Sundance Selects Borscht and Rakontur Film Starring Luther Campbell (2 Live Crew) for 2012 Festival
The Sundance Institute selected "The Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke,” a short film starring Miami based rapper and politician Luther Campbell (Uncle Luke of 2 Live Crew) and produced by Miami’s Borscht Corp. (the organization behind the Borscht Film Festival) in collaboration with Miami production company Rakontur for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival’s Short Film Program.
The Sundance Institute selected only 64 shorts for its Short Film Program from a record 7,675 world-wide submissions.
Borscht Corp. commissioned Freaky Times as part of its 2011 program. Miami multi-media artist Jillian Mayer directed, Miami’s Lucas Leyva wrote the screenplay, and Evan Rosenfeld of Rakontur served as executive producer. Freaky Times first screened as a "working cut" at Borscht’s 2011 festival in front of a capacity crowd of over 1,700 in April 2011 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami.
Freaky Times is a modern Miami adaptation of the 1962 French short film La Jetée, and recounts Campbell’s rise to fame as he changes the face of hip-hop and fights for First Amendment rights – and later as he ushers Miami into a golden era of peace and prosperity as mayor. Everything changes when a nuclear meltdown at Turkey Point turns Miami into a radioactive wasteland filled with mutants, and Campbell is the only survivor left unscathed.
"This lets the industry - and the world - know that we have creative talent in Miami that rivals any other city in the world", said Luther Campbell. Borscht Corp. founder Lucas Leyva added: "We are honored to be selected for the second year in a row to the Sundance shorts program. It is validation for all the hard work and support given to Borscht by the entire community with the belief that the films created in this city can hang with the best in the world. We hope to do Miami stories justice."
Freaky Times joins a long list of Borscht Corp. films to screen at international film festivals in the past year alone, including last year’s Sundance selection XEMOLAND.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation recently awarded Borscht Corp. a $150,000 Arts Challenge Grant to help foster Miami’s burgeoning filmmaking talent. "Without the community and support from the Knight Foundation, these films would be nothing but ideas in our heads, so we are eternally grateful to them and the city", Leyva said.
The Borscht Film Festival tells pure, only-in-Miami stories that help forge a new cinematic identity for South Florida. Locally, theater-goers are hungry for these films, and their themes will resonate with audiences in Sundance and beyond, said Dennis Scholl, the Knight Foundation's vice president/arts.
Freaky Times takes place entirely in a series of art installations by Mayer that warp perspective and reality. "I wasn't sure how interested Luke would be in working on a small artsy short film with some local kids, but he couldn't have been more into it and supportive", said Evan Rosenfeld of Rakontur.
More than that, if Freaky Times wins an award at Sundance, it will automatically qualify the film to potentially be an Oscar nominee. As Rosenfeld put it: "We got Luke to Sundance, now we need to get him to the Academy Awards."
ABOUT LUTHER CAMPBELL (UNCLE LUKE):
Luther Campbell (Uncle Luke) is hip-hop's original bad boy. As a solo artist and the founder of the groundbreaking, multiplatinum rap group ―2 Live Crew,‖ Campbell's music has sold millions of copies worldwide, inspired the love of countless fans, the ire of politicians, and even the advent of the "Parental Advisory" sticker. Campbell also ran for Mayor of Miami- Dade County.
ABOUT MAYER/LEYVA:
www.mayerleyva.comMayer\Leyva consists of visual artist Jillian Mayer and filmmaker Lucas Leyva. Their video works have shown at Guggenheim Museums all over the world as well as several major international art galleries and collections, and their coproduced short films have screened at Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, and Clermont-Ferrand Film Festivals. Their music
videos have premiered on Stereogum, NME, Vice and Rolling Stone and have been named to various year-end Top 10 video lists, including IFC. Their last online video, ―I Am Your Grandma‖ became an unlikely viral sensation that has been spoofed on various TV shows and was featured on the cover of Art Papers Magazine in September/October 2011.
ABOUT JILLIAN MAYER:
http://www.jillianmayer.net/Jillian Mayer was born in and lives and works in Miami, FL and received her BFA from Florida International University in 2007. She has participated in exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. In 2010, the artist’s work was one of the 25 selections for the Guggenheim’s Youtube Play ―A Biennial of Creative Video.‖ As part of the Guggenheim's Creative Video Biennial, the artist's work was exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy; Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, and Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. Recent solo projects include Family Matters at David Castillo Gallery (2011) and Love Trips at World Class Boxing, Miami (2011).
ABOUT RAKONTUR:
http://www.rakontur.com/Rakontur is a Miami-based media studio founded by Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben in 2000. Rakontur created and produced the documentary Cocaine Cowboys, which The New York Times called ―a hyperventilating account of the blood-drenched Miami drug culture in the 1970s and 1980s.‖ In addition to Borscht, Rakontur’s 2011 slate includes a Cocaine Cowboys dramatic series for HBO with executive producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, the animated comedy series Miami Cowboys with executive producer Pharrell Williams, and the feature documentary Square Grouper, about the free-wheeling pot-smuggling era of South Florida in the 1970s.
ABOUT BORSCHT CORP
http://www.borscht.infoCurrently in its seventh year, Borscht Corp. commissions and produces films by emerging artists that tell Miami stories that go beyond the typical portrayal of a vapid party town. It also showcases them at a quasi-yearly event called the Borscht Film Festival. The 2011 films received rave reviews from a capacity crowd of over 1,700 at the Arsht Center, and previous films have gone on to screen at Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, and Clermont-Ferrand Film Festivals. Borscht was recently named the "Best Film Festival in Miami" by the Miami New Times, and the "most eclectic and electric film festival in South Florida", by The Miami Herald.
ABOUT SUNDANCE INSTITUTE AND THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.sundance.org/about/Since 1981, Sundance Institute has evolved to become an internationally recognized nonprofit organization that actively advances the work of risk-taking storytellers worldwide. Originally founded by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute has always provided a space for independent artists to explore their stories free from commercial and political pressures.
ABOUT THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION:
www.knightfoundation.orgThe John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of
communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change.
