Dear Colleague:December 21, 2006

J E R E M Y W A L K E R + AS S O C I A T E S, I N C.

Dear Colleague:December 21, 2006

This is a time of great self-scrutiny. When we look inward as a nation, our culture sometimes has an unnerving way of looking right back at us – and right now, from where we sit, after seeing numerous films in recent weeks, the culture’s attitude seems one of semi-agitated disbelief.

Audiences at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival will see how the people in our culture love, mourn, heal, wheel, deal and sometimes crack. These entertainments will come from some of the most talented emerging and established independent filmmakers working today.

JW+A is proud to represent directors David Gordon Green, Steve Berra, Jim Strouse andGeorge Ratliff, whose work will premiere in the Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition. Their films find some common truths as they measure the breaking point of the American family.

Two of our three shiny new titles in the Spectrum category were made by directors best known as New York City actors (Justin Theroux, the late Adrienne Shelly), while Craig Zobel’s GREAT WORLD OF SOUND reminds us in an “American Idol” sort of way just how likely we are as a culture to gulp down that proverbial Kool Aid.

Groupthink at its most menacing is also a theme shared by the two titles we represent in the American Documentary Competition.In this time of self-scrutiny, no visual medium is more potent than socially driven nonfiction filmmaking. Veteran Rory Kennedy’s GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB is a shocking, important essay that will air on HBO about a month after its Sundance premiere, while first-time director Daniel Karslake’s FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO reconciles homosexuality and a literalist interpretation of scripture through the perspective of five devout families. Both docs make sharply cogent and urgently necessary arguments by joining unforgettable visuals with moving, first-person accounts.

All of these films will have their world premieres at Sundance. All but the Kennedy documentary were made without the involvement of a distributor; and all but Berra’s THE GOOD LIFE were made in New York or by New Yorkers. Our lineup is presented here in the order of each film’s first public screening. Please keep in mind that screening times are approximate and, like talent expected,may change between now and the Festival.

If you are a journalist and wish to discuss any one title, please email the designated contact person or persons for that film. If you wish to contact us by telephone, please do so at our NYC office number, 212-595-6161, until the opening day of the Festival. Our contact info during the Festival can be found on the last page of this letter. Soon, this letter and full press notes for the films can be found at

Jeremy Walker Judd Stark Christine Richardson Judy Drutz

Adam Walker Steven Cooper

Jennifer Chikes Jennifer MorgermanMercedes Williamson

GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB (U.S. Documentary Competition) –GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB examines and contextualizes the abuses that occurred in the fall of 2003 at that notorious Iraqi prison, abuses documented in photographs that are etched in our national consciousness and will remain so for years to come. The documentary asks: what do those events say about America, our government, our military, and human nature? The film is built on the direct, personal narratives of the perpetrators, witnesses, and victims of the abuse and probes the psychology of how typical American men and women can come to commit atrocious acts. On a parallel track, the film explores the chronology of recent policy decisions that have eroded our compliance with the Geneva Conventions and that contributed to making this abuse a reality. If news can claim to be the first draft of history, then nonfiction cinema is the compelling, carefully constructed argument that can claim to most truthfully get at the whole of the “how” and “why” behind our most extraordinary events. Airing on HBO on Thursday, February 22, Rory Kennedy’s GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB is just such a film.

CONTACT: Jeremy Walker,

SCREENINGS:Fri. January 19th, 2:30pm, Prospector

Fri. January 19th, 8:00pm, HolidayVillage(PRESS & INDUSTRY)

Sat. January 20th, 10:00am, HolidayVillage

Sat. January 20th, 9:00pm, Broadway Center Cinemas (Salt Lake City)

Wed. January 24th, 3:15pm, HolidayVillage

Fri. January 26th, 11:30am, HolidayVillage

TALENT AVAILABLE: Producer-director Rory Kennedy will be with us for the duration.

