Comedy Fest Seen On Screen

February 28th, 2007 at 05:45am Post Staff 43

ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—Lost in the shuffle of live entertainment at  The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (USCAF) here in Aspen is the plethora of movies that make this one of the premier venues for comics breaking through on screen.

As befitting a fest sponsored by HBO, the lineup for the 2007 Film Program sponsored by HBO Films, and showing February 28-March 4, 2007, showcases 30 features, three world premieres, two North American premieres, and 20 shorts culled from entries around the world. 

World premieres include Guy Shalem's "Cook Off!," Armen Kaprelian's "Closing Escrow," Frank Oz's "Death at a Funeral," Jim Pasternak's "Certifiably Jonathan," and Gary Toll's "Judy Toll: The Funniest Woman You've Never Heard Of." The film program will also feature special screenings of works in progress including John Landis' "The Rickles Project," "The Comebacks" directed by Tom Brady and Jamie Kennedy's "Heckler directed by Michael Addis.  Jamie Kennedy will also host this year's Festival awards ceremony.

"The films that we have selected to showcase alongside the live performances at the festival offer a diverse group of talent from different backgrounds and experiences, but all solidified in the foundation of comedy," said USCAF Film Program director Kevin Haasarud. "Each year the festival looks forward to bringing together such a vast community of filmmakers, film buyers, television executives, comedians, writers and actors and giving them the rare opportunity to collaborate with each other and admire one another."

Headlining the film lineup is the opening night film "Waitress," directed by the late Adrienne Shelly and screening at the Wheeler Opera House on Tuesday, February 28 at 6:00 p.m. The film, acquired by Fox Searchlight, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Her husband Andrew Ostroy announced the creation of the "Adrienne Shelly Foundation" to support the efforts of women writers and directors.

"Waitress" will be Shelly's second film to appear at the USCAF. In 2000 her film "I'll Take You There," was awarded the prize of Best Director.

Special Screenings:

The Comebacks directed by Tom Brady (USA) - Work in Progress
Heckler directed by Michael Addis (USA) - Work in Progress
Rocket Science directed by Jeff Blitz (USA)
Starter for 10 directed by Tom Vaughn (UK)
Feature Length Narratives In Competition:
American Fork directed by Chris Bowman (USA)
Cashback directed by Sean Ellis (UK)
Closing Escrow directed by Armen Kaprelian (USA)
Colour Me Kubrick directed by Brian Cook (UK)
Cook Off! directed by Guy Shalem (USA) - World Premiere
Death at a Funeral, directed by Frank Oz (UK) - World Premiere
Delirious directed by Tom DeCillo (USA)
Eagle vs. Shark directed by Taika Waititi (New Zealand) - World Premiere
I am Reed Fish directed by Zachary Adler (USA)
Ira & Abby directed by Robert Cary (USA)
Park directed by Kurt Voelker (USA)
Razzle Dazzle: A Journey Into Dance directed by Darren Ashton (Australia)
Severance directed by Christopher Smith (UK)
Feature Length Documentaries In Competition:
Certifiably Jonathan directed by Jim Pasternak (USA) - World Premiere
Judy Toll: The Funniest Woman You've Never Heard Of directed by Gary Toll (USA) - World Premiere
King of Kong directed by Ed Cunningham (USA)
Foreign Language:
12:08 East of Bucharest directed by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania)
Ahimsa: Stop To Run directed by Kittikorn Liasirikun (Thailand)
Chariton's Choir directed by Grigoris Karantinakis (Greece)
The Host directed by Bong Joon-ho (South Korea)
Hula Girls directed by San-il Lee (Japan)
Ice Cream, I Scream directed by Yuksel Aksu (Turkey)
Lights in the Dust directed by Aki Kurasmaki (Finland)
The Longest Penalty Shot in the World directed by Roberto Santiago (Spain) - North American Premiere
Manual of Love directed by Giovanni Veronesi (Italy)
Schnitzel Paradise directed by Martin Koolhoven (Netherlands)
The Valet directed by Franis Veber (France) - North American Premiere
Shorts In Competition:
A Gentlemen's Duel directed by Francisco Riz and Sean McNally
Alpha Mail directed by Bryan Sipe
Carmichael & Shane directed by Rob Carlton and Alex Weinress
Coming to Town directed by Carles Torrens
Equal Opportunity directed by Howard Duy Vu
Goodnight, Vagina directed by Brie Turner-O'Banion and Stacy Sherman
High Maintenance directed by Phillip Van
Hold directed by Aloura Charles
Hot Air directed by Elliot Mallon
My Lunch With Larry directed by Barry Edelstein
My Wife is Retarded directed by Etan Cohen
No Vacancy directed by Gael d'Ynglemare
Recall directed by Michael Noonan
Richard directed by Mick Elliott
Sheldon directed by Dan Mirvish
Silencer directed by Frazer Bailey
t.o.m. directed by Tom Brown and Daniel Gray
The Pre-Nup directed by Marty Weiss
The Strange Trip: It's Jerry Time directed by Orrin Zucker
Who I Am and What I Want directed by Chris Shepherd and David Shrigley
Also included as a part of the film program will be a curated collection from Guest

Directors Stella & Bill Pence, the recently retired co-founders of the Telluride Film Festival:
The Alloy Orchestra will play live to Buster Keaton's "The General," and Paul Fejos' "Lonesome."

A Chuck Jones Looney Tunes Collection
The film program has also launched an online companion piece to its regular shorts programs called Funny Picture Show, a site for viewers to upload, watch, rate, and review comedic short form content (www.funnypictureshow.com).

Fireside Chat Series with Debbie Liebling (Fox Atomic), Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Gregg Spiridellis (JibJab), and many others.

Mile High Club brings together industry executives and filmmakers in formalized 12-minute "speed-dating" type meetings.

Jury Awards presented by Variety will be announced at the Festival Awards Gala on Saturday, March 3rd. The winning films will be screened at the Isis Theater in Aspen on Sunday, March 4th.

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