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39-464: It was an official selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival , as part of the new category 'NEXT' which selects films for their innovative and original work in low- and no-budget filmmaking. The film tells the story of John, a man who suffers from a psychological condition known as body integrity identity disorder in which an individual does not feel "whole" unless he loses one or more major limbs. John leaves his wife and goes to New York City to find

78-802: A director). He also appeared in Woody Allen 's Husbands and Wives as a New York lawyer undergoing a midlife crisis, and in Robert Zemeckis 's Death Becomes Her as an emergency room doctor. His last role was as Patrick Dempsey 's father in the 2008 romantic comedy Made of Honor , which was playing in theaters at the time of his death. He was a recurring guest star on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace , playing Will Truman 's ( Eric McCormack ) unfaithful but loving father, George. In addition to earlier appearances on NBC's Just Shoot Me and Mad About You , in 2007, Pollack made guest appearances on

117-582: A doctor to amputate his arms. Armless is Habib Azar's first feature film. It was made in New York City with additional filming in Gillette, New Jersey. The film was shot in 12 days from March 20 to April 2, 2008. This film article about a 2010s comedy film is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival , then US Film and Video Festival )

156-755: A group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, Midnight, Sundance Kids, From the Collection, Premieres, and Documentary Premieres. Many films premiering at Sundance have gone on to be nominated and win Oscars such as Best Picture , Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role . Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978 as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah. It

195-480: A picture of our country that is broadly reflective of the diversity of voices not always seen in our cultural exports." The majority of the film screenings, including the festival's premieres, would be held within the Cineworld cinema at The O2 entertainment district. The 2013 Sundance London Festival was held April 25–28, 2013. Sundance London 2014 took place on April 25–27, 2014, at The O2 Arena ; however

234-600: A select group of non- and/or former actors awarded membership in the Actors Studio , Pollack resumed acting in the 1990s with appearances in such films as Robert Altman 's The Player (1992) and Stanley Kubrick 's Eyes Wide Shut (1999), often playing corrupt or morally conflicted power figures. As a character actor , Pollack appeared in films such as A Civil Action , and Changing Lanes , as well as his own, including Random Hearts and The Interpreter (the latter also being his final non-documentary film as

273-633: Is also responsible for bringing wider attention to such films as Common Bonds , Saw , Garden State , American Psycho , Super Troopers , The Blair Witch Project , Spanking the Monkey , Reservoir Dogs , Primer , In the Bedroom , Better Luck Tomorrow , Little Miss Sunshine , Donnie Darko , El Mariachi , Moon , Clerks , Thank You for Smoking , Sex, Lies, and Videotape , The Brothers McMullen , 500 Days of Summer , Napoleon Dynamite , Whiplash (which topped

312-773: Is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute . It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival takes place every January in Park City, Utah ; Salt Lake City, Utah ; and at Sundance Resort (a ski resort near Provo, Utah ), and acts as a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival consists of competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature films and short films, and

351-743: Is documented in Professor Emanuel Levy 's book, Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Cinema (NYU Press, 1999, 2001, 2011). UK-based publisher C21 Media first revealed in October 2010 that Robert Redford was planning to bring the Sundance Film Festival to London, and in March the following year, Redford officially announced that Sundance London would be held at The O2 , in London from April 26 to 29, 2012;

390-665: Is known for directing commercially and critically acclaimed studio films. Over his forty year career he received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and six BAFTA Awards . Pollack won the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture for Out of Africa (1985). He was also nominated for Best Director Oscars for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), and Tootsie (1982). Pollack's other notable films include Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Way We Were (1973), Three Days of

429-526: The Best Picture category. He formed a production company called Mirage Enterprises with the English director Anthony Minghella . The last film they produced together, The Reader , earned them both posthumous Oscar nominations for Best Picture. Besides his many feature film laurels, Pollack was nominated for five Primetime Emmys, earning two: one for directing in 1966 and another for producing, which

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468-611: The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre from 1952 to 1954, working on a lumber truck between terms. He was drafted for two years of army service as a truck driver at Fort Carson, Colorado ending in 1958. He returned to the Playhouse at Meisner's invitation to become his assistant. In 1960, John Frankenheimer , a friend of Pollack, asked him to come to Los Angeles to work as a dialogue coach for

507-610: The 2000s, when major stars with multimillion-dollar films (like The Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher ) dominated the festival. Kevin Smith doubted that Clerks , if made in the late 2000s, would be accepted to Sundance. Numerous small festivals sprung up around Sundance in the Park City area, including Slamdance , Nodance, Slumdance , It-dance, X-Dance, Lapdance, Tromadance , The Park City Film Music Festival , etc., though all except Slamdance are no longer held. Included in

546-532: The 2015 Festival was cancelled in an announcement on January 16, 2015. Sundance London returned to London from June 2–5, 2016, and again June 1–4, 2017, both at Picturehouse Central in London's West End. The 2018 and 2019 events continued at the same venue. Films shown at the 2019 event included Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling ’s Late Night , the controversial dark tale The Nightingale , US comedy Corporate Animals , Lulu Wang 's The Farewell (which won

