Sundance Now enters the streaming game

by Allan Tong

Sundance is entering the streaming game with a new service called Sundance Now. For US$6.99 a month, subscribers access a catalogue of indie features, award-winning docs and some series.

Sundance Now's curator George Schmalz (pictured above, left, formerly of Kino Lorber and Kickstarer) and general manager, Jan Diedrichsen (right) flew up from New York last night to launch the service with a Q&A and brief video presentation at the AGO in Toronto.

Features include Heathers, Rhythm Thief, Dementia 13, Kubrick's obscure early film, Fear and Desire, and Takeshi Kitano's Violent Cop. The documentary selection is particularly notable with titles such as Knuckleball, War Don Don, Burma VJ, Detropia, Wordplay, Bronx Obama and Page One. So far, there are only seven series including two Sundance originals, The Bureau and Take 5: Justice in America which center on espionage and the prison system. Viewers can select titles pre-curated by filmmakers such as Jonathan Demme and Bruce McDonald under the Curators Collection select their own playlists (The Central Park Five and Anvil, respectively).

The cost is US$6.99 a month or US$59.99 a year. Note that Canadians pay based on the US price, so account for the currency exchange.

Films at NXNE: from Toronto to Texas

by Allan Tong

This year's NXNE has scaled back its film program to a handful of intriguing choices. Last year, the film program expanded (or lost) its focus to include films that strayed from music, which I think was mistake, because Toronto already hosts 80+ film festivals covering any niche you can think of.

Amy, an excellent biodoc that I reviewed earlier this week, is the centerpiece, but a local indie film that Brendan Canning co-produced deserves a look, too. Diamond Tongues is about Edith (Leah Goldstein), an aspiring Toronto actress struggling to crack a very tough business as she wrestles with a messy personal life.

The first 15 minutes feel like a documentary of the lives of my own friends: actors, writers, film directors along Queen West raising Kickstarter funds for their next audition, praying for a callback or landing a writing gig on a (lame) TV series. No doubt that writer/directors Pavan Moondi and Brian Robertson drew material from their own lives and their circle of friends.