Director: Morgan Neville
Stars: Lou Adler, Stephanie "Stevvi" Alexander, Patti Austin
The buzz: The documentary about the music industry's unheralded backup singers was the darling of Sundance.
Status: Completed
Sales agent: Elle Driver/Wild Bunch
The Nantucket Film Festival has tapped the documentary Twenty Feet From Stardom as its opening-night film. The film about the backup singers behind some of the greatest musical legends in rock ‘n’ roll history has received rousing receptions at recent festivals including Sundance and the Miami International Film Festival.
Disney/Pixar’s animated film Monster’s University has been slotted as the festival’s opening-day film. Lake Bell‘s In a World … will be the centerpiece film, and David Lowery‘s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints will be the closing-night film. The festival runs June 26 to 30.
David O. Russell will be presented with the 2013 Screenwriters Tribute on June 29. Barbara Kopple is being tapped with the Special Achievement in Documentary Storytelling Award, which will be presented by Mariel Hemingway. Kopple’s most recent project is the documentary Running From Crazy, which follows actress Hemingway, granddaughter of legendary writer Ernest Hemingway, as she explores her family’s disturbing history of mental illness and suicide.
Bell will receive the New Voices in Screenwriting Award. Her first short film, Worst Enemy, screened at the Nantucket Film Festival in 2011.
“At the core of each year’s festival is the Screenwriters Tribute, which gives our audience an inside look at the works of today’s finest film storytellers,” festival director Mystelle Brabbee said. “We are especially pleased with our three honorees this year. Writer-director David O. Russell’s singular vision has made a significant impact on American cinema, Barbara Kopple is one of the all-time great documentarians, and Lake Bell brings a refreshing new voice to comic screenwriting.”
The four spotlight films at this year’s festival are Running From Crazy, Blackfish, Drinking Buddies and Girl Most Likely.
The complete lineup of films can be found on the festival’s website at www.nantucketfilmfestival.org.
Email: Tatiana.Siegel@THR.com, Twitter: @TatianaSiegel27
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