Rich Brian of “Jamojaya” poses for a portrait at Getty Images Portrait Studio at Stacy's Roots to Rise Market on January 22, 2023 in Park City, Utah

Quick Sundance/Slamdance Recap

Quick Sundance/Slamdance Recap

I went to Park City, UT for Sundance and Slamdance* last week, only my second time in person (the first was 2010). My primary purpose was to meet with filmmakers and to promote filmmaking in the Rochester/Finger Lakes region; I did, however, make some time to see some films. When I’m participating in a festival or event for work, I choose the films I see based on a set of criteria – it’s not about what Tim WANTS to see, it’s about seeing the work of filmmakers I’ve connected with or hope to connect with. The nice thing about this is that I usually don’t even read a synopsis of the film before I see it, so I get to experience the film without preconceptions – which means surprises.**

This is a rundown of last week in Sundance/Slamdance screenings, in the order I saw them, with brief reactions. Each and every one of these films is worthy of a lengthy review and discussion, and I’m more than happy to chat about them – but this is a document of my week in movies in Park City, not really about the films themselves.

Mutt (Sundance, Eccles Theater, Monday, 1/23 2:55 PM – PREMIERE) 24 hours in the life of a young trans man in NYC, during which individuals from various parts of his past enter his life, each challenging and illuminating aspects of his identity. I got to the theater by the skin of my teeth – the Sundance pre-roll had already begun. There was some confusion about the buses – I met a couple of filmmakers from LA, and we followed the advice of a very friendly person who seemed to know what she was talking about, but almost certainly added ten minutes to our ride to the theater. The lower level of the Eccles theater was packed, so I was up in the balcony. The screening was open captioned, I’m sure because several of the characters are bilingual, but also perhaps because of a push for accessibility at Sundance screenings.

Love Dump/Mahogany Drive (Slamdance, Treasure Mountain Inn Ballroom, Monday, 1/23 8:00 PM) Mahogany Drive is a wild short about three Black men who discover their Air BnB is killing white women. Love Dump is a parody of Hallmark romances about a couple finding each other among the trash in Chicago. My first Slamdance screening! The ballroom is small, with risers and individual chairs for perhaps 60 people. I met the filmmakers (director, writers/stars, and DP) in the hallway as they were encouraging people to see the film (it hadn’t sold out). I also met a young guy from New Hampshire who was attending film festivals in lieu of film school, and chatted with him about (relatively) obscure Cronenberg films.

Fremont (Sundance, Virtual, Tuesday 1/24) Fremont is the story of a young woman who served as a translator for the US Armed Forces in Afghanistan, and is now working at a fortune cookie factory. Wry and understated, Fremont is a delightful film.

Fuzzy Head/Write a Song About Heartache (Slamdance, Treasure Mountain Inn Ballroom, Tuesday 1/24 3:15 PM) Write a Song About Heartache is a clever short about a country singer and his unusual songwriting partner (you have to see it!). Fuzzy Head is a trip through the cluttered and unreliable recollections of a young woman whose mother has died of a gunshot wound – and the question of who pulled the trigger. Back to the ballroom at the Treasure Mountain Inn! Wendy McColm, Writer/Director/Star of Fuzzy Head had left printed sheets with ornate poetry and metal keys on strings with QR codes taped to them by hand. The QR codes led to her website (https://www.wendyfilms.com/). I found this personal touch, this engagement with the audience, to be very moving, and emblematic of the attitude of Slamdance filmmakers. I took one of the keys for my four year old niece, who I hope will use it as inspiration as she develops her creativity. I spoke with the Fuzzy Head team (Wendy herself, and her producers, cast, and art director) – they’re passionate filmmakers and lovely people.

Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (Sundance, Virtual, Tuesday 1/24) With echoes of Ernest P. Worrell, online character Onyx the Fortuitous makes his feature debut in a story involving a devil worship cult, a haunted mansion, and some precious action figures. What’s remarkable to me about this film, which is described as a “throwback,” is how it melds internet culture with tried and true genre filmmaking – to me, it seems less of a throwback and more of a bellwether. Frustratingly, I was fighting sleep for the last part of the film, so I’m very much looking forward to revisiting it.

The Accidental Getaway Driver (Sundance, Virtual, Wednesday 1/25) An elderly rideshare driver picks up three prison escapees; they kidnap the driver and over the course of their time together, unexpected bonds develop, existing bonds are tested, and the four men’s pasts are uncovered as their futures become increasingly certain. It’s an intense, involving film that melds thriller elements with character study.

