sundance 2006 - Zoael

A Little Trip To Heaven
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
(FRANCE, MICHEL GONDRY, PREMIERES)
When you team the charismatic
Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal (Y
Tu Mama Tambien, The Motorcycle
Diaries) with the volatile director of
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind, you have a must-see combination
that will certainly be one of
Sundance’s hottest tickets.
Gondry, working in his native
France, has assembled an amazing cast
of actors for what may be his quirkiest
film to date—which is saying a lot for
this director. Bernal plays Stephane, a
shy and withdrawn young artist who is
coaxed to return to his childhood home
by his mother with the promise of a job.
Acknowledging Creative Excellence
Stephane has a unique life challenge.
His fanciful and often disturbing dream
life threatens to usurp his waking world.
That dream life is much more exciting
than the boring job he has as a copy editor
in a stiflingly small office. When he
meets his sexy next door neighbor
named Stephanie (played with a radiant
cool by Charlotte
Gainsbourgh), Stephane finds a kindred
creative spirit, and he slowly but surely
lets her into the confused and colorful
world of his mind.
Gondry masterfully careens between
the colorless reality of Stephane’s waking
life and the fantastically dynamic
world that awaits him whenever he falls
to sleep. The line between fantasy and
reality becomes intentionally blurred, as
39th Competition 2006
Worldwide Entries Invited
Documentary and Short Films
also accepted
19
Gondry questions whether our realities
are more about absolute truths than
individual perceptions. While exploring
such weighty existential subjects,
Gondry fills the film with great humor
and touching emotions, turning
Stephane’s dilemma into a saga of
dreams lost and won. The film is certain
to ignite debate in Park City about
whether it is another masterwork or an
indulgent, navel-gazing reverie on the
passion and pangs of creating art.
SOLO DIOS SABE
(MEXICO/BRAZIL, CARLOS BOLADO,
WORLD CINEMA DRAMA)
Diego Luna, one of the two breakout
stars of the Mexican sensation Y Tu
Mama Tambien, returns to the screen
in the world premiere of the first dramatic
film by Oscar-nominated documentary
director Carlos Bolado.
Luna stars as Damian, a brooding
young journalist, who one night crosses
paths with a sexy, stoical Brazilian student
named Dolores (played by Alice
Braga, the niece of actress Sonia Braga)
in a nightclub in the seedy border town
of Tijuana. When her passport is stolen,
Dolores accompanies Damian to Mexico
City to replace it. Their road trip
together awakens a deep attraction and
sexual passion but also uncovers a
secret that causes Dolores to flee.
Damian tracks her to Brazil, where a
mysterious sacred heritage gives
Dolores new insight into a primal destiny
that envelops them both.
Luna and Braga play the tortured
lovers with a radiance and emotional
intensity that recalls the classic
Hollywood pairings of years gone by.
Also notable is the film’s soundtrack,
with music by Brazilian electronic
wunderkind Otto and Mexican alternative
rocker Julieta Venegas.
Director Bolado uses spectacular
landscapes to further inflame the passion.
Taking the characters from high
rises in urban Sao Paolo to ships on the
open sea, the director uses the dramatic
urban and natural backdrops as third
characters in the emotional unraveling
of a film steeped in both romance and
mystery.
Solo Dios Sabe
Deadline March1st
Entry Kit Available at www.filmfestawards.com