Recommended Reading: Sundance (& Slamdance) Edition

Here's a rundown of just some of the coverage from the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals, including reviews of two of our Completion Fund winners - Pariah and We Were Here: Sundance 2011: Happy, Happy Reflections on a Queer Year (AfterEllen) Fresh off the whirlwind opening weekend of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, here are my admittedly skewed impressions of this year’s cinema extravaganza — which seemed queerer than ever despite (or perhaps because of) my being unable to see many of the LGBT films on view. Fear not. I have a well-developed facility for chiming in relevant commentary on films I’ve never seen, and at least one worthy observation on the presentation of the LGBT films at this notoriously queer “straight” festival. So here from the perch of January is a glimpse at the queer year in film ahead. Thomas Dekker Talks Sex, Nudity, Molestation at "Kaboom" Premiere Party (Next Magazine) "Dekker says he's  wanted to work with Araki ever since he was a metalhead kid causing trouble in Las Vegas. 'I was arrested five or six times,' the 23-year-old said with a shrug. 'We were into anarchy, which is what Gregg's movies are all about.  That's why I connected with him.'  When he heard about Araki's newest exploration of post-adolescent angst, he went for it full-throttle." Sundance Announces Awards; 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day' Among Winners (SF360) Queer-themed films Pariah, Happy, Happy, and and Circumstance all took home awards! “Stranger Things” & “Bhopali” Among Top Winners at 17th Slamdance Film Festival (IndieWire) Without receives special jury mention. “Pariah” Actress Adepero Oduye (IndieWire) "Basking in the glow of a festival high, an all-smiling Oduye spoke with indieWIRE after the Pariah world premiere. Among the topics covered: How she nabbed the role, what she has planned next and why she landed into acting." I Wasn’t There: Sundance Doc “We Were Here” and the Importance of HIV/AIDS in Film (IndieWire) "While many people in the audience clearly were watching a film that they could relate to and heal from, what was shown on screen in We Were Here was a world I’ve never belonged to, and a world I’ve only read about or seen in movies. I wasn’t revisiting anything.  I looked around the theater after the screening finished, and saw a couple younger faces - all with the same tear tracks I had - and wondered how much of what they saw on screen was entirely new information." Sundance film review: documentary "We Were Here" (Reuters) "By now many documentaries and even a few dramatic features have explored the AIDS epidemic of the 80s and 90s. But We Were Here, competing in the U.S. documentary section at Sundance, brings a rewardingly fresh and personal perspective to the subject. Director David Weissman looks at the impact of the epidemic on the gay community in San Francisco, and instead of dwelling on the thousands of deaths, he focuses on five people who survived and share their reminiscences of the plague years."