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Sundance Diary for Film Nation |
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New England Film, June 1998 Interview |
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Watch Anna in the Sky in RealVideo on Freespeech Internet Television. You may need to download the free software first. |
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If Only DeMille Had Owned a Desktop
New Low-Cost Cameras and Software Put Filmmaking Within Reach of Digital Auteurs ... More films made either fully or in part with low-cost digital technology are also finding their way to theaters. The Cruise, a biting documentary about a tour bus guide in New York, was shot entirely in low-budget but high-resolution digital video by the director, Bennett Miller. The 76-minute feature earned a theatrical release last fall. Mark Edgington shot the haunting Anna in the Sky on 16-millimeter film but, faced with budget problems, transferred his movie to video and edited it on his home computer, using Adobe Premiere software. When he had finished, he had developed a blueprint for how 16-millimeter film should be cut, saving time and money.
By Michel Marriott January 7, 1999 |
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Highlights from New England Film
As I mentioned before, there is only one film you can download from this site, but had there been a whole slate of films, I doubt any could have come close to Mark Edgington's short Anna in the Sky. The ten minute film is engaging the entire time, moving quickly and easily from comedy to drama and back again. The plot is simple enough, a man is depressed after his girlfriend dumps him and he can't seem to grasp the reality (or finality) of the situation. But the film is much more than the sum of its parts. Edgington, a Yale-educated filmmaker, does a good job of treading the fine line between style and cliche, and is able to imbue his film with a sense of real emotion that makes it refreshing to watch. The film has been screened at festivals throughout the country and applauded by many critics and for damn good reason: it's one of the best short films out there. The actors are more than up to par, and Sophie Gallatea's performance as Anna is sheer beauty. Stop reading this review -- go to New England Film and see Anna in the Sky for yourself!
By Chad Perman March 23, 1999 |
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Reviews: Johns Hopkins Film Festival
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Anna in the Sky
Justin and Anna have a relationship that seems over, but Justin can't accept this.He has no confidence in the usual methods: begging, pleading, sending roses. Perhaps he also feelsthat these suggestions don't express the poetry of their love. He wants to get her back by magic. If only he had a lock of her hair. The 10 minutes of Anna in the Sky show Justin's attempts to get a lock of her hairand to perform a ritual. He's willing to go to amazing lengths. As we watch him, we hearhis narration, his rationalizations, his superb unwillingness to let reality interfere. A short film isn't just a long film that didn't grow up. It's a different kind of thingaltogether. It's like a short story. Or like a lyric poem. We don't wonder if maybe John Donnestarted out intending A Valediciton Forbidding Mourning to be as long as Paradise Lostbut then couldn't find financial backing so he had to settle for a poem that could print ona page and a half. The Valediction couldn't have been much longer than it is, becausetoo much of its effect depends on being able to read it all at once and to hold itcomplete in your mind. It's designed to be condensed, so it burns ideas with a reckless intensity. Anna in the Sky illustrates this observation perfectly. It "burns ideas with a recklessintensity" to sustain lyrically our sense of Justin's passion, or madness. Justin wants to sneak into Anna's apartment, so he rings her bell, quickly runs downstairs tohide, sees that she doesn't answer, and runs back up (observed by a neighboracross the street) to let himself in with the key. This is shot with a wide-angle lens heldat just the right distance and angle so that the tall, skinny actor, Danny Maloney, seemsalmost elastic as he bounds up and down the stairs. The rhythm of it--walk up the stairsand ring the bell, run down, wait, run (with interruption from neighbor) back up again--isperfect, as is the clear, elegant combination of visual and narrative ideas. If you were to drive to a theater, pay regular price for tickets, and do nothing butwatch the 10 minutes of Anna in the Sky before driving home again,you would probably think you got a really good deal. An excellent film, just at that perfect, ambiguous intersection of being funny and being serious.
By Bill and Joan Coleman March 15, 1998 |
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Review: Bermuda International Film Festival, Liberty Theatre --
Friday, May 2
... The short preceding the feature film was so brilliant it is a shame the audience didn't get to rate it too. 'Anna in the Sky', by director Mark Edgington, was an exceptional piece of work. It too followed a young pathetic male, who is obsessed with his ex-girlfriend. Justin, a broody art-student type, makes fun of himself and his predicament. Very funny for an ex-art student.
By Catherine Draycott May 5, 1997 |
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Review: Digital Film Festival --
Friday, Sep 19 & Saturday, Sep 20
So Digital It Hertz ... Just what is D-Film, or Digital Film, for the real layman? Well, it's everything from computer generated screensaver-esque blends of texture, movement and color, to computer animated cartoons, to computer edited film-and the D-Film Digital Film Festival had it all on display here in New York City on Friday and Saturday night. ... The films, in accordance with the surrounding hype, the nature of the multi-medium itself, and the nature of the publication printing this review, ranged wildly in theme, content and quality.
... In opposition, Mark Edgington's Anna in the Sky, screened at Sundance, was a lo-tech love story shot on 16mm film and edited on a PC in Edgington's livingroom. Anna was vindicated by superior filming and storywriting, making it a welcome jewel in a crown of over-teched pieces.
By Jonathan Solomon September 25, 1997 |
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Reviews: Seattle International Film Festival
Anna in the Sky: 92/100 Rules for Romance - Another short film program. A vast improvement over the North by Northwest program, with the standout being Mark Edgington's comically haunting ode to obsessive love, Anna in the Sky.
Red Sky at Night: 78; Anna in the Sky: 92; Goiter Boy: 72; Didactic Encounter: 77; The Man Who Counted: 79
By Tan Halpern May 27, 1997 |
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Reviews: Flixtour Program B Review
... Next came a live action short called Anna in the Sky. This is plain fun. I'm not even going to spoil this one for you. But it is neurotic, fucked up and funny as hell. I liked it.
By Harry Jay Knowles February 26, 1998 |
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Review: Charlotte Film and Video Festival --
Saturday, May 10
Critic's Picks of Weekend Screenings "Anna in the Sky" - In 10 minutes, writer-director Mark Edgington creates a plausible non-hero stuck in a painful situation. His piece has humor, novelty and a punchy little supernatural ending.
The narrator contemplates the unhealthiness of his fixation on a woman who wants nothing to do with him. Meanwhile, he fixates more. If only she realized his sterling qualities, he reasons, she'd go for him like butter for a warm croissant. Since she doesn't, he'll have to use witchcraft. This trifle has just enough humor not to seem twisted in a disturbing way.
By Lawrence Toppman May 9, 1997 |
an der Technischen Universität Darmstadt
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Reviews: Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival
Rating: 9/10
Anna im Himmel – sw/zw/9 Justin, ein etwas pathetischer junger Mann, kann seine Ex-Freundin nichtvergessen. Immerhin amüsiert er sich aber über sich selbst undseine mißliche Lage. Brilliant!
By Andreas Jojo Fleischmann Oct 31, 1997 |
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