How will we humans react to an alien encounter? This striking question is posed by director Michael Madsen in "The Visit," part of the line-up at Sundance Film Festival (22 January-1 February).
Celebrating its world premiere at Sundance, "The Visit" is announced as one of 12 feature documentaries running in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, a privileged showcase for documentary films from around the globe. In this section is also the Swedish-Danish co-production "Pervert Park" by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors.
The Visit by Michael Madsen
With unprecedented access to the United Nations' Office for Outer Space Affairs as well as leading space scientists and agencies, "The Visit" investigates on a practical, philosophical and scientific level man's potential first encounter with alien intelligent life. A radical odyssey into the Unknown, "The Visit" becomes a profound exploration of humanity itself. After all, as Michael Madsen puts it, it is difficult to interpret the deep-seated attraction exerted by "Alien encounters" on the popular imagination as anything other than a longing within ourselves – a suspicion that ultimately we may not really know ourselves at all.
Michael Madsen is a conceptual artist and has directed the award-winning "Into Eternity" (2010), where Madsen went deep underground to satisfy his curiosity about the world's first permanent nuclear waste repository in Finland. Recent films include "Halden Prison" (2014) in 3D, part of "Cathedrals of Culture" initiated by Wim Wenders and showcased at the Berlinale.
"The Visit" is produced by Lise Lense-Møller for Magic Hour Films with support from the Danish Film Institute. International sales are handled by Autlook Filmsales.
Pervert Park is having its international premiere at Sundance. Framegrab.
Pervert Park – Swedish-Danish co-production
Also selected for the World Cinema Documentary Competition is "Pervert Park" by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors.
Running in the Nordic competition at CPH:DOX in November, "Pervert Park" is a film about the people nobody wants as their neighbours. We follow the everyday life in Florida Justice Transitions, a trailer park that is home to 120 convicted sex offenders struggling to reintegrate into society. The film gives us a chance to understand who they are and how the destructive cycle of sexual abuse and the silence can be broken.
"Pervert Park" is produced by Frida Barkfors and Anne Köhncke for De Andra of Sweden and the Danish production outfit Final Cut for Real ("The Look of Silence") with support from the Danish Film Institute.
Sundance Film Festival will be announcing the titles in the remaining series shortly.
Sundance Film Festival 22 January – 1 February 2015
The Visit
"This film documents an event that has never taken place - man's first encounter with intelligent life from space", but ever since the invention of radio, humans have been sending signals into space, announcing their existence to other civilizations. With unprecedented access to the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, the military, and experts from leading space agencies, the film explores a first contact scenario, beginning with the simplest of questions: Why are you here? How do you think? What do you see in humans that we don't see in ourselves?
A journey beyond a terrestrial perspective, revealing the fears, hopes, and rituals of a species forced not only to confront alien life forms, but also its own self image.
