Barb Bretz

So many stories making up the history in our country have remained untold or mistold for decades. Much can be learned from "Judas and the Black Messiah", Academy Award nominee for Best Picture. Here’s Barb Bretz with your Friday Film Review.

Writer/director Shaka King, introduced "Judas and the Black Messiah", to Sundance audiences warning the tragic story would be difficult to watch. He hoped it would bring viewers inspiration and worthwhile information. He was correct on all counts.

  The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Turn of the Key and In a Dark Dark Wood returns with another suspenseful thriller set on a snow-covered mountain. 

Ruth Ware, an alias for Ruth Warburton, is a British, psychological-crime, thriller author and no stranger to the New York Times bestseller list. Her latest book, One By One, could be the perfect read when you leave the slopes surrounding us here in Park City and curl up by the fire.

  Human Factors, written and directed by Ronny Trocker, screened as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Here's Barb Bretz with her take.

The film, is very ‘European’ in style and setting. Language is German and French with English subtitles.

  One For the Road was chosen as an opening night film at this year’s festival. Barb Bretz has this review.

The co-writer and director Baz Poonpiriya, is an up-and-coming Thai director whose 2017 film Bad Genius, won a record-breaking 12 categories at the 27th Suphannahong National Film Awards in Thailand.

"The Climb," was in a way, born at the Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Michael Angelo Covino and co-written and co-starred in by Covino and Kyle Marvin, it premiered here in 2018 as a “short."

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummings, hailed as “‘The Grapes of Wrath’ for our times,” was Oprah's Book Club selection in January. By March there was so much controversy the book tour was canceled.

Chapter one: “One of the very first bullets comes in from the open window above the toilet where Luca is standing. He doesn't understand immediately that it is a bullet at all, and it's only luck it doesn't strike him between the eyes.”

"Boy's State", won the 2020 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. Will it make the shortlist for an Academy Award during this strange, COVID-impacted year? 

"Boy's State" is a political coming-of-age documentary that follows 1,200 teenage boys in Texas participating in the titular, week-long American Legion program.

 The One Book One Community selection this year is “Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country,” which recently won the Reading the West Advocacy Award. Author Pam Houston, once a resident of Park City, will hold a virtual talk with locals in September about her latest book. 

“Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country” is author Pam Houston's first memoir. It's an obvious love letter to the natural world in general and her ranch specifically. 

The documentary “13th” was released in 2016. If you missed it then - watch it now. As the national and international conversation about racial injustice elevates, every single one of us could benefit from the enlightenment delivered by this documentary. Here's Barb Bretz with your Friday Film Review.

Have you ever wondered when exactly the meek shall inherit the Earth? This week's film The Laundromat lets you know NOT to hold your breath. Here's Barb Bretz with this week’s Friday Film Review.

The Laundromat directed by Steven Soderbergh is based on Jake Bernstein's nonfiction book 'Secrecy World' about the 2016 Panama Papers scandal.

Released only two weeks after its Sundance Film Festival premiere, “Downhill” refers not only to a ski vacation but also to what's going on with a marriage before our eyes.  Barb Bretz has this week’s Friday Film review.

Directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash were at Sundance in 2013 with a warm and witty film called, “The Way Way Back.” This year, along with co-writer Jesse Armstrong, they brought us “Downhill.”

KPCW's Fabulous Film Panel wraps up the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and this years Academy Awards.   Rick Brough is joined by KPCW Program Director John Burdick, reporter Emily Means, and Friday Film Reviewers Barbara Bretz and Libby Wadman.

In this segment of The Sundance Reel, Director Eugene Ashe discusses his film Sylvie’s Love.

In this segment of The Sundance Reel, Directors Bill Ross and Turner Ross, talk about their film Bloody Nose Empty Pockets.

In this segment of The Sundance Reel, Director Arthur Jones and Producer Giorgio Angelini talk about the origin of Pepe the Frog and their film Feels Good Man.