Sundance has announced the members on its five juries, the esteemed tastemakers who'll pick the prize-winners at the Awards Ceremony, hosted this year by David Hyde-Pierce (who'll be there in support of his dinner-party crime caper, The Perfect Host). Author Russell Banks, Jennifer's Body director Karyn Kusama, Sundance Queen Parker Posey, indie producer Jason Kliot and cinematographer Robert Yeoman head up the U.S. Dramatic Competition jury, while doc makers Morgan Spurlock and Ondi Timoner sit among the U.S. Documentary Jury. But do their opinions ultimately matter?
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With Afghan Star, London-based filmmaker Havana Marking has crafted something utterly extraordinary -- a fly-on-the-wall glimpse at a shattered culture beginning to "awaken from a dream," as one Afghan puts it. And it's all thanks to the unlikeliest of things: a televised singing competition that has quickly become a runaway national phenomenon. Even the most impoverished of Kabul slum-dwellers somehow find a way to watch Afghan Star, cheering on their favorites with the same ferocity as the most obsessive Adam Lambert fan. Contestants are of both genders and from every province of that civil war-torn country, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, American Idol-style, as host Daoud Sadiqi affects his best Ryan Seacrest and reveals the week's voting results.
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Legendary producer Robert Evans, whose career includes Chinatown, The Godfather, the new The Kid Stays In The Picture and an upcoming Matthew McConaughey flick shows off his home theater spread.
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