585-696: The Audience Award ) and Sophie Hyde 's film based on Emma Jane Unsworth 's novel about female friendship, Animals . The 2020 event in London was postponed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic . It was not rescheduled until July 2021. Inaugurated in 2014, Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong has taken place in 2016, 2017, 2018 and from September 19 to October 1, 2019. It is held at The Metroplex in Kowloon Bay each year. The 2020 events in London and Hong Kong were postponed due to impact of

624-897: The COVID-19 pandemic and as of late 2021 has not been rescheduled. From 2006 through 2008, Sundance Institute collaborated with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on a special series of film screenings, performances, panel discussions, and special events bringing the institute's activities and the festival's programming to New York City. Many notable independent filmmakers received their big break at Sundance, including Kevin Smith , Robert Rodriguez , Quentin Tarantino , Todd Field , David O. Russell , Steve James , Paul Thomas Anderson , Steven Soderbergh , Darren Aronofsky , James Wan , Edward Burns , Damien Chazelle , Lee Isaac Chung , Jane Schoenbrun , Molly Gordon , Nick Lieberman , A. V. Rockwell and Jim Jarmusch . The festival

663-687: The Condor (1975), Absence of Malice (1981), The Firm (1993), and Sabrina (1995). Pollack produced and acted in Michael Clayton (2007), and produced numerous films such as The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Iris (2001), Cold Mountain (2003) and The Reader (2008). Pollack acted in The Player (1992), Woody Allen 's Husbands and Wives (1993), and Stanley Kubrick 's Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Pollack

702-650: The Dying Girl in 2015, The Birth of a Nation in 2016, Minari in 2020, and CODA in 2021. At the 2016 Sundance Film Festival , three films went on to garner eight Oscar nominations. Manchester by the Sea took the lead in Sundance-supported films with six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The next year, about 40 films were acquired by distributors, among them including Amazon , Netflix , Lionsgate , and Universal . CODA became

741-631: The HBO TV series The Sopranos and Entourage . Pollack received the first annual Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking award from the Austin Film Festival on October 21, 2006. As a producer he helped to guide many films that were successful with both critics and movie audiences, such as The Fabulous Baker Boys , The Talented Mr. Ripley , and Michael Clayton , a film in which he also starred opposite George Clooney and for which he received his sixth Academy Award nomination, in

780-522: The Sundance Film Festival, after Redford's character the Sundance Kid from the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid . The Sundance Film Festival experienced its extraordinary growth in the 1990s, under the leadership of Geoffrey Gilmore and John Cooper, who transformed the venue into the premier festival in the United States, on par of Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Toronto International Film Festival (also known as The Big Five). That crucial era

819-553: The Sundance changes made in 2010, a new programming category titled "NEXT" (often denoted simply by the characters "<=>", which mean "less is more") was introduced to showcase innovative films that are able to transcend the confines of an independent budget. Another recent addition was the Sundance Film Festival USA program, in which eight of the festival's films are shown in eight different theaters around

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858-463: The United States. The festival went virtual in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic . The festival returned for in-person showings in 2023. The total economic benefits Sundance brought to Utah were estimated to be $ 167 million in 2020. The Sundance Institute's contract to host the festival in Park City will expire following the 2026 festival. The Sundance Institute is considering moving

897-491: The age of 34 in the crash of a small, single-engine plane which clipped a power line and burst into flames in Santa Monica, California . Claire Griswold died on March 28, 2011, at 74 years of age, from Parkinson's disease . Concerns about Pollack's health surfaced in 2007, when he withdrew from directing HBO's television film Recount , which aired on May 25, 2008. He died from cancer the following day at his home in

936-551: The child actors on Frankenheimer's first big picture, The Young Savages . It was during this time that Pollack met Burt Lancaster , who encouraged the young actor to try directing. Pollack played a director in The Twilight Zone episode " The Trouble with Templeton " in 1960. He made his feature film debut as an actor in Denis Sanders ' War Hunt (1962) where he met Robert Redford , who would go on to be

975-445: The experience of small filmmakers trying to get into various festivals in the late 2000s, including Sundance. The film contained several arguments that Sundance had become dominated by large studios and sponsoring corporations. A contrast was made between the 1990s, in which non-famous filmmakers with tiny budget films could get distribution deals from studios like Miramax Films or New Line Cinema , (like Kevin Smith 's Clerks ), and

1014-402: The festival continued. More than 60 films were screened at the festival that year, and panels featured many well-known Hollywood filmmakers. Also that year, the first Frank Capra Award went to Jimmy Stewart . The festival also made a profit for the first time. In 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah, and changed the dates from September to January. The move from late summer to midwinter

1053-498: The festival to another city, and in 2024 announced Boulder, Colorado , Cincinnati, Ohio , and current host city Park City as the three finalists for its host city starting in 2027. 40°38′33″N 111°29′42″W  /  40.64250°N 111.49500°W  / 40.64250; -111.49500 Sydney Pollack Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Pollack

