Directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, Shut Up and Play the Hits. Photo by Makaela Herran.
It was a somber day at Sundance, and for Film Society of Lincoln Center, with the news that independent film stalwart Bingham Ray passed away after suffering a stroke. But the festival continues and so did our broadcast of “The Daily Buzz” on KPCW.
Today’s show opened with a critics roundtable between Peter Debruge of Variety, Greg Elllwood of HitFix, Logan Hill of GQ, and Eugene Hernandez of Film Society. The group discussed the challenges of covering so many films in such a short time and highlighted some standouts from the festival so far, including Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Next up were Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, directors of part-documentary, part-concert film Shut Up and Play the Hits about the popular indie dance act LCD Soundsystem. The film follows LCD helmer James Murphy as he makes the surprising decision to break up the band despite its still being at the zenith of its popularity and the subsequent final concert at Madison Square Garden.
Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush and Producer Tom Colicchio joined the show to discuss the successful premiere of their documentary Finding North. The film seeks to raise awareness about and give a face to the very real and oft-overlooked problem of hunger and malnutrition, not in some distant land but right here in the USA.
Last but not least, Janet Pierson of SXSW Festival came on to discuss the differences between Sundance and her fest, the importance of panels in any festival experience, and to extol the virtues of Austin, TX.
You can listen to the whole podcast of Sunday’s show above. Track us anytime on Twitter, ask questions or join the conversation using: #SundanceBuzz.
