Sundance in full swing with premiers of documentaries, dramas

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PARK CITY -- The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, with screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and at the Sundance Resort.

"Get Low"

Friday night's Salt Lake City premier is a film titled "Get Low." It stars Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek -- all award-winning actors.

"Get Low" tells the story of a man who lives as a hermit for nearly 40 years. When he finds out that an old friend has died, he decides to hold a "funeral party" and invites people in town. His aim is to find out what they have been saying about him.

Robert Duvall says the decision to be part of this independent film was easy.

"[It's a] very fresh script; very difficult to find original scripts and original ideas," Duvall said. "Very good writing."

Sissy Spacek says her favorite films are independent productions, and she loves the feel of the festival.

"It's always relaxed, and you put on your snow boots and your jeans and your coat, and you just walk up and down Main Street all day, and it's fabulous," Spacek said.

Some stars have been to the festival a number of times; but for others, this is their first.

"I used to spend a lot of time in Salt Lake with the Salt Lake Trappers, but the festival? I don't know. This is the first thing I've done," actor Bill Murray said.

Talk about a Cinderella story, the film's director started out in college shooting wedding videos.

"I just got here, so it's a veritable whirlwind," director Aaron Schneider said. "But it's my first Sundance, and there's a great history, a rich history."

It's a history that Schneider is now a part of, with a premiere film starring three of today's finest actors.

"Family Affair"

In "Family Affair," documentary filmmaker Chico Colvard tells the story of childhood abuse, the desire for forgiveness and the need for love. At age 10, he shot one of his sisters in the leg, and experts called it a cry for help.

Golvard told KSL he began hearing about his film before the festival from people in Salt Lake who wrote to him on his Facebook page.

"It's very easy to think that you're alone with a story like this, with a taboo thing like this, but I'm discovering more and more every day that that's not the case," Colvard said.

His sisters, who are featured in the documentary, joined Colvard at Sundance. They feel this is a subject that needs to be uncovered and discussed, and they share their family story bravely.

"A Small Act

Another featured documentary at the festival is titled "A Small Act." It tells the story of an incredible connection between a young student and a teacher who live on different continents.

Chris Mburu and Hilde Back on the red carpet at Sundance

This film poses an intriguing question: What if one small act of kindness dramatically changes another person's life?

"I loved to study. But if you don't' have money, you got kicked out of school," Kenyon native Chris Mburu explains in the film.

However, thanks to the weekly donation of $10 from a pre-school teacher in Sweden, Mburu not only finished primary and secondary school, he went on to receive a law degree from Harvard and become a human rights attorney.

Mburu went in search of his benefactress and was amazed to find that Hilde Back was not a Swede by birth, but a Holocaust survivor from Germany.

"I, personally, had been working to end genocide and crimes against humanity. This is what I have chosen to do, and I didn't realize that Hilde had been one of the victims," Mburu said.

"It was fantastic to see him and to meet him," Back told KSL News.

Mburu and Back could not be more thrilled that their story is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. They want people to know what one small act can do, what the possibilities are.

If you do not have a chance to see it at the festival, "A Small Act" will air on HBO this summer.

You still can get tickets to Sundance films, but first, get a catalog. Even if the films you want to see are sold-out, there are waiting lists. A reminder: these films are not yet rated.

E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com