Ira Sachs (born November 21, 1965) is an American filmmaker . Sachs started his career directing short films such as Vaudeville (1991) and Lady (1993) before making his feature film debut with The Delta (1997). Sachs later won acclaim for his dramatic independent films Forty Shades of Blue (2005), Keep the Lights On (2012), Love Is Strange (2014), Little Men (2016), and Passages (2023).
27-812: Sachs was born in Memphis, Tennessee . His father grew up in Park City, Utah . Sachs frequently attended the Sundance Film Festival when it was titled, The U.S. Film Festival in the 1980s. In 1986 he spent a few months in Paris as a student. Sachs attended Yale University and graduated in 1988 with a degree in literature, with a focus in film studies and film theory. Sachs said he applied to film school at University of Southern California , UCLA and NYU who all rejected him. He moved to New York City in 1988. Sachs stated, "The first thing I did in 1989 when I came to New York
54-484: A biographical documentary film based on Ebert's 2011 memoir titled as Life Itself: A Memoir on 19 January 2014. The festival introduced a new film category titled Sundance Kids , which will help to introduce independent films to a younger generation of audiences. It is also a first category at the festival dedicated to children's films. The festival also hosted several events and discussion panels around themes of success through failure titled Free Fail , which included
81-491: A long-time male couple, one of whom has an affair with a woman. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Sachs film calling it a return to form. Bradshaw compared the film to the works of Eric Rohmer , Woody Allen and Nora Ephron and declared, "Sachs strikes gold with sophisticated love triangle". The film received controversy for the Motion Picture Association giving the film an NC-17 rating. Sachs called
108-498: A man who wanted to help the Alzheimer's patient with music. Frank , comedy about a young musician, starring Michael Fassbender . 20,000 Days on Earth , a documentary narrating a day in the life of Nick Cave including cameos by Kylie Minogue and Ray Winstone . Also the closing night film of the festival Rudderless , told the story of a father who formed a rock and roll band to perform his late son's music. The awards ceremony
135-592: A young Russian woman living in Memphis with an aging music producer who comes to question her life when his adult son comes to visit. The film was influenced by the films of Ken Loach and Satyajit Ray . The film won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize . He followed up with the period drama film Married Life (2007) based on John Bingham 's 1953 novel Five Roundabouts to Heaven . The film starred Chris Cooper , Patricia Clarkson , Pierce Brosnan , and Rachel McAdams . The film received mixed reviews. He directed
162-571: Is strange." Sachs received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for his work. With 2019 drama film, Frankie Sachs cast Isabelle Huppert , Brendan Gleeson and reunited with Greg Kinnear and Marisa Tomei. The film revolves around an elderly French actress who is in ill health and she decides to spend her last vacation with her family. The film premiered at 2019 Cannes Film Festival . In his mixed review, film critic Owen Gleiberman of Variety compared it to
189-513: The 30th anniversary of the festival since its foundation in 1981 by Robert Redford . In celebration of 30th anniversary of the festival, the screening of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades took place at the festival. Some of the films which were shown are Beasts of the Southern Wild , Fruitvale Station , Little Miss Sunshine , An Education , Sex, Lies, and Videotape , Reservoir Dogs , The Cove , Hedwig and
216-489: The 8,161 short films submitted, 66 were selected (59 more than for the 2013 Festival). There were 54 directors, who made their directorial debut at the festival, 35 of whom have films in competition. Sixteen films were selected each for the U.S. Dramatic and U.S. Documentary competition sections, and twelve films each for the World Cinema Dramatic and World Cinema Documentary sections. This year's festival marked
243-583: The Alfred P. Sloan Jury, which will also take part in the Science in Film Forum Panel, were announced on January 9, 2014. Presenters of awards are followed by asterisks: Others who presented awards included Felicity Huffman , William H. Macy and Nick Offerman . For a full list of films appeared at the festival, see List of films at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival . The number of seats available at
270-615: The Angry Inch , An Inconvenient Truth , Precious and Napoleon Dynamite . An Artist at the Table event was also hosted at the 30th anniversary of the festival, which was attended by Festival board members, patrons and artists visiting the festival including Mark Ruffalo , Katie Couric and Doug Aitken . Music was major part of the festival. Most of the movies in the festival had musical themes. The opening night film Whiplash used music to explore human nature and identity. God Help
297-586: The French newspaper Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip , and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages. As a Director Memphis, Tennessee Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
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#1732863291238324-506: The Girl , a coming of age drama with musical theme directed by Stuart Murdoch . Memphis starring musician Willis Earl Beal as an artist. Australian musician Flea appears in Low Down , a biopic about American jazz pianist Joe Albany . Only Lovers Left Alive follows a musician and his lover while his world is collapsing down. Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory , a documentary about
351-747: The Lights On as a semi-autobiographical film. In January 2012, Sachs married artist Boris Torres in New York city, a few days before their twins were born. Sachs and Torres co-parent the children with documentary cinematographer and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson , who bore them. He appeared in the German documentary Wie ich lernte die Zahlen zu lieben / How I Learned to Love the Numbers (2014) by Oliver Sechting and Max Taubert. In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Sachs signed an open letter published in
