New Wine in Old Bottles: Filmmakers on Genre in the Nineties

From westerns to film noir, detective stories to melodramas, genre work constitutes a mainstay of mainstream filmmaking. Traditionally genre films have portrayed protagonists as characters rooted in their communities, but experimentation in the independent world has turned genre filmmaking on its head by presenting stories of alienation and marginalization. How do filmmakers reinvent tradition and balance innovation with convention? If genre works are ritualized dramatizations of cultural traditions, what social trends come to light when contemporary directors reformulate them? To discuss genre today, Sundance is pleased to present a panel of directors who have infused formulaic structures with fresh and provocative points of view. The panel will be moderated by Curtis Hanson, director and screenwriter of L.A. Confidential, and is sponsored by the Directors Guild of America.

Credits

Curtis Hansen
Panelist
 
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