Sundance Film Festival Adds Zach Braff's WISH I WAS HERE to Premieres

Sundance Institute today announced the addition of two films to the 2014 Sundance Film Festival: Wish I Was Here (Director: Zach Braff) to the Premieres section and Clerks (Director: Kevin Smith) for a special From The Collection midnight screening. The 2014 Festival will be January 16-26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Clerks joins the previously announced From The Collection screening of Hoop Dreams. Both films premiered at the 1994 Festival, which will be the subject of "Class of '94," a Power of Story panel at the Egyptian Theatre on Friday, January 24. Clerks director Kevin Smith will participate.

Both Hoop Dreams and Clerks are part of The Sundance Collection at UCLA, a film preservation program established in 1997. The Collection is specifically devoted to the preservation of independent documentaries, narratives and short films supported by Sundance Institute and has grown to nearly 2,300 holdings representing 1,800 titles, including recent additions such as El Mariachi, Winter's Bone, Paris is Burning, Johnny Suede, Working Girls, Crumb, Groove, Better This World, The Oath and Paris, Texas. Titles are generously donated by individual filmmakers, distributors and studios.

With the addition of Wish I Was Here, the 2014 Festival will present 119 feature-length films, representing 37 countries and 54 first-time filmmakers, including 34 in competition. These films were selected from 12,218 submissions (72 more than for 2013), including 4,057 feature-length films and 8,161 short films. Of the feature film submissions, 2,014 were from the U.S. and 2,043 were international. 98 feature films at the Festival will be world premieres.

PREMIERES

Wish I Was Here / U.S.A. (Director: Zach Braff, Screenwriters: Zach Braff, Adam Braff) - Aidan Bloom, a 35-year-old struggling actor, father, and husband, is still trying to find purpose in his life. In coming to terms with the death of his father, Aidan and his family unite to discover how to turn the page onto the next chapter. Cast: Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, Josh Gad, Ashley Greene, Joey King. World Premiere

FROM THE COLLECTION

Clerks / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kevin Smith) - One wild day in the life of a pair of overworked counter jockeys whose razor-sharp wit and on-the-job antics give a whole new meaning to customer service! Cast: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Jason Mewes, Lisa Spoonauer.

Clerks premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. A newly struck print of Clerks, created by Miramax Films to commemorate the film's 20th anniversary, will screen on Friday, January 24 at 11:59 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. Director Kevin Smith is expected to introduce the film and participate in the Q&A.

The Sundance Film Festival®
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2014, the Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Little Miss Sunshine, An Education, sex, lies, and videotape, Reservoir Dogs, The Cove, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious, and Napoleon Dynamite, and through its New Frontier initiative, has showcased the cinematic works of media artists including Isaac Julien, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Matthew Barney. The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute®. 2014 Festival sponsors to date include: Presenting Sponsors - HP, Acura, Sundance Channel and Chase Sapphire Preferred®; Leadership Sponsors - Airbnb, DIRECTV, Entertainment Weekly, LensCrafters, Southwest Airlines, Sprint and YouTube; Sustaining Sponsors - Adobe, Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Brita® FilterForGood®, in partnership with Nalgene®, Hilton HHonors and Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Ketel One Vodka, L'Oréal Paris, MorningStar Farms®, Omnicom, Quaker Oats Company, Stella Artois® and Time Warner Inc. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development, and the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival's costs and sustain the Institute's year-round programs for independent film and theatre artists. www.sundance.org/festival

Sundance Institute
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to unite, inform and inspire, regardless of geo-political, social, religious or cultural differences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Need more TV Theatre News in your life? Sign up for all the news on the Spring season, discounts & more...