SNOW ANGELS (Dramatic Competition) – The first of David Gordon Green’s films set north of the Mason Dixon, SNOW ANGELS juxtaposes three couples in adjacent stages of life who are linked by powerful relationships. Arthur (Michael Angarano) is in high school, plays in the marching band and is pursued romantically by pretty/nerdy Lila (Olivia Thirlby). Annie (Kate Beckinsale) used to baby-sit Arthur. Today they work in the same Chinese restaurant where anyone can see how much they care about each other, even as their lives are pulling them in much different directions. As Lila’s affection for Arthur grows, so does the ardor with which she tries to express it. At the same time, Arthur must deal with the fact that his parents (Griffin Dunne and Jeannetta Arnette) are splitting up. Meanwhile, Annie’s first marriage to Glenn (Sam Rockwell) has ended. Glenn used to drink but has since found Jesus Christ. Glenn lives with his parents as he tries to rebuild his life by getting a job selling carpet. He also tries to re-connect with Annie as he shows up to visit their very young daughter. A film for grown-ups, SNOW ANGELS is about a precise moment on a cold winter morning when Arthur’s past collides with his future, and nothing will ever be the same.CONTACT: Christine Richardson,

SCREENINGS:Fri. January 19th, 5:30pm, Racquet Club

Sat.January 20th, 8:30am, Yarrow (PRESS & INDUSTRY)

Sat. January 20th, 9:00pm, Sundance Resort

Sun. January 21st, 9:15am, Eccles

Wed. January 24th, 2:30pm, Racquet Club

Thurs. January 25th, 8:30am, Library

Fri. January 26th, 6:30pm, Rose Wagner (Salt Lake City)

TALENT AVAILABLE: Director David Gordon Green, Fri., 1/10 thru Mon., 1/22; Wed. 1/24-Sat. 1/27Actors Kate Beckinsale, Fri, 1/19 – Sun, 1/21; Sam Rockwell, Fri., 1/19 – Wed.,1/24; Michael Angarano, Thurs., 1/18–Sat., 1/27; Olivia Thirlby, Fri., 1/19-Saturday, 1/27.

THE GOOD LIFE (Dramatic Competition) – Written and directed by Steve Berra and set in present day Nebraska, THE GOOD LIFE is a movie that cares deeply about the classic cinema that came before it and recognizes, as on some level we all must, that cinema as we once knew it is dying. As THE GOOD LIFE opens we learn that, in Nebraska, football means everything – and since our main character, Jason Prayer (Mark Webber), doesn’t play football, he might not mean, well, anything. Jason works two jobs – at a gas station and, at night, at the once grand Capitol movie house, which is owned and barely operated by Gus (Harry Dean Stanton). Jason’s life becomes extremely complicated as Gus teeters on the edge of dementia while Jason is tormented by speed freak ex-football star Tad (a nearly unrecognizable Chris Klein), tentatively courted by the beautiful and mysterious Frances (Zooey Deschanel) and awkwardly befriended by Robbie (Bill Paxton), a new guy in town who loves old movies. Steeping his film in the motifs of archetypal small town America, Berra demonstrates that he is a master of the unexpected, while Webber delivers a brave performance that gives birth to a new kind of heartland youth hero.

CONTACT: Judy Drutz,

SCREENINGS:Sat. January 20th, 11:30am, Racquet Club

Sat. January 20th, 4:30pm, Yarrow (PRESS & INDUSTRY)

Sun. January 21st, 9:00pm, Tower (Salt Lake City)

Mon. January 22nd, 12noon, Eccles

Tues. January 23rd, 3:00pm, Sundance Resort

Thurs. January 25th, 8:30pm, Racquet Club

Fri. January 26th, 8:30am, Racquet Club

TALENT AVAILABLE: Writer-director Steve Berra Sat., 1/20-Sat., 1/27. Actors Mark Webber, Zooey Deschanel, Chris Klein and Patrick Fugit Sat., 1/20-Mon., 1/22.

GRACE IS GONE (Dramatic Competition) –finds Stanley Phillips (John Cusack), a patriot and father of two, in an awful dilemma when he learns that his wife, Grace, has been killed while serving in the war in Iraq. How will he tell his daughters that their mother is gone? Stanley buys a little time by taking the girls on an impromptu road trip to a theme park in Florida. Along the way he has a brief, contentious visit with his liberal brother (Alessandro Nivola) and struggles with his own grief, seeking solace by calling in to his home answering machine, which still bears the voice of his wife. In movies like SAY ANYTHING and HIGH FIDELITY, characters played by John Cusack have shown a generation of young men how to get the girl and then maintain some sense of dignity when the relationship ends. With GRACE IS GONE, Cusack has found a way to show that same generation of men how to be a grownup and a father in challenging times. An exercise in restraint and emotional truth, GRACE IS GONE was written by James Strouse (LONESOME JIM) and is Strouse’s directorial debut. The film is produced by Plum Pictures and New Crime Productions and financed by Hart-Lunsford Pictures.

