The Sublime and Beautiful
World Premiere – 2014 Slamdance
Narrative Feature Competition
Synopsis:

David Conrad is a college professor raising three children in a small Kansas suburb with his wife Kelly.  David and Kelly’s marriage is brought to its breaking point when they lose their children to a drunk driver, and David’s desire for retribution leads him into uncharted moral territory with the question: can we forgive?

U.S. 93 min, Color, 2014, English

Written, Directed, and Starring Blake Robbins (actor in NBC’s The Office, HBO’s Oz)
Produced By Blake Robbins and Warren Ostergard
Casting Director / Producer Marci Liroff (E.T., Blade Runner, Footloose)
Cast: Blake Robbins, Laura Kirk, Matthew Del Negro, Armin Shimerman
Composer Lily Hadyn
Slamdance Screenings:

Saturday 1/18, 10:30am, Main Screening Room, Treasure Mountain Inn
Monday 1/20, 4:45pm, Main Screening Room, Treasure Mountain Inn

Filmmaker Bio:
Veteran film, television, and theatre actor Blake Robbins makes his directorial debut with The Sublime and Beautiful, which he also wrote, and stars in.  After a successful career as an actor, including his best known role of Tom Halpert on NBC’s The Office, and a critically acclaimed role in the HBO series Oz, Robbins utilized his vast on-set experience to write a drama centered around natural, Cassavetes performances, and his deep love of the acting process. Using a small crew, handheld cameras, and natural light, Robbins drew upon the landscapes of Kansas, local actors as well as his ‘acting family’ to tell a powerful, emotional, and hard hitting family story.

Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Pointe a la Hache
World Premiere – 2014 Slamdance
Documentary Feature Competition

Synopsis:
In Pointe à la Hache, Louisiana, the residents of a tight knit fishing community come together to confront multinational oil and gas company BP in the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history.

U.S. 90 min, Color, 2014, English

Directed By Nailah Jefferson
Produced By Nailah Jefferson and William Keys

Slamdance Screenings:
Saturday 1/18, 3:20pm, Gallery Theatre, Treasure Mountain Inn
Wednesday 1/22, 5:00pm, Gallery Theatre, Treasure Mountain Inn

Vanishing Pearls, the feature debut of New Orleans native / political filmmaker Nailah Jefferson, documents an ongoing, environmental David and Goliath struggle between BP (Beyond Petroleum) and a small Louisiana Gulf oyster fishing community. Told from the point of view of the film’s “David”, businessman Byron Encalade, we learn how a once prolific fishing community has nearly vanished. The current story begins with “Goliath”, BP, and the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster –  which destroyed the livelihood of many Louisianans. Encalade and a small tribe of diverse Louisianans fight through legal channels and any other way they can to find justice.