Sundance shines again at Enzian

A.C.O.D. will screen at the Maitland art cinema

From The Orlando Weekly, January 30, 2013

The Sundance Film Festival is turning its spotlight on the Enzian for a second year in a row by allowing the Maitland cinema to show the comedy A.C.O.D. (Adult Children of Divorce) on January 31 at 6:30 p.m., just days after the film premieres at the Utah festival. Sundance will also be sending either the film’s director or one of its stars to conduct a Q&A.

Orlando is one of only 10 cities so honored by the Sundance Film Festival USA program. Last year Enzian screened Arbitrage, starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Brit Marling, the latter being chosen to represent the film and take questions.

A.C.O.D. may not have the early buzz that Arbitrage had, but its cast is no less impressive. First-time director Stu Zicherman, in his own original screenplay, tells the story of a seemingly well-adjusted adult who discovers he was part of a study on children of divorce when he was young. This revelation has profound effects on his life, and the lives of his new family.

If that sounds serious, think again. Although the Weekly was unable to screen the film – not even Enzian has seen it yet – the cast list suggests a Christopher Guest sensibility, with probably less of a “mockumentary” mood. Starring Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation, The Guilt Trip), A.C.O.D. features Guest regulars Jane Lynch and Catherine O’Hara, along with Amy Poehler, Richard Jenkins and Jessica Alba.

“Sundance USA is kind of an outgrowth of the work we’ve been doing with Sundance for many years,” says Enzian Programming Director Matthew Curtis. “We were part of the original art-house project [which began] a few years ago to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sundance Institute. They asked a few select art-house screens around the country to get together and show a program … So the first year we showed past films from Sundance. Then we started showing shorts programs.”

The most recent shorts program was held on January 15 and offered an eclectic selection of Sundance shorts from last year, including the excellent Fishing Without Nets, the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for shorts. But Sundance eventually had more than just the previous year’s shorts in mind for the Maitland theater.

“Three years ago Sundance started the Sundance USA program to have art screens around the country participate in the Sundance Film Festival by featuring a film and a filmmaker while Sundance was actually going on,” Curtis says, adding that Enzian joining the list of participating cinemas in 2012. “We’re honored and thrilled and very proud to be part of the program.”

It’s a relationship that seems fitting given both organizations’ love of film. Metaphorically it’s appropriate too, as the Sun’s rays are shining again on the Maitland icon, which draws its name from a blue trumpet-shaped flower. That flower also gave its name to the original Enzian, a cultural organization formed in New York in 1922 by a group of artistically talented immigrants. Their goal, just like our Enzian’s, was to celebrate culture and aesthetic traditions, a history lesson that is undoubtedly not lost on the Utah festival’s chairman and the original “Sundance,” Robert Redford.

Tickets to A.C.O.D. are $15 and already on stand-by, so act quickly. But if you can’t get in, there’s always Winter Garden’s StarLite Film Festival (www.starlitefilmfest.com), one of the area’s many small festivals and yet another reason for the cinephile to love Orlando.

© 2013 Orlando Weekly / MeierMovies, LLC