICG takes a closer look at six unique films at this year’s festival. Look for additional coverage of Sundance features in the coming year.

On to the films...