American Cinematographer - April 2006 - 112

-p-,

Sundance 2006:

^"MDmems
Artful

images abound in Park City, Utah.

by Rachael K. Bosley, Jean Oppenheimer, Stephen Pizzello and Patricia Thomson

Excellence in
Sundance Film Festival begins

Our coverage of this year's
with

a

grim fantasy about

terrorist

attack

on

a
Los

Angeles and ends with a
breezy black comedy about the
tobacco industry, proving that this
year's festival slate was nothing if
not diverse. Though the exuberance
that greeted the comedy Little Miss
Sunshine (shot by Tim Suhrstedt,
ASC) gave this year's festival a fam¬
ily-friendly vibe, there was plenty of
adult material to go around.
Perhaps inevitably, the war in Iraq
was the
subject or subtext of several
projects, and one of these, the doc¬
umentary Iraq in Fragments, won
three major awards: cinematogra¬
phy, directing and editing.
Judging
the
festival's
Dramatic Competition were cine¬
matographer Nancy Schreiber,

ects

in the pages

that follow.

Tom Richmond

Director: Chris Gorak

Sundance

regulars
compared Right at Your Door to last
year's breakout thriller Open Water,
but director of photography Tom
Richmond notes that although both
movies are low-budget thrillers by

Angeles

Century City, and at Los
International Airport.

Commuter traffic

was

the target.

After

attempting to find his wife
and being turned back by police,
Brad stays home, glued to the radio.
He learns that the bombs

couple in trouble, Right at Your
Door "has really got three main

logical weapons, and citizens must
stay home, seal their houses, and
avoid contact with people who have
been contaminated by the toxic
particles. He does as told, and soon,
ash is falling on his lawn like snow.
When his panicked, coughing wife

on a

characters:

Brad, Lexi and the

Jarecki and Zana Briski; and pro¬

plastic and tape!"
Right at Your Door, for which
Richmond won the prize for
Excellence in CinematographyDrama, takes place mostly in a sin¬
gle practical location: a hillside
house overlooking Los Angeles.
Written and directed by Chris
Gorak, an experienced production

Tom

town, near

first-time directors, and both focus

were

Cinematographers

Lexi (Mary McCormack) has
already headed to work when her
husband, Brad (Rory Cochrane),
hears the news: multiple explosive

devices have been detonated down¬
Some

directors Alan

Richmond and James Longley won
their first Sundance Awards for

designer (Lords ofDogtown) and art
director (Minority Report), the film
examines what might happen if Los
Angeles were hit by a series of dirty
bombs. Leaving geopolitics aside,
the story focuses on a young cou¬
ple's reactions to the crisis over
those 48 hours.

Right at Your Door
Cinematographer:

house." He adds

ducer Heather Rae.

April 2006

(which he also directed and co-edited). AC covers these and other proj¬

ASC; actor Terrence Howard; and

Rudolph, Miguel
Arteta and Audrey Wells. The
Documentary Competition jury
comprised film editor Joe Bini;
directors Alexander Payne, Andrew

90

Cinematography this
Richmond for the drama Right
at Your Door, and Longley for the
documentary Iraq in Fragments

year,

wryly, "If there

another co-star, it would be

returns,

were

bio¬

Brad follows the official

line and refuses

to

let her inside.

"Help is on the way," he assures her
through layers of plastic. As the
story progresses and authorities
start rounding up citizens at gun¬
point, Brad tapes himself into ever-
American Cinematographer - April 2006

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