DAY ONE, SUNDANCE, Thursday, Janurary 20, 2011

Ashley Elaine York @ Sundance 2011

January 20, 2011

After much anticipation, the 2011 Sundance Film Festival commences today from Park City, Utah.

DAY ONE at Sundance is a celebration of Festival films in competition and the New Frontier program, including: 

Dee Rees' PARIAH, executive produced by Spike Lee
< http://sundance.bside.com/2011/films/pariah_sundance2011 >.

PARIAH is a coming-of-age drama about 17-year-old Alike (played by Adepero Oduye from Law and Order and Wifey) who struggles to negotiate her multiple and competing social identities.

By day, Alike is a proud, black, feminist butch living for the city and the cause, along with her "outted" friends in their middle class Brooklyn milieu.  But, at night, to meet the expectations of her parents and her religious community, this torn teenager reverts to her role as the good feminine Christian girl.  Along with Alike's search for sexual identity, PARIAH asks the timeless and thought-provoking question: "Who do you become when you can't be yourself?"

Among those films in competition for the 2011 Sundance US Dramatic feature film prize, PARIAH is based on the audacious short of the same name that premiered at Sundance 2008, before taking the top prize at seven other film festivals, including the Palm Springs Intl Short Festival and the Los Angles Film Festival (Audience Award).  

Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post calls the short form PARIAH, "reminiscent of the smart urban cinema of Jim McKay ('Everyday People'), Nelson George ('Life Support') and 'Half Nelson' [by] director Ryan Fleck."  The work of a "promising young Black filmmaker," professor of Feminist Studies, Jacqueline Bobo, adds, "PARIAH is an engaging, thoughtful, must-see film about a young Black lesbian confronting the complexities of family, high school and her awareness of her sexual milieu."

PARIAH is a film to follow, based on past reviews and awards for its short form version, as well as its A-list backer in Spike Lee.  Dee Rees' feature film debut (which she scripted while interning on Lee's INSIDE MAN) may set the standard for films to come during Sundance 2011.


COMING UP NEXT:
CHECK BACK after the screening concludes at midnight PST for a complete review of the film and the breakout performances of its cast, including lead actress Adepero Oduye (from Nigeria by way of Brooklyn) who also starred in Bill T. Jones' FELA! and the TV movie Wifey (directed by past-BET Chief Reginald Hudlin), as welll as her guest-staring turns in episodes of Law and Order ("Birthright," NBC, 2005), Law and Order: Criminal Intent ("The War at Home," NBC, 2006), The Unusuals ("The Circle Line," ABC, 2009), and Louie ("Dentist/Tarese," FX, 2010).

Also, tomorrow afternoon, look for commentary on Sundance founder Robert Redford's opening address, a post-screening conversation with Director/Producer Dee Rees, Producer Nekisa Cooper, and cast members Kim Wayans, Aasha Davis, Charles Parnell, Pernell Walker, and star Adepero Oduye, plus an overview of Day Two at Sundance 2011.