CONTACT: Judy Drutz,

SCREENINGS:Sat. January 20th, 5:30pm, Racquet Club

Sat. January 20th, 10:00pm, Yarrow (PRESS & INDUSTRY)

Sun. January 21st, 3:00pm, Sundance Resort

Mon.January 22nd, 9:15am, Eccles

Tues. January 23rd, 11:30am, Racquet Club

Wed. January 24th, 9:30pm, Rose Wagner (Salt Lake City)

Thurs.January 25th, 8:30am, Racquet Club

TALENT AVAILABLE: Writer / director James C. Strouse, Fri., 1/19-Sat., 1/27. Actor John Cusack, Sat., 1/20-Sat., 1/27.

GREAT WORLD OF SOUND (Spectrum) –An audience-pleasing riff on the dirty underbelly of the American Idol phenomenon, GREAT WORLD OF SOUND stars Patrick Healy and Kene Holliday as Martin and Clarence, two normal Southern guys who get caught up in the excitement of a record industry talent scouting scheme. Unemployed one day and record producers the next, Martin and Clarence have a blast signing new acts and hit the road looking for the next big thing. But what happens once the checks are cashed? Craig Zobel’s independent film bona fides are firmly in place: he served on the crew of David Gordon Green’s early films, and Green serves as executive producer of GREAT WORLD OF SOUND. But it may be more helpful to go into GREAT WORLD OF SOUND knowing that Zobel has recently made a living between films by working on reality TV shows like The Apprentice. “I became fascinated by how desperate people were to get on TV, but how little they seemed to care about how they were portrayed by once they got there,” he says. CONTACT: Steven Cooper,

SCREENINGS:Sat., January 20th, 8:30pm, Library

Sun., January 21st, 12:00Noon, Egyptian

Sun., January 21st, 9:45 PM, Broadway 5 (Salt Lake City)

Thurs., January 25th, 9:00 AM Yarrow (PRESS & INDUSTRY)

Sat., January 27th, 1:00 PM, Holiday IV

Sun., January 28th, 5:30 PM, Holiday IV

TALENT AVAILABLE: We expect director Craig Zobel and actors Patrick Healy and Kene Holliday to be at Sundance for the duration.

JOSHUA (Dramatic Competition) –An elegantly made, sophisticated psychological thriller, JOSHUA stars Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga as Brad and Abby Cairn, perfect Manhattan parents in a perfect Manhattan apartment whose perfect life begins to crack after the arrival of their second child, Lily. As JOSHUA opens, the family is celebrating Lily’s arrival at a gathering that includes Abby’s effete brother (Dallas Roberts), Brad’s down-home mother (Celia Weston) and their nine-year-old son Joshua, who plays the piano beautifully; indeed, we soon learn that Joshua is something of a prodigy. But Joshua proves that he is as adept at manipulation as he is at playing the piano. As written by David Gilbert and George Ratliff, directed by Ratliff (the celebrated documentary “Hell House”), and richly photographed by Benoît Debie (“Irreversible”), half the fun of this very contemporary thriller is catching how this talented team tips its collective hat to the genre while lavishing the audience with gorgeous New York real estate and locations. But ultimately, JOSHUA belongs to its marvelous actors: Rockwell and Farmiga continue to surprise us with their versatility and magnetism, while Kogan’s ice-cold performance as the title character will surely find a home on the same shelf as the kids that played good sons, bad seeds and even Damiens before him.

CONTACT:Christine Richardson,

SCREENINGS:Sat. January 20th, 8:30pm, Racquet Club
Sun.January 21st, 8:30am, Yarrow(PRESS & INDUSTRY)

Sun. January 21st, 11:30pm, Library

Mon. January 22nd, 3:00pm, Sundance Resort

Tues. January 23rd, 9:00pm, Tower (Salt Lake City)

Wed. January 24th, 12noon, Eccles

Thurs. January 25th, 2:30pm, Racquet Club

TALENT AVAILABLE: Director and co-screenwriter George Ratliff, Fri., 1/19 – Sat.,1/27;

Actors Sam Rockwell, Fri., 1/19 – Wed.,1/24; Vera Farmiga Fri., 1/19-Wed.1/24; Jacob Kogan, Sat. 1/20 and Sun., 1/21.

