Sundance 2011 and the World Premiere of "The Last Mountain"

The famous Sundance marquis

Last week, the Uncommon Productions team hit up Park City, Utah for the world premiere of "The Last Mountain." The film debuted at the Prospector Square Theatre on Friday, January 21, and enjoyed five subsequent screenings at various venues throughout the prestigious film festival.  

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Some of the crew of 'The Last Mountain' at its January 21, 2011 world premiere.

Photojournalist Antrim Caskey, West Virginian Activist Maria Gunnoe, and myself.

Following the premiere, the executive producers hosted the cast & crew of the film for a phenomenal dinner in celebration of its release, which was more than three years in the making. I was honored to meet two of the activists featured in the film: Maria Gunnoe, who has been fighting against mountaintop-removal coal mining near her homestead for years, and Antrim Caskey, the embedded journalist at Climate Ground Zero, one of the leading activist headquarters in West Virginia. 

KT Tunstall in concert.

On Saturday night, KT Tunstall performed a benefit concert in connection with "The Last Mountain," with all proceeds going towards Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s Waterkeeper Alliance, an organization aimed at keeping the U.S. waterways clean. The concert was awesome (I love KT Tunstall!), and Bobby gave a great speech following the show, in which he outlined the importance of the issues touched upon in the film.

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Bobby Kennedy, Jr. at the benefit concert.

Thus far, general reception of the film has been positive. Here is a small sampling of the reviews that have trickled in:

• From The Hollywood Reporter: "As a call to arms for sympathetic viewers, the film is informative, stirring, and most importantly, inspiring, and should resonate for a likeminded audience."
• From The Independent Film Channel: "If you need something new to be incensed about, "The Last Mountain" will do the trick nicely. It's a frightening portrait of a truly dysfunctional capitalistic relationship, in which Big Coal soothes those who falls in its shadow with paternalistic language while literally poisoning them and the land on which they live."
• From The Faster Times: "Hopefully whoever buys it will make it required national viewing."

Producer Eric Grunebaum, Co-Producer Laura Longsworth, Editor Peter Rhodes, Associate Producer AJ Farkas, and myself on Main St. in Park City.

Two more bits of good news to come up in the wake of Sundance: New Video announced its acquisition of U.S. DVD and Digital Rights to the film. Dada Films followed closely behind, announcing their acquisition of U.S. theatrical rights to the film, which will hit theatres this summer. The plan is for the film to continue its run on the festival circuit, and then begin its theatrical run on June 3, 2011 in top-20 U.S. markets!