Sundance 2014: Barker and Bernard on their three festival films [Video]
PARK CITY, Utah -- How does it feel to arrive at the Sundance Film Festival with five Academy Awards nominations in tow?
What’s it like to have a daughter who directed a film that is showing in the festival?
And what Sundance trends appear to be materializing this year?
Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics, dropped by the Los Angeles Times Studio in Park City to answer these questions -- and more.
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Barker and Bernard’s company, a unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has three pictures screening in the festival: “The Raid 2,” “Only Lovers Left Alive” and “The Lunchbox.”
“The Raid 2” is a sequel to the 2012 Indonesian martial arts film “The Raid: Redemption,” which Sony Pictures Classics released in the U.S. That movie took in $4.1 million domestically, and Barker and Bernard believe the sequel could build on that box-office tally.
Sony Pictures Classics is typically an active player in the Sundance film market, and there is one prospective acquisition title with which the company already has a unique connection: Barker’s daughter, Kate Barker-Froyland, has a movie of her own, “Song One,” which stars Anne Hathaway. “Song One” is showing in the festival’s U.S. dramatic competition section.
Sundance got off to a good start for Barker and Bernard -- hours before the festival kicked off on Thursday, the duo learned that Sony Pictures Classics movies “Blue Jasmine,” “Before Midnight” and “The Invisible Woman” had been nominated for a total of five Oscars.
Watch the video of our conversation with Barker and Bernard above.
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