WAITRESS (Spectrum) – Adrienne Shelly’s sunny final film is also her most artistically successful and intrinsically marketable directorial effort. An old-fashioned fairy tale that honors the transformative power of female friendship and motherhood, WAITRESS features a dynamic cast led by Keri Russell, whose character will surely do, in a Rachel Ray kind of way, for down home pie-making what the title character of BABETTE’S FEAST did for Cailles en Sarcophage. When Russell’s character Jenna, a waitress in a cheery southern diner, discovers that she's pregnant, she doesn't exactly jump for joy. Motherhood was never in her plans, and she’s already saddled with her needy, jealous and infantile husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto). At first, things seem hopeless and her dreams for a better life are in ruins, until a good-looking doctor (Nathan Fillion) arrives in town and mixes things up. With the support and love of her friends and co-workers (Adrienne Shelly and Cheryl Hines) at Joe’s Pie Diner, where her skills with crust and filling are particularly appreciated by Joe himself (Andy Griffith), Jenna gains the courage to embrace independence and create the life of her dreams.

CONTACT: Adam Walker,

SCREENINGS:Sun. January 21st, 3:15pm, Eccles

Mon. January 22nd, 11:30am, Library

Tues. January 23rd, 6:30pm, Redstone, Kimball Junction

Tues. January 23rd, 9:30pm, Redstone,Kimball Junction

Wed. January 24th, 8:00pm, Holiday(PRESS & INDUSTRY)

Fri. January 26th, 6:30pm, Perry’s Egyptian Theater,Ogden

Sat. January 27th9:00pm, Tower (Salt Lake City)

TALENT AVAILABLE: Actors Keri Russell, Sat., 1/20-Wed., 1/24; Nathan Fillion,

Fri., 1/19-Wed., 1/24;Jeremy Sisto, Sat., 1/20- Wed., 1/24; Cheryl Hines TBD but expected.

FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO (U.S. Documentary Competition) – If you’ve ever felt irked – or worse – by those few biblical passages about “abomination,” or if they’ve ever put an awkward distance – or worse – between you and a friend or colleague or loved one or a favorite aunt or uncle, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO is a film that you absolutely must see. Director Daniel Karslake’s inclusive approach ingeniously reconciles homosexuality, biology and scripture through the prism of the family; indeed, most of the film is devoted to five very normal, very Christian, very American families – families with names like Gephardt and Robinson – and how they handled learning that they had a gay child. FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO is neither a pedantic screed nor an academic treatise, yet its theology is informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard’s Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech. The movie even has a cartoon.CONTACT: “Adam and Steve,” Adam Walker and Steven Cooper, ,

SCREENINGS:Sun. January 21st, 8:30pm, HolidayVillage

Mon. January 22nd, 9:00am, HolidayVillage(PRESS & INDUSTRY)

Mon. January 22nd, 12:15pm, HolidayVillage

Tues. January 23rd, 6:45pm, Broadway Center Cinemas (Salt Lake City)

Thurs. January 25th, 2:30pm, Library

Fri. January 26th, 11:30pm, Holiday

TALENT AVAILABLE: Director Daniel Karslake, Fri., 1/19-Sat, 1/27; Reverend Mel White, Mon., 1/22-Sat., 1/27; News-making Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson, Tues., 1/23-Wed., 1/24; The Gephardt family is TBD.

DEDICATION (Spectrum) –New York City actor Justin Theroux has made a smart, stylish directorial debut with DEDICATION, a love story in which a misanthropic, emotionally complex author of a hit children’s book series (Billy Crudup) is forced to team with a beautiful illustrator (Mandy Moore) after his best friend and creative collaborator (Tom Wilkinson) passes away. Theroux brings an actor’s pitch-perfect casting sense to the film: Bob Balaban and Dianne Wiest are priceless as Crudup’s publisher and Moore’s mother, while Moore, very much a grown-up here, comes into her own opposite powerhouse Crudup. DEDICATION was shot entirely on location in New York City by cinematographer Stephen Kazmierski, whose sharp eye for detail is equally at home in Balaban’s sleek midtown office as it is in Crudup’s dingy Lower East Side loft, while the excellent soundtrack, featuring Deerhoof, Leadbelly, Cat Power, Fischerspooner and The Strokes completes DEDICATION’s youthfully restless mood.