Dustin Jansick
660 articles written by Dustin Jansick
-
Finding Hillywood
Do not be deceived by its gorgeous landscapes, Rwanda is still feeling the effect of the painfully horrific genocidal mass slaughter of its people. Finding Hillywood shows the attempts to heal and educate Rwandans through local filmmaking from passionate...
-
Mill Valley Film Festival: Finding Hillywood & 4 Short Films
The New Environmentalists This documentary takes you across the world from Iraq to Columbia to Indonesia and others to share six different stories from environmental activists who seek to improve the quality of life for all. Narrated by Robert...
-
Watch: We Are What We Are Featurette
Jim Mickle’s We Are What We Are (a remake of the 2010 Mexican horror film of the same name) received a lot of buzz from its Sundance premiere earlier in the year though we first saw the film a...
-
Trailer: Escape From Tomorrow
The initial responses from Escape From Tomorrow’s Sundance premiere were a bit contradicting. Most critics teased us by saying it is a must see film, but one that we probably won’t be able to see because the film was...
-
Ride with Larry
Larry Smith was forced to retire early after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease after serving 26 years as a police officer. He and his family moved to South Dakota so that his wife could teach at a state university...
-
South Dakota Film Festival: Ride with Larry and 6 short films
Sweet Crude Man Camp By far the most visual striking film of the festival was the short documentary Sweet Crude Man Camp. The film is about the effects of the oil boom in the small town of Williston, North...
-
Computer Chess
Mumblecore extraordinaire Andrew Bujalski’s (director of Funny Ha Ha and Beeswax) latest effort expands upon his mumblecore roots by wrapping it around a mockumentary format of storytelling that is lensed with aesthetically accurate 80’s technology. The largest achievement the...
-
South Dakota Film Festival: Noah and 7 other short films
Noah Not only did Noah easily stand out as the most unique film that I saw at the festival, but it is one of the better short films that I have seen in a long time. Filmed entirely from...
-
I Used to Be Darker
A natural reaction towards conflict is avoiding the threat by escaping, a common theme found within Matt Porterfield’s indie drama I Used to Be Darker. It is hard to say if the film achieves what it intends to, because...
-
Pine Ridge
Being someone who has lived in South Dakota for over twenty-years, one would assume I would know a fair amount about the Pine Ridge reservation located near the Badlands of South Dakota, but the truth is most people (even...
-
Giveaway: The East Blu-ray
Zal Batmanglij’s The East arrives on Blu-ray and DVD today and we are celebrating by giving away a copy of the film on Blu-ray to two of our Way Too Indie readers. The East follows an ambitious new recruit...
-
Blackfish
Somewhat similar to the documentary The Cove, Blackfish makes persuasive arguments against catching and holding animals in captivity, though this documentary is focused on the directing blame solely on one company, SeaWorld. Blackfish catches SeaWorld in several lies through...
-
The Bitter Buddha
Unless you are a huge stand-up comedy aficionado you have likely never heard of a comedian named Eddie Pepitone. I certainly had not until this documentary. But he is beloved by many famous comedians that you have heard of...
-
Giveaway: The Kings of Summer Blu-ray
To celebrate the upcoming Blu-ray and DVD release of The Kings of Summer (available on September 24th), we are giving away a copy of film to one of our readers. The Kings of Summer premiered at the Sundance Film...
-
Il Futuro
Alicia Scherson’s Il Futuro (The Future) is an adaptation of a Chilean novel by Roberto Bolano about two recently orphaned siblings that must find a way to make it on their own. Their uncertain future is the backbone of...