WHIT STILLMAN’S METROPOLITAN,TODD HAYNES’ POISON AND HAL ASHBY’S HAROLD AND MAUDE SELECTED FOR 2010 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL FROM THE COLLECTION SCREENINGS

Park City, UT—Sundance Institute announced today three seminal films selected for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s From the Collection screenings: Metropolitan directed by Whit Stillman; Poison, directed by Todd Haynes; and Harold and Maude, directed by Hal Ashby. Each year the Festival presents retrospective screenings of influential feature-length films from the Sundance Collection at UCLA, paying tribute to significant works in the history of independent film and reminding audiences and our filmmakers of the importance of film preservation. The Sundance Film Festival will run January 21-31, 2010 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.

Sundance Institute joined with the UCLA Film & Television Archive in 1997 to create The Sundance Collection at UCLA (The Collection) to preserve and restore documentaries, narratives, shorts, festival films, and commercially released independent films. The Collection, which broke new ground by becoming the first archive devoted specifically to the preservation of independent cinema, is part of a larger Institute initiative designed to engage independent film and theatre artists, enhance public knowledge, provide a platform for dialogue, and ultimately to create and sustain an inclusive artistic community. In addition to the Collection, similar initiatives include The POSSE: Sundance Institute’s Alumni Initiative, and The Sundance Institute Archive.

Explaining the choices for this year’s From the Collection screenings, programmer John Nein said, “This marks the 20th anniversary of Metropolitan, a film that at its time was at the forefront of a new sensibility in independent film. We selected Poison with the idea of NEXT in mind as the film represents award-winning work created with slim resources and a shoestring budget. Harold and Maude is a studio film made at a time when artist-driven filmmaking did come from major companies, and of course it is a classic that independent filmmakers have embraced for years.”

“We’re very grateful to Sundance for allowing us to strike a new 35mm print of Metropolitan. It’s poignant to see a low-budget film of this era as film again – the images seem to swim in a colorful ocean of grain,” said Stillman. “To me what especially stands out are the performances of Carolyn Farina and others of the very young cast, especially as I know the director did nothing. They are still young. It would be a dream if an actress such as Carolyn, nominated for a Spirit award and later in The Age of Innocence, could be rediscovered.”

About the films:

Metropolitan/USA 1990 (Director and screenwriter: Whit Stillman)
Whit Stillman was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay about a group of young Manhattanites passing through a debutante season when an outsider enters their circle – a Westsider is amongst them. Cast: Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Taylor Nichols, Chris Eigeman, Isabel Gillies, Will Kempe

Poison/USA 1991(Director and screenwriter: Todd Haynes)
The Grand Jury Prize Winner at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival consists of three stories inspired by the French novelist, writer, dramatist and convicted felon, Jean Genet. Cast: Edith Meeks, Larry Maxwell, Susan Gayle Norman, Scott Renderer, James Lyons

Harold and Maude/USA 1971 (Director: Hal Ashby; Screenwriter: Colin Higgins)
When extremely wealthy Harold is not staging his own suicide, he’s crashing funerals. While making his rounds, Harold falls in love with fellow funeral-crasher, Maude, fifty years his senior with a lust for life that surpasses his preoccupation with death. The film is ranked on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Funniest Movies of all time. Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort

The Sundance Collection at UCLA has grown to nearly 600 titles, generously donated by individual filmmakers and eight founding donors: Fine Line Features, Gramercy Pictures, Miramax, New Line Cinema, October Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, Strand Releasing, and Trimark Pictures. To supplement its growing library of films, the Collection also features a rare assemblage of data on the history of independent cinema. Filmmakers can visit www.sundance.org/collectionto learn more about donating their work to the Sundance Collection at UCLA.

Festival Sponsors
The 2010 Sundance Film Festival sponsors to date include: Presenting Sponsors—Entertainment Weekly, HP, Honda and Sundance Channel; Leadership Sponsors—American Express, Bingâ„¢, DIRECTV, G-Technology by Hitachi, Southwest Airlines and YouTubeâ„¢; Sustaining Sponsors— Blockbuster Inc., FilterForGood®, a partnership between Brita® and Nalgene®, L’Oréal Paris, Sony Electronics Inc., Stella Artois®, Timberland and Utah Film Commission. Their support will defray costs associated with the 10-day Festival and the nonprofit Sundance Institute’s year-round programs for independent film and theatre artists. In return, sponsorship of the preeminent Festival provides these organizations with global exposure, a platform for brand impressions and unique access to Festival attendees: The 2009 Sundance Film Festival, attended by over 40,000 visitors, generated an overall economic impact of a record $92.1 million and generated over $18 million in media exposure.

About Sundance Institute
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of original storytelling in film and theatre. Internationally recognized for its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Angels in America, Spring Awakening, Boys Don’t Cry and Born into Brothels.

For a sneak peek at the 2010 Sundance Festival visit www.sundance.org/festival