MiND MY GOOFiNESS: the Self Portrait (Slamdance, Virtual, Wednesday 1/25) Shot in portrait mode, this is a day in the life of one guy in LA who bounces from encounter to encounter – with friends, relatives, and strangers – with each encounter revealing at least some of how he sees himself. Quirky, engaging, and offbeat – a bit of a riff on Slacker.

Space Happy: Phil Thomas Katt and the Uncharted Zone (Slamdance, Virtual, Wednesday 1/25) A straightforward, pleasant, engaging documentary about Pensacola, FL local celebrity and late night television personality Phil Thomas Katt, whose lo-fi music videos for an eclectic group of would be local stars took YouTube by storm in the late aughts. There are moments in this doc that moved me more than anything else I saw during the week.

Past Lives (Sundance, Ray Theater, Thursday 1/26 8:15 AM) After emigrating from Korea as a child, a woman reconnects with a childhood friend years later at very different points in their lives. This was an early morning screening and it was fun to start the day with an excited audience.

Free LSD (Slamdance, Treasure Mountain Inn Ballroom, Thursday 1/26 5:00 PM – PREMIERE) Free LSD is a nearly indescribable sci-fi/horror/fantasy head trip starring the members of punk supergroup OFF! as parallel versions of themselves who have to save the world through their music. And drugs. The closing night film of Slamdance 2023, this was a super cool experience – an excited crowd, filmmakers who were seeing their film, a true labor of love, with an audience for the first time, and a film festival putting the closing exclamation on an exuberant year of programming. The best thing for me: the guy I’d met at the Love Dump screening sat with me, and after the film looked at me and asked, “Have you ever seen anything like that?” And – I mean, yeah, I have, sorta, but I’m twice his age, and it was so exciting to be there for someone having a singular, eye-opening filmgoing experience.

Jamojaya (Sundance, Virtual, Friday 1/27) A young Indonesian rapper is in Hawaii to record his major label debut and to shoot the accompanying video, when his father (and former manager) shows up unexpectedly, creating unforeseen complications. It’s a simple setup for a complex, ornate, stylish film that examines complex relationships across cultural boundaries.

The Persian Version (Sundance, Ray Theater, Friday 1/27 2:15 PM) A young writer explores her history and that of her family, from her parents marriage in Iran in the 1960s through her childhood in the 1980s and 1990s spent between Iran and the US. (Honestly, I don’t know how to describe this film in one sentence – I think I kind of did it, but I know I didn’t sell it. It’s a magical film that dances (sometimes literally) among tones, among generations, and through the lives of its characters. See it!) I bought my ticket to this screening about an hour before the Sundance awards were announced – this one won both the audience award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S. dramatic competition. I was even more excited to see it, and the theater filled up with people making last minute decisions to see the film. It was wonderful to laugh and cry (not me, but the rest of them) with an audience through an utterly unpredictable film. I sat next to a young Sundance Industry volunteer from LA who had a loud and infectious laugh.

A Perfect Day for Caribou (Slamdance, Virtual, Saturday 1/28) An old man reconnects with his adult son and seven year old grandson in a cemetery on the day he plans to commit suicide. Offbeat, droll, often very funny, and gorgeously shot in black and white, A Perfect Day for Caribou explores generational rifts and the complexities of relationships defined largely by shaky memories and secondhand recollections.

Young. Wild. Free. (Sundance, Virtual, Saturday 1/28) In a weird mashup of Bonnie and Clyde, Something Wild, and Menace II Society, a Black high schooler meets a free spirited foster kid who pushes and pulls him through new experiences that range from mischievous to dangerous to exciting and ultimately to tragic. This is the only Sundance film I saw (out of eight – nine if you count Infinity Pool, see below) that did not fully work for me. Avoiding spoilers, I will just say that the narrative problems created by the ending are not justified by any dramatic contributions it makes to the film as a whole.

Unicorn Boy (Slamdance, Virtual, Saturday 1/28) A young animator in Los Angeles becomes entangled in the affairs of a parallel world filled with unicorns and rainbows and fantastic creatures, while trying to come to terms with personal crises in their real life. Okay – the only possible negative about this film is that I think it’s overlong, but it’s a wildly creative and very moving independent animated feature. It’s great.

Waiting for the Light to Change (Slamdance, Virtual, Saturday 1/28) A group of friends spend a week at a lake house belonging to one of their relatives; during the time, relationships are grown, tested, altered and redefined. Sort of a lo-fi, modern take on The Big Chill, the film is quiet and restrained, chilly, sincere, and honest.