1092-784: The festival's Top 10 Films of All Time in 2024, as the result of a survey conducted with over 500 filmmakers and critics in honor of the festival's 40th anniversary ), CODA , Boyhood , We're All Going to the World's Fair , Theater Camp and A Thousand and One . Three Seasons was the first in festival history to ever receive both the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award, in 1999. Later films that won both awards are: God Grew Tired of Us in 2006 (documentary category), Quinceañera in 2006 (dramatic category), Precious in 2009, Fruitvale (later retitled Fruitvale Station ) in 2013, Whiplash in 2014, Me and Earl and

1131-609: The first Sundance film to win an Oscar for Best Picture at the 94th Academy Awards . The festival has changed over the decades from a low-profile venue for small-budget, independent creators from outside the Hollywood system to a media extravaganza for Hollywood celebrity actors, paparazzi, and luxury lounges set up by companies not affiliated with Sundance. Festival organizers have tried curbing these activities in recent years, beginning in 2007 with their ongoing Focus On Film campaign. The 2009 film Official Rejection documented

1170-540: The first time it has traveled outside the US . In a press statement, Redford said, "We are excited to partner with AEG Europe to bring a particular slice of American culture to life in the inspired setting of The O2, and in this city of such rich cultural history. [...] It is our mutual goal to bring to the UK, the very best in current American independent cinema, to introduce the artists responsible for it, and in essence, help build

1209-410: The first-year pilot program of what became the Sundance Institute , and James W. Ure took over briefly as executive director, followed by Cirina Hampton Catania, who was asked by Governor Matheson to help bring the festival into profitability as the governing board was preparing to disband it due to debts incurred in 1978. Catania generated sponsorships, in-kind contributions, and advertising revenue, and

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1248-475: The inaugural US Film Festival presented by Sundance Institute (1985), which included Program Director Tony Safford and Administrative Director Jenny Walz Selby. The branding and marketing transition from the US Film Festival to the Sundance Film Festival was managed under the direction of Colleen Allen, Allen Advertising Inc., by appointment of Robert Redford. In 1991, the festival was officially renamed

1287-482: The male lead in seven of Pollack's films as director. He found his real success in television in the 1960s by directing episodes of series, such as The Fugitive and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour . After doing TV he made the jump into film with a string of movies that drew public attention. His film-directing debut was The Slender Thread (1965). Over time, Pollack's films received a total of 48 Academy Award nominations, winning 11 Oscars. His first Oscar nomination

1326-611: The potential of independent film, and increase visibility for filmmaking in Utah. The main focus of the event was to conduct a competition for independent American films, present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions, and celebrate the Frank Capra Award. The festival also highlighted the work of regional filmmakers who worked outside the Hollywood system. In 1979, Sterling Van Wagenen left to head up

1365-609: Was born in Lafayette, Indiana , to a family of Jewish immigrants, the son of Rebecca (née Miller) and David Pollack, a semi-professional boxer and pharmacist. The family relocated to South Bend and his parents divorced when he was young. His mother, who suffered from alcoholism and emotional problems, died at the age of 37, when Pollack was 16. Despite earlier plans to attend college and then medical school, Pollack left Indiana for New York City soon after finishing high school at age 17. Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at

1404-512: Was done by the executive director Susan Barrell with the cooperation of Hollywood director Sydney Pollack , who suggested that running a film festival in a ski resort during winter would draw more attention from Hollywood. It was called the US Film and Video Festival. In 1984, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival. Gary Beer and Van Wagenen spearheaded production of

1443-720: Was for his 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They? , and his second in 1982 for Tootsie . For his 1985 film Out of Africa starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford , Pollack won Academy Awards for directing and producing . During his career, he directed 12 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Jane Fonda , Gig Young , Susannah York , Barbra Streisand , Paul Newman , Melinda Dillon , Jessica Lange , Dustin Hoffman , Teri Garr , Meryl Streep , Klaus Maria Brandauer and Holly Hunter . Young and Lange won Oscars for their performances in Pollack's films. One of

1482-480: Was founded by Sterling Van Wagenen , head of Robert Redford 's company Wildwood Enterprises, Inc , John Earle and Cirina Hampton-Catania of the Utah Film Commission . The 1978 festival featured films such as Deliverance , A Streetcar Named Desire , Midnight Cowboy , Mean Streets , and Sweet Smell of Success . The goal of the festival was to showcase American-made films, highlight

1521-548: Was given four months after his death in 2008. The moving image collection of Sydney Pollack is housed at the Academy Film Archive. In the 2002 Sight & Sound Directors' Poll, Pollack revealed his top ten films in alphabetical order: Pollack was married to Claire Bradley Griswold, a former student of his, from 1958 until his death in 2008. They had three children: Steven (1959–1993), Rebecca (b. 1963), and Rachel (b. 1969). In November 1993, Steven died at

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