Habib Azar directed his first episode of As The World Turns at age 22, and has since directed over 100 episodes of the drama series, winning him a daytime emmy, as well as helming a handfull of plays and composing the music for a couple of operas. His feature directorial debut Armless will premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival as part of the NEXT category, a new section composed of eight American films selected for their innovative and original work in low- and no-budget filmmaking.
Based on the award-winning play of the same name by Obie Award winner Kyle Jarrow, Armless is an off-kilter comedy about a woman who must comes to terms with her husband’s strange secret, John wants to have his arms chopped off. Sundance calls the film “a deliciously twisted romp of comedic drama filled with mistaken identities, missed chances, and revealing consequences.” After the jump you can see photos, a trailer, and the official plot synopsis.
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The reason why I like the SXSW Film Festival is because it contains a lot of smaller films, movies that speak to people of my generation, and the even more technologically hip generation after mine. SXSW is very much what I imagine Sundance use to be 20 years ago, but if it were set in modern times.
In my review for 500 Days of Summer, I spoke out about the need for a better term for the indie romantic dramedy. It’s been a couple weeks and I still can’t come up with anything worth noting. But it definitely seems clear to me that a new term is needed. Films like 500 Days of Summer, Garden State or Breaking Upwards defy the classification of the normal “romantic comedy”. Not only because they try to do something above and beyond the normal cliche story beats, but because they speak to an entirely different crowd.
Breaking Upwards will play in competition at 2008 SXSW Film Festival and BFI Times London Film Festival. You can watch the trailer for the film after the jump. In an attempt to promote the movie on the interwebs, director Daryl Wein even made a viral rap video featuring /Film favorite and star of Breaking Upwards, Olivia Thirlby (Juno, The Wackness). That’s also included after the jump.
Update: Apparently it was Wein’s first film which premiered at BFI.
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