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Show int, TheSalt Lake Tribune SUNDANCE AND SLAMDANCE Sunday, January 24, 1999 We Love Laura: Sundance Will Honor Dern’s Myriad Talents BY SEAN D3 BY VINCE HORIUCHI THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE craft, of that storytelling,” she said. “Within my culture, the dreamers have a very specific role and a specific wayof express- For centuries, storytelling has been a focus of American Indian ing those visions and dreams.” Lucas said American Indian culture and tradition. Today, the stories remain compelling — the filmmakers also are using their craft to break the stereotypes differenceis in thetelling. MEANS built by decades of Hollywood Storytellers are turning to the movie camera. In the last 25 THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE the camera herself — there has Forthe sixth year, the festival is showcasing films by American Laura Dern’slife. “Every single day, I watch ‘I Love Lucy,’ ” Dern said. “Lucille Ball is the greatest performer And it’s in her torture, and her misery, and her conniving, and her manipulation that she made us laugh.” Misery and laughter are evident in Dern’s performances — a roll-call of movies that will be highlighted at the Sundance Film Festival, where Dern will receive this year’s Piper-Heidsieck Trib- ute to Independent Vision. The gala ceremony, with Isabella Ros- sellini as emcee and film critic Roger Ebert interviewing Dern, is set for 7 p.m. Monday at Park City’s Egyptian Theatre. “AsI look back,I realize a lot of the stuff I've doneis incredibly emotional, but the audiencefinds it funny,” Dern said on the phone Thursday, darting through Los Angelestraffic. “Rambling Rose’ is a very fun- nymovie, anda lotof the humoris based onherplight. And ‘Wild at Heart’ and even ‘Blue Velvet,’ in its darkness, is very funny. And certainly ‘Citizen Ruth’ — this is the most tortured person I've ever played, and it’s clearly a comedy.” two terms beginning in 1925) — was just 18 when shefirst gained attention with two films in 1985. She played a teen who catches the eye of shady Treat Williams in “Smooth Talk,” and as blind girl who befriends a boy deformed from elephantiasis in “Mask.” The next year, David Lynch pitted her asthe innocent vying with the sultry Rossellini for Kyle Ma- cLachlan’s soulin “Blue Velvet.” Herroles grew up as shedid. In Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” (1990), Dern played the vamp opposite Nicolas Cage. Her role in “Rambling Rose” (1991), as the sexually uninhibited woman who ran- kles the men of a ‘'30s-era Southern family, earned an Oscar nomination. In 1993, she stood her ground against Clint Eastwood(in “A Perfect World”) and a T. rex (in “Jurassic Park”), Someof her more heartbreaking performancesrecently — as a military widow in “Afterburn” or a recovering political prisoner in “Down Came a Blackbird” — have been for TV Blameit on studioattitudes, she entry in 1996), Dern played an inpregnancyturns herinto a cause a masterpiece. ... Now, a family halant-addict whose unwanted nary People,’ and thinking it was celebre for foes in the abortion debate. She followed that with drama that deals with teen sui- something equally controversial: as the object of desire who brought Ellen DeGeneres’ TV character out of the closet at long lot ofactors are workingin cable, last on “Ellen.” “I love things that are courageous,” Dern said. “In some ways, the simpler and the more human [the role], the more courageousit is “Steven Spielberg said to me, “You're your own best casting di- rector,’ ” Dern said. (Spielberg di- rected her in “Jurassic Park.”) “Actors [must] be bold in their choices, but also know when they'renot right for something — so that they're serving the movie as well as their own work.” “She's taking risks,” said festival co-director Geoffrey Gilmore. “She's not defined strictly by a certain kind of appearance and sexuality. She's someone who cide, someone would saythat’s for television,” she said. “It’s why a becausetherearea lot of incredible stories — sometimesreal-life stories — that have, for whatever reason, often been relegated to television movies.” The real-life story “October Sky” (opening Feb. 19 nationally), about four mining-town teens who dream of engineering rockets, features Dern as the schoolteach- er who inspired them. This fall, shestars in “Daddy and Them,” a comedywritten by, directed by and starring Billy Bob Thornton The Piper-Heidsieck tribute does more than honor her past work, Dernbelieves. “It feels like an award of support, to say, ‘We appreciate that you're making choices that you care about, and keep going,’ ” she themed stories. It is part of a year-round effort by the Sun- danceInstitute in Provo — which conducts screenwriting and directing workshops — to nurture American Indian filmmakers. Heather Rae, Native American “Smoke Signals,” BY KARL CATES PARK CITY — While nouveau cinema unreels to an admiring and mostly young crowd at Park City’s Egyptian Theater during the Sundance Film Festival, the ghost of Hollywood past lurks just downthestreet. great-granddaughter of Utah Gov. George H. Dern, who served ahead.