Orange, CA (December 15, 2010) – The 2011 Sundance Film Festival will be the brightly lit stage for eleven Dodge College alumni who collectively have four films screening at the marquee U.S. film festival held in Park City, Utah from January 20-30.

The Sundance Film Festival’s selection of Like Crazy, Ex-Sex, Stones and The Woods expands the ever growing footprint of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in the ultra-competitive independent film landscape and reinforces its position as a premiere institution for the best young filmmakers and storytellers.

Supported by the nonprofit Sundance Institute, the Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades. A defining year for Dodge Alumni at the Festival, the four aforementioned films are poised to become the latest discoveries and break-out hits, generating buzz from Park City screenings that hit Hollywood and film hubs around the world.

About the Dodge Alumni Films:

EX-SEX
Writer/director: Mike Mohan, BFA ’02
Cinematographer: Elisha Christian, BFA ’02
(U.S. Narrative Shorts)

 Kristen Riley and Jacob Womack star in Mohan’s short about a one night stand between two people who used to be in love (or so they thought). The film is produced by Jennifer Cochis.

LIKE CRAZY
Co-writer/actor: Ben York Jones, BFA ’07
(U.S. Dramatic Competition)

 Like Crazy is a film from and about the heart. Jacob, an American, and Anna, who is British, meet at college in Los Angeles and fall madly in love. It’s the purest kind of romance—they’re each other’s first significant attachment. When Anna returns to London, the couple is forced into a long-distance relationship. Their perfect love is tested, and youth, trust, and geography become their biggest enemies.

Taking a complete tonal departure from his last film, Douchebag, which screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, cowriter/director Drake Doremus poetically reveals the intimate details and daily struggles of Jacob and Anna’s love affair as it stretches across time and distance and changes course. Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones are enthralling in their sweetness and honesty as the young couple. An original, contemplative look at first love, Like Crazy strikes a universal chord as it explores the bittersweet beauty and impermanence of relationships

The film is directed by Drake Doremus and stars Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlie Bewley, Alex Kingston and Oliver Muirhead. Producers are Jonathan Schwartz and Andrea Sperling. Zygi Wilf and Audrey Wilf are executive producers.

STONES
Writer/director: Ty Sanga, MFA ’09
Producer: Jessie Creel, MFA ’09
Cinematographer: Richie Yau, MFA ’09
Editor: Dennis Alaniz, MFA ’09
Production designer: Sarah Pott, MFA ’09
Sound Designer: Mark Hawkins, MFA ‘09
(Indigenous Shorts Showcase)

According to legends, Nihipali and Na’wii are the last of their people on their island. The legend states that they can only come out at night, because the sun’s harsh rays would turn them to stone. Nihipali is tired of living alone with her husband. She believes they should befriend the newcomers to the island. Her husband forbids it. Na’iwi blames the newcomers for their people’s departure. But the loneliness is unbearable for Nihipali, and one night she befriends a young girl from the village. They spend the night enjoying each other’s company, but will this truly make her happy?

 Produced at Chapman University as a 2009 graduate thesis project, Stones is a mythical Hawaiian tale about a family torn between preserving their native land and life and embracing new people and cultures. Cast includes James Bright, Briana Garrido, Moses Goods, Brendi Heresa, Kawai Hoe, Kawai Lui-Koko and Rava Shastid.

 THE WOODS
Writer/director: Matthew Lessner, BFA ’07
Producer: Max Knies, BFA ’07
(New Frontier Section)

 We were promised change, but it never came. Our cities crumbled around us. Our streets ran red with Hawaiian Punch. Our country was no longer our own. Under Daniel's guidance and leadership, we agreed to take action into our own hands. We preset our DVRs and ventured out of the city limits united. In the woods, we will be safe. In the woods, we will start anew.

This satirical attack on young, modern, globally conscious citizens tells the story of eight grown-up American children creating utopian society as best they can. With gorgeous super-16 footage and an eclectic soundtrack featuring Dirty Projectors, Sun Araw, and Lucky Dragons, filmmaker Matthew Lessner playfully subverts counterculture films of the seventies while questioning the shortcomings of his own complacent generation. In a world where new technologies merely distract us from reality, the greatest revolution can only begin by leaving everything behind.

The Woods stars Justin Phillips, Toby David, Nicola Persky, Brian Woods, Lauren Hamersmith and Anne-Sophie. Producers are Jett Steiger and Max Knies.

For more information on these films and their Festival screening times please visit http://sundance.slated.com/2011/films.

About The Sundance Film Festival
Supported by the nonprofit Sundance Institute, the Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades, including sex, lies, and videotape, Maria Full of Grace, The Cove, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious, Trouble the Water and Napoleon Dynamite and, through its New Frontier initiative, has brought the cinematic works of media artists including Isaac Julian, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp and Matthew Barney. www.sundance.org/festival

Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. www.sundance.org

About Chapman University:
Chapman University, founded in 1861, is one of the oldest, most prestigious private universities in California.  Chapman’s picturesque campus is located in the heart of Orange County – one of the nation’s most exciting centers of arts, business, science and technology – and draws outstanding students from across the United States and around the world.  Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics, Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Schmid College of Science, College of Performing Arts, School of Law and College of Educational Studies.   Named to the list of top universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review, Chapman University enrolls more than 6,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students.

Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts:
One of the premier film schools in the country, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts offers students the unique opportunity to learn filmmaking in a hands-on environment modeled on a working studio.  The college is comprised of the Sodaro-Pankey Undergraduate School of Film and Media Arts, offering degrees in creative producing, film production, film studies, screenwriting,  television and broadcast journalism, public relations and advertising, screen acting, and digital arts; and the graduate Conservatory of Motion Pictures, offering M.F.A. degrees in film production, film and television producing, production design and screenwriting, and an M.A. in film studies. Dodge College is housed in Marion Knott Studios, a state-of-the-art, 76,000-square-foot studio and classroom building that provides students with 24-hour access to sound stages, edit bays, Dolby surround mixing, a motion capture stage and more.  With an Oscar and Emmy-award winning faculty that boasts more feature film credits than any other film school, Dodge College is where students learn the entertainment business from the inside out.

#   #   #