Before the full slate is announced for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, the Park City, Utah event has already teed up two movies: the 25th Anniversary and digital restoration screening of Marc Levin’s Slam and the uncensored director’s cut and restoration of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation.
Both titles are showing in the fest’s From the Collection section.
“Before we announce the full slate for the upcoming Festival, we are taking a moment to honor our past in anticipation of what is to come,” said Kim Yutani, Director of Programming. “Sundance has always been a place for discovery, inspired conversations, and critical reflection, all thanks to the independent storytellers we are so fortunate to encounter each year. These screenings are our opportunity to present newly restored films From the Collection, reemphasize our commitment to artists throughout their careers, and find new ways to recontextualize the work that has shaped the heritage of Sundance through a modern perspective.”
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“The two restorations certainly celebrate how groundbreaking so many independent works from the 90s were, but they also remind us of how collaborative, fierce and transformative independent storytelling could be — how long lasting their impact and influence can be,” said John Nein, Senior Programmer & Director of Strategic Initiatives at Sundance Institute. “Slam not only showcased the work of pioneering artists and poets like Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, Beau Sia, Liza Jesse Peterson and others, but it also inspired untold numbers of younger poets and contributed to the criminal justice reform movement of the 1990s. And with the restoration and reincorporation of several original scenes into The Doom Generation, we’re reminded of the challenges that independent storytellers faced, and continue to face, in releasing their films true to their vision.”
Directed by Marc Levin and written by Levin, Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, and Richard Stratton, Slam made its world premiere at the 1998 Sundance in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section where it won the Grand Jury Prize. The print has been restored as part of the Institute’s Archives & Collection program.
In Slam, a talented youth, played by Williams, copes with urban crime and despair by competing in poetry slams. The movie exposed the structural inequity of the criminal justice system, and the powerful ability art has to transcend.
“Slam sparked a movement, spreading spoken word poetry around the world,” said Levin, “The key players stayed true to the mission, pursuing a life of independent creative expression and social action. Now, 25 years later, I find myself filming the real-life story of Halim Flowers, whom we met back then in the D.C. Jail, and who ultimately found the magic door out. Many thanks to Sundance, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Academy Film Archive, and Lionsgate for recognizing and restoring the film. Its power remains undiminished, but sadly so do the conditions it captured so vividly.”
“Slam anticipated a cycle of poetry via the spoken word movement that democratized the voices and voicing of poetry for new generations,” said Williams, “We are still experiencing its ripple in popular culture and academia, worldwide. With its focus not only on poetry, but criminal justice and marijuana, Slam remains a testament of the times.”
Directed by Gregg Araki, The Doom Generation world premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and represented the second film in Araki’s Teenage Apocalypse trilogy. The film has been remastered in 4K for an uncensored director’s cut.
In Doom Generation, Jordan White and Amy Blue, two troubled teens, pick up an adolescent drifter, Xavier Red. Together, the threesome embark on a sex-and-violence-filled journey through an America of psychos and quickie marts.
“There are three versions of The Doom Generation,” explains Araki. “One is the edited version which was released in theaters and on video. The second is a ridiculous R-rated version made without my approval for Blockbuster Video, which has over 20 minutes chopped out and makes no sense (and I hope disappears forever after this re-release). The third is the version shown at the film’s world premiere at Sundance in 1995, which was subsequently censored per the distributor’s request (primarily in the climactic reel). This new 4K remaster is the first time this Uncensored Director’s Cut has been seen since 1995 (and also restored to 1.85 Widescreen versus the lousy pan-and-scan version which has circulated for decades). Needless to say, I’m thrilled that The Doom Generation can finally be experienced in its full glory in this remastered and restored edition.”
From the Collection screenings at the Festival have included: The Blair Witch Project, Hours and Times, River of Grass, Paris is Burning, Desert Hearts, Daughters of the Dust, El Mariachi, Reality Bites, sex, lies, and videotape, Hoop Dreams, Chameleon Street, High Art, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., and Paris, Texas.
The 2023 Festival takes place from January 19-29, 2023 in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort, and online for audiences across the country from January 24-29, 2023.
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