“She'snot even at the mid- Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd (and moresaid, her best may still be pointof her career,” he said. culture and alcoholism. Over time, video and other cheaper movie technologies a lowed American Indian filmmak- ers to break out and experiment withotherstories and techniques dayIs a Good Day,” said moviemakingis a perfect venuetotell number of Indian people who are Nativestories. It definitely comes out of the Houser. “I'm so excited about the making films and learning the Loretta Todd, director of “To- rhythms and nuances of that nals,” a Sundancefestival winner last year, these films by American Indians are showing Hollywood that not only can they present unique perspectives, they can be popular moneymakers. Robby Romero, who is showing his short film “Hidden Medicine at the festival this year, said “re sponse was overwhelming” for a music documentary he madeear lier for MTV Networks about the protection of sacred lands on Tur tle Island. “America is interested in Na tive film and Native stories, and they're interested in hearing them from Native people,” hesaid time in the back seat of a car, whereshesits with eyes averted Eli Wallachis at the wheel and a black labrador rides shotgun. But forget Wallach and the dog. The picture is all Monroe: Darkness. Throat. Eyelashes. Hair. Street through Feb. 8 The photosrecall the often-unacknowledged roots of today’s his career, is caped in black against a hard, white Spanish photographs contained in ““Magnum Cinema,” an exhibit showing movies, which — whether Sundance-seasoned independent or studio-shot swill — are as reliant on classic archetypes as films were a generation or two back. Most are not the images already burnedinto the collective psyche, turned into posters or mass-distributed by global newswire. Yet they hold the essence of storytelling, on film or otherwise. In black-and-white pictures taken by Magnum Photo's greatest pho- tographersover a half century or so, heroes and goddessesare pre- sented in sometimes unguarded moments alongside timeless the exhibit is free and an un- As good as Dernhas been, Gil- tional films on issues like child welfare, land disputes, education. ing shownat thefestival, includ ing a documentary about the Native artist and sculptor. Allan at the Kimball Art Center on Main tion of rare and behind-the-scenes themesofconflict and love, innocence andloss. path.” been to tell the stories and in- crease the understanding,” said Phil Lucas, whohastwofilmsbe- James Dean — New York, 1955 — walks through the gray city rain in a trench coat, cigarette dangling from his mouth. Larger than life, he is somehowall alone. even in so teeming a metropolis. It is foundin a nostalgic collec- “It's the greatest compli- Dern — the daughter ofactors “My motivation has always ‘That was about 25 years ago, whenthe only movies being made by American Indians were educa- Today, especially with the hugely successful “Smoke Sig- again, the epitome of noirish screen-queen, framed at night THE SALT LAKETRIBU on a track, and that it’s important memorable.” opened the craft. WhenI started, there were like four people making films.” Park City Exhibit Captures Rare Images of Hollywood Past ment.. to trust yourself and keep onthat 1800s; ““Today Is a Good Day: Re- membering Chief Dan George,” a door even wider for AmericanIndian filmmakers. really inhabits her roles. By doing so that you knowyou're in western Canada in the late “The programis born out of the program coordinator for the Sundance Institute. “It is important to show Native representation to a larger filmmaking community.” This year, a feature film and four programs of short movies will be shown as part of the Native Forum. Included are “Big Bear,” the true story of a chief whoresisted signing a land treaty tive.” Dakota Rene as Dreamcatcherin “Hidden Medicine.” documentary about the legendary actor; and a musicvideo byChris Eyre, whose 1998 breakout film so, she brings an attractiveness and beauty to a role that really is said. ers present a different perspec. Indian filmmakers with Native- Laura Dern said. “I remember waiting in a line four blocks long for ‘Ordi- In “Citizen Ruth” (a Sundance “We've had 500 years of adverse propaganda that you're trying to deal with,” Lucassaid. “It's verydifficult to create that bridge of understanding. The onlything is to have more Indian filmmak the movie mainstream, and the SundanceFilm Festival has been there to show off their work. been a comforting constant in who I have been entertained by. schlock westerns. years, American Indian filmmakers have been making a dent in Through nearly 32 years — ‘aised as the daughter of movie stars and growing up in front of Unlike Sundance screenings, crowdedalternative to waiting in line at a standing-room-only mov- ie theater. And the contents are compelling. Marilyn Monroe, in a 1960 pho- to from “The Misfits,” is alive A hulking Orson Wells,latein landscape as he directs mur! medieval figures during the 1964 filming of “Falstaff.” Under- groun icon Andy Warhol (1965) crawls from a London manhole: fresh-faced Audrey Hepburn (1950) leans childlike froma lim- ousine window. Ingrid Bergman (1956), her private life the subject of merciless publicity, is swarmed at Cannes; a barely known Paul Newmanscrunches in a chair at the Actors Studio in New York (1955). Manyof thecelebrities are bet ter categorized as mythological Marlon Brando. Elizabeth Taylor Montgomery Clift. Gary Cooper. Foreign cinema gets homage too, as in theportrait of Gong Li (1993), star of the Chinese pro duction “To Live.” Likewise, be: neath a dateline of Death Valley USA, Italian director Michelange. lo Antonioni runs through thede. sert during the making of “Za briskie Point” (1968). Audrey Hepburn photographed in 1950 by Dennis Stock. When you want it spotl Winter WonderSavings _ from Coit. -, r| ) | | Cm STUUR NOTE January25 Abravanel Hall Vee *Fall & Winter Merchandise T's. a show’ 2,000 Business Casual Attire yeeon ULILe making! 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