Sundance showcase
Oklahoma's burgeoning film industry will be spotlighted at prestigious film fest
For the fourth consecutive year, a movie filmed primarily in Oklahoma will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Along with that eagerly awaited thriller, titled “Wild Indian,” the latest movie from Oklahoma native and prolific producer Mickey Liddell and an animated short from University of Oklahoma alumnus Joe Cappa will be shown at Sundance 2021, which launches Thursday and continues through Feb. 2.
So much big Oklahoma movie news coming out of arguably the country's most prestigious film festival isn't a surprise to Chuck Foxen.
“When we go to Sundance every year there's always Oklahoma filmmakers there. There's always an Oklahoma connection somehow out there,” said Fox, film programmer at Tulsa's Circle Cinema.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's Sundance Film Festival — which usually takes place in Park City, Utah
— is not only going digital at
festival.sundance.org, but also is offering in-person socially distanced screenings and events at drive-in theaters, independent arthouses and other venues across the country. The venerable Circle Cinema has been selected as the official Satellite Screen for Oklahoma.
“Sundance is the leader in our industry. ... A lot of the stuff that when we go to Sundance to watch (films), we bring back; it's just six months to a year later. So, this is a great opportunity to see these world-premiere films before anybody else can see them,” Foxen said.
Creepy cartoon
For Circle Cinema's Satellite Screen, Foxen worked with Sundance staffers to build an interesting slate and partnered with Tulsa's Admiral Twin Drive-In to provide even more in-person opportunities to see the shows safely.
“There's a variety of film, and they are all Sundance official selections. So, it's still Sundance's brand of film. ... It's all great content,” Foxen said.
He also seized the opportunity to bring a hometown filmmaker back to Tulsa. Now based in Denver, Cappa is an artist, cinematographer and actor who is making his Sundance debut with his animated short film “Ghost Dogs,” a humorous horror tale about a rescue pup who is haunted by deceased canines in his new home.
“Sundance from the get-go was definitely the goal,” Cappa said in a phone interview. “There's so much name recognition. Anybody knows (what) Sundance is. You don't have to know film at all but you know Sundance.”
Although he moved to Denver eight years ago, Cappa, 36, has maintained strong ties to Oklahoma: He has created music videos for Sooner State musicians like Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Husbands and Annie Ellicott and worked as cinematographer on OKC filmmaker Mickey Reece's movies “Alien” and “Strike, Dear Mistress, and Cure His Heart.” After he attends the Sundance festivities in Tulsa, he plans to return to Oklahoma City in February to appear in Reece's upcoming musical fantasy “Country Gold.”
“It's all happening in Oklahoma; that's the closest state where so much film is going on. So, Oklahoma is definitely a hub, and it's the reason why I come back,” Cappa said.
Burgeoning business
Among the films making world premieres at Sundance 2021 will be Oscar-nominated writer-director Sean Ellis' (“Anthropoid”) period horror movie “Eight for Silver.” Producers on the project include Pete Shilaimon, Ellis and Liddell, a Norman native and University of Oklahoma graduate whose numerous producing credits include “Anthropoid,” “The Grey” and “Jackie.”
“Eight for Silver” is set in the late 1800s, as a man arrives in a remote country village to investigate an attack by a wild animal. Instead, he discovers a much deeper, sinister force that has both the manor and the townspeople in its grip.
In addition, the thriller “Wild Indian,” which filmed for over two weeks in central Oklahoma, will make its world premiere as part of Sundance's U.S. Dramatic Competition. It stars Michael Greyeyes (“Blood Quantum”), Oklahomaborn Chaske Spencer (“The Twilight Saga”), Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network,” “Zombieland”) and Kate Bosworth (“Superman Returns”).
“Wild Indian” tells a tale of two Anishinaabe men who are inextricably linked after covering up the savage murder of a schoolmate. After years of separation following wildly divergent paths, they must finally confront how their traumatic secret has irrevocably shaped their lives.
The film is written and directed by Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. (Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians), marking his feature film debut. It is produced by Oklahoman Blake Pickens (“The Land”) and Thomas Mahoney (“The Girl in the Photographs”).
“Wild Indian” continues a streak for Oklahoma's burgeoning film industry, marking the fourth straight year that a movie made primarily in the Sooner State will make its bow at Sundance. The acclaimed family drama “Minari,” which filmed in fall 2019 in Tulsa, debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it earned both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
The period drama “To the Stars” premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, while Paul Dano's directorial debut “Wildlife,” starring Oscar nominees Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal, bowed at Sundance 2018. Both those films lensed primarily in the Enid area.
Although “Wild Indian” isn't screening at Circle Cinema, Greyeyes will participate with other Indigenous actors in a panel discussion at 6 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Tulsa theater.
Set for 4 p.m. Feb. 2 at Circle Cinema is a panel titled “Oklahoma: The Film Industry's New `It State.'”
“Oklahoma's commitment to the entertainment industries paired with the state's low cost of living and doing business is a win-win opportunity for both film and music professionals and our state,” said Tava Maloy Sofsky, director of the Oklahoma Film + Music Office, who will participate in the panel. “Not only are filmmakers and music makers poised with creativity, innovation and opportunity to tell their stories in Oklahoma, but our statewide industry members, businesses and communities are being positively impacted by new revenue streams for a more sustainable quality of life.”