Sundance 2013 Shorts - The Roper

The Roper is a fantastically directed, thoughtful little slice of life documentary following the life of a Louisiana based cowboy called Kendrick and his struggle to follow his dreams while overcoming adversity. Directed by Ewan McNicol & Anna Sandilands, the mini doc manages to be a well rounded experience in under six minutes, offering an intimate portrait of a man with a humble heart and great ambitions, with interesting stylistic choices made in regards to sound and cinematography.

The final product nearly blurred the line between documentary and short film thanks to it's great presentation, and it simply left me wanting more. Here's to hoping that this might just be a proof of concept for a full length documentary.

Compliance

Compliance is a Sundance festival film coming out August 17th, based off a strange premise supposedly grounded in real life. Crackpot 'cops' calling fast food restaurants and making threats based off of false accusations, resulting in bizarre instances of workers getting harassed and violated by their managers following orders from these so called detectives. Compliance without question.

The most infamous case of this accident occurred in 2004 at a McDonalds in Kentucky which resulted in an ordeal for a female employee that lasted close to 4 hours. It also resulted in the arrest of a 37 year old man called David Stewart, whose phone scam career lasted over 12 years. The controversial movie drew the ire of Sundance crowds unaware of the fact that such an event had actually occurred in real life. If you're looking for a movie to challenge your notions on just how far certain people will go, look no further.

Reminder, Indie Game: The Movie Is Now Showing At Sundance

Back in June a Kickstarter began to help fund Indie: Game The Movie. The amount of donations that flooded in were simply incredible and proved the strength of the independent game community. Fast-forward to 2012, and it looks like all that work has finally paid off. While, I haven't gotten a chance to see the film myself, I'm hoping the Awesome-Robo community gets a chance (if you're in the Utah area that is). There's two more showings on the 25th and the 28th of this month, so get your butts over there!

If you're on the edge about seeing this incredible looking documentary, hit the jump and give the trailer a watch!