*For those who may be unaware: the Slamdance Film Festival runs concurrently with Sundance in Park City, and is a festival with a very different vibe and energy – punkier, scrappier, smaller, but just as devoted to filmmakers and film lovers.

**For instance – most of the films I sought out were American productions, but I was surprised when nearly every one from Sundance heavily featured non-English dialogue – Spanish in Mutt, Dari and Cantonese in Fremont, Vietnamese in The Accidental Getaway Driver, Bahasa Indonesian in Jamojaya, Korean in Past Lives, Persian in The Persian Version.

Getting Ready for Sundance With 'Jamojaya' Star Rich Brian At 17, Rich Brian exploded onto the scene with his high-energy viral debut "Dat $tick." He then defied the odds by riding off the notoriety, signing with powerhouse entertainment company 88rising alongside the likes of Dumbfoundead and Joji. Now 23 with several projects, notable collaborations and the recognition of being the first Asian artist to have a number-one hip-hop record on the iTunes Charts, Brian is turning his sights to the silver screen.Related | How 88Rising Raised the Bar for Asian RepresentationThis past weekend at Sundance Film Festival, Rich Brian made his acting debut in his first feature film, the Justin Chon-directed drama Jamojaya. Named after an Indonesian folktale, the film is about the growing gap between a father and son as they face the pressures of the music industry.Brian stars as a young, up-and-coming rapper who wants to hire representation from the United States to take over the reins from his father. Dubbed as one of the festival’s rising stars, the Indonesian rapper, singer and producer “gives a convincing performance in the film as a fish-out-of-water musical sensation very much like his real-life self," according to The Hollywood Reporter.Despite the pressures of such a serious role, Brian never lost his love for humor: Playing with the stereotypical images of rapper and actor, the multi-hyphenate released the track "Sundance Freestyle." With a whiplash-inducing flow and bouncy production, Brian reflects on how far he has come with a gleam in his eye and smile on his face. "And now I’m boutta watch my first movie that I shot up in the islands/ Surrounded by the audience and my friends/ That shit turn everything else into nonsense/ To think I’m only on my second project," he raps in the midst of a joyous celebration, proving that he has broken all expectations. The sky is the limit.Below, watch "Sundance Freestyle" and check out an exclusive PAPER's behind-the-scenes look at Rich Brian preparing for the premiere of Jamojaya at Sundance.Photos courtesy of Ivan Meneses, lack Rabbit Monolith and Jack Szabo https://www.papermag.com/rich-brian-sundance-photo-diary-2659321360.html

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Sundance Film Festival 2023 Film Lineup: BLUEBACK, THE POD GENERATION, BRAVO, & More https://film-book.com/sundance-film-festival-2023-film-lineup-blueback-the-pod-generation-bravo-more/?feed_id=119598&_unique_id=6396014f6051e

JAMOJAYA, directed by Justin Chon, Brian's first ever film as a actor, and a lead actor at that, and 88rising’s first ever film, has been selected to premiere at SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL.

Brian Imanuel Soewarno (Rich Brian) is a 23 year old Indonesian rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, and now actor. JAMOJAYA is the first film to come out of 88rising, a predominantly music-focused entertainment company known for uplifting Asian artists.

Directed by Justin Chon (Blue Bayou, Twilight), JAMOJAYA is described as a "'break-up story' between a father and son" as the "young up-and-coming rapper['s] escalating popularity leads him to confront his relationship with his father" (NME).

Family Drama Has Strong Performances, Weak Third Act

The music industry is infamously cutthroat and stories about musicians are either underdog stories or ones that place the industry as a relentless machine that churns talent through and spits them out. Jamojaya balances both of these types of stories along and then braids in the story of a father and son who have been estranged over time. Oftentimes this means that Jamojaya can feel a bit…

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Details are emerging about Justin Chon’s (Blue Bayou) under-the-radar music drama Jamojaya, starring rapper Rich Brian. Recently wrapped in Hawaii, the film’s producing team includes Peter Luo (Crazy Rich Asians) and former Columbia/TriStar head Chris Lee.

Chon wrote, directed, and produced the English-language feature, which sees rising Indonesian rapper Brian make his acting debut.

Chon, whose Blue Bayou recently debuted at Cannes, has previously said the project is a “break-up story” of a father and son. The film charts the fallout after the son, whose career as a rapper is about to take off, hires a U.S manager and label to take over his career from his father who has steered it to date.