378-770: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 69030399 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 06:54:51 GMT 2014 Sundance Film Festival The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah , United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City , Ogden , and Sundance Resort in Utah . The festival opened with Whiplash directed by Damien Chazelle and closed with musical drama Rudderless directed by William H. Macy . The festival honored late Roger Ebert and premiered Life Itself by Steve James ,
405-517: The drama Keep the Lights On which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival . The film is based on Sachs' own past relationship with Bill Clegg , a literary agent who wrote a memoir about his struggles with addiction, Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man , in 2010. David Rooney described the film as an "immersive portrait of contemporary New York life". The film was nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards including for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. He returned to film with
432-504: The drama Little Men (2016) starring Jennifer Ehle and Greg Kinnear . The film premiered at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival . Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review writing, "Though Sachs' observations do succeed in personalizing the phenomenon, the reason we go — indeed, the reason we care — is because Little Men is also a story about love, and as Sachs has poignantly noted before, love
459-514: The film saying, "I wrote the film in New York where I was living, but I grew up in Memphis. It was inspired by my memories and my thoughts and my knowledge of the city." The low budget film was shot on 16 mm . The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and later screened at the Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. His next film was released in 2005 entitled, Forty Shades of Blue . The film follows
486-418: The ones that have influenced me the greatest as an artist and filmmaker. These are the films that I hold on to as if each one were a member of my own family. They are the films that have made me who I am, as my father and mother have, my siblings and my cousins and my friends. I would be someone different if I had never seen any one of them. They are a part of me." Sachs is Jewish and gay. He described Keep
513-400: The past been the poet of middle-aged people's feelings. Now he has gone down a generation, almost into Eric Rohmer territory, into the world of younger people who have much less experience of disappointment and compromise. Or perhaps, in this world of cosmopolitan sophistication, it is Woody Allen territory or Nora Ephron territory" — Peter Bradshaw , The Guardian In 2016 he directed
540-490: The rating "A form of cultural censorship that is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist". Sachs submitted these films in the Sight & Sound poll as his favorite of all time. He wrote, "The greatest films ever made are for me the ones that have personally affected me most deeply. It is because of their impact that these very same films are
567-480: The relationship drama Love Is Strange (2014) starring John Lithgow , Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei . The film screened at both the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and the 64th Berlin International Film Festival . Mark Kermode of The Guardian praised the film writing, "Watching this quietly beguiling tale of an ageing gay couple who have been together for decades, I was reminded of the films of Yasujirô Ozu , Woody Allen and Maurice Pialat ." "Sachs has in
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#1732863291238594-524: The screening of Bottle Rocket turned down by the Sundance Film Festival in 1996 and later become independently successful. The festival had more than 700 sponsors and 1,830 volunteers. A record 12,218 films were submitted, 72 more films than the 2013 festival. Of the 4,057-plus feature films were submitted, 2,014 were from the U.S. and 2,043 were international, and 121 were selected from 37 countries (with 100 of them being world premieres). Of
621-474: The troubles of a political and social community through its tight-knit existence. With Lady the film was also shot in 16 mm and lasted 28 minutes. The film revolves around the blurred parameters of sexuality, desire, and female identity. He made his directorial film debut with the LGBTQ coming of age drama film The Delta (1997) about a young man exploring his bisexuality . Sachs spoke to his inspiration of
648-471: The works of Eric Rohmer writing, " Frankie is a film made with immaculate craftsmanship...Yet for all its naturalistic elegance and lighter-than-air precision, it's an American Rohmer film that doesn't, unfortunately, feel close to being a major Rohmer film." His next film, Passages , was shot in France and was released in 2023. It starred Franz Rogowski , Ben Whishaw , and Adèle Exarchopoulos . It depicts
675-538: Was held on January 26, 2014 at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse in Park City, Utah, and was hosted by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally . Additional awards were presented at separate ceremonies. The Shorts Awards were presented January 21, 2014 at the ceremony in Park City, Utah. Jury members, for the U.S. Documentary Jury, were announced on December 18, 2013. The rest of the jury members including
702-470: Was in the art department and I was in the...actually, I quit the art department and got a job as the assistant to the director, which Kelly Reichardt never let me forget." Sachs started his career writing and directing several short films including Vaudeville (1992) and Lady (1993). The short Vaudeville was shot in 16 mm and lasted 55 minutes. The story revolves around a traveling theatrical troupe, made up primarily of gay and lesbian performers, mirrors
729-453: Was worked as an assistant on a film called Longtime Companion by the director Norman René , which was about a group of New Yorkers who were confronted with, and confronting, living and dying through the AIDS crisis and it was a very seminal experience, I met a lot of filmmakers who were in the art department or assistants on that film. Kelly Reichardt and I became friends through that film, she
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