The 14th Slamdance Film Festival has just concluded in Utah with an awards ceremony focused on the very best new talent. Aimed at first time film-makers working with a budget of under $1M, Slamdance received over 3,500 submissions from 25 countries this year alone.
This year's big Slamdance winner, walking off with the Grand Jury award and a production package worth over $30M, was Tom Quinn for his feature The New Year Parade. But it was the less successful Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer which was snapped up by a major distributor for general release. Slamdance is always strong on horror, with guaranteed production for the best horror script - this year it's Tony Mosher's The Punished.
Documentary is also important at Slamdance, and this year's success story in that category was Greg Kohs' Song Sung Blue.
The Slamdance festival continues to be one of the best routes into the industry for truly independent film-makers.
