
This year, midway through the festival, it has proven just as strong as ever. I'll have more on some of my favorite films over at Hammer to Nail this weekend and in the Summer issue of Filmmaker Magazine, but among my favorites so far is Dustin Daniel Cretton's narrative look at an at-risk teen's facility, the Sundance grand jury prize winning Short Term 12. Also very strong is Palestinian Muayad Alayan's look at a pair of young Arabs living in Jerusalem who's love cannot overcome the constant psychic terror of their otherness in Lesh Sabreen? Lastly, Derek Jacobi (yes, from I Claudius) is absolutely unforgettable as an aging homosexual con man who pawns mourning British jews out of their dignity and a few of their possessions in Tristram Shapeero's Sidney Turtlebaum.