INDIE WIRE -- The summer edition of Sundance Institute’s growing Directors and Screenwriters Labs takes place May 25 – June 25 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Projects and participants selected for the labs hail from the United States, Brazil, China, France, Georgia and the United Kingdom.
Boots Riley (writer/director) / Sorry to Bother You (USA):
A black telemarketer with self-esteem issues discovers a magical key to business success, propelling him to the upper echelons of the hierarchy just as his activist comrades are rising up against unjust labor practices. When he uncovers the macabre secret of his corporate overlords, he must decide whether to stand up or sell out.
Boots Riley studied film at San Francisco State University before ending his studies in favor of a major-label recording deal for his band, The Coup. He directed a music video for The Coup’s “Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada Last Night,” upon which the novel Too Beautiful for Words was based. He was never won an award for artistic achievement, but has decided that being the only musical artist whose surveillance was uncovered via Wikileaks is just as good as an Oscar or a Grammy.
Photo: Amelia Kennedy