High Flying Bird – Steven Soderbergh’s 2nd iPhone Movie Slamdance Premiere

Steven Soderbergh’s 2nd “Shot On iPhone” movie has been announced to premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2019.

The film, High Flying Bird, is an upcoming American sports drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh, from a screenplay by Tarell Alvin McCraney. The film stars André Holland, Zazie Beetz and Melvin Gregg. It’s scheduled to be released on February 8, 2019, by Netflix.

Although rumours are that the film was shot on an iPhone 7, the latest news doesn’t mention it being shot that way. So, either the rumours were false or they have decided a feature being shot on an iPhone by Steven Soderbergh is no longer news worthy. Y’know, because smartphone-shot features are accepted as industry standard…

Hopefully, it’s the latter. Anyway, I’m really curious to see how it has turned out. And this time it’s direct to Netflix, with no theatrical release.

Slamdance – founded in 1995 to champion emerging filmmaking talent and their new work – will be honouring Soderbergh with a founders award. The director’s newest film will sneak preview as part of the festival honor.

Founders Award

Founders Award is given to a Slamdance alumnus who has continued to represent the Slamdance organization and support the filmmaker community of Slamdance well into their careers.

The award was first presented in 2015 to director Christopher Nolan (Inception, Dunkirk) and in 2018 was awarded to Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War).

Soderbergh will participate in a live discussion with Slamdance Co-founder and President Peter Baxter before a sneak preview of his newest film.

High Flying Bird takes place during a pro basketball lockout and follows a sports agent (Holland) as he pitches a rookie basketball client (Gregg) on an intriguing and controversial business proposition. The film was produced by Joseph Malloch and executive produced by Holland and Ken Meyer.

“’Don’t ask for permission!’ That was Steven Soderbergh’s advice to us when Slamdance was getting started and it continues to be the core of our brand. We answer to no one,” said Baxter. “Slamdance filmmakers have changed the entertainment industry and Steven Soderbergh showed us the way. Without his involvement over the last 25 years both as a filmmaker and mentor to our filmmakers, Slamdance wouldn’t be the organization it is today.”

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