An ensemble comedy that explores America's family values and a British character drama will headline the 2005 Sundance Film Festival's two opening-night events next month.
As always, the festival will be star-studded. Among the celebrities expected to attend during the 10-day run are Sundance head honcho Robert Redford, as well as Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Costner, Tom Arnold, Jimmy Smits, Sandra Bullock and Macy Gray, who headline some of the 120 feature films showing during the event.
Kevin Bacon, who directed and stars in "Loverboy," one of the 24 premiere film selections, reportedly will also be there.
"Happy Endings," director Don Roos' comedy starring Kudrow, Arnold and Maggie Gyllenhaal, will kick off the festival Jan. 20 in Park City's Egyptian Theatre. The next evening, in Salt Lake's Abravanel Hall, director Gaby Dellal's "On a Clear Day" will have its world premiere.
The latter stars Peter Mullan and two-time Academy Award nominee Brenda Blethyn ("Secrets & Lies" and "Little Voice").
And for the first time, the festival will feature a centerpiece premiere, of director George C. Wolfe's film "Lackawanna Blues," which stars Smits, Gray and Terrence Howard. (The festival will disclose the site for that event later.)
According to festival director Geoff Gilmore, all three films embody risk-taking, diversity and aesthetic innovation.
"Happy Endings," he said, "examines the many layers of relationships in American families and shifting values that are at the heart of our country. . . . The humor and compassion with which they are explored is unexpected and moving."
Other premieres include "Reefer Madness," a musical version of the infamous anti-drug cult film that stars Alan Cumming and Neve Campbell.
Bacon's directorial debut, "Loverboy," is based on Victoria Redel's novel and stars Bullock and Marisa Tomei.
"Mirrormask" is a fantasy based on the popular novel by writer Neil Gaiman, about a teenage circus performer who runs away to join "the real world."
And Costner stars in writer-director Mike Binder's "The Upside of Anger," a comedy-drama about a baseball player who helps a widowed mother of four (Joan Allen).
The Sundance Film Festival is the premier U.S. showcase for independently produced features and short films from the United States and around the world.
The festival runs through Jan. 30. Screenings also will take place in Ogden and at the Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon.
In addition to the competition and premiere screenings, there will be workshops, panel discussions and partying (both festival-sponsored and non-sponsored). As usual, there will be competing film festivals, including Slamdance.
For a complete list of Sundance films, go to www.sundance.org, which also has information on individual ticket sales, which begin Jan. 10.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com