Sachs' new film to debut at Sundance

Ira Sachs

Memphis-born filmmaker Ira Sachs will debut his new movie, “Keep the Lights On,” in January at the 28th annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The movie is one of 16 world premieres selected for the festival’s Dramatic Competition, which were announced Wednesday, along with the lineup for the documentary competitions.

Sachs, 46, already has an impressive history at Sundance. In 2005, he won the Grand Jury Prize for Drama for his made-in-Memphis and Memphis-inspired feature, “Forty Shades of Blue,” starring Rip Torn as a longtime local music producer.

Sachs’ first feature, 1997’s very low-budget, cross-cultural coming-of-age Memphis romance, “The Delta,” also screened at Sundance.

According to Sundance officials, 4,042 features were submitted for the 2012 festival. Overall, the festival will screen 111 features in various categories.

Founded in part by actor Robert Redford, Sundance is the largest and most well-known independent film festival in the U.S. The 2012 event is set for Jan. 19-29.

Budgeted at less than a million dollars, “Keep the Lights On” chronicles an often intense decade-long relationship between a documentary filmmaker (Thure Lindhardt) and an initially closeted lawyer (Zachary Booth).

The movie would seem to represent a return for Sachs to the intimate and highly personal subject matter of “Forty Shades of Blue.” The director’s most recent feature was 2007’s “Married Life,” a $12-million period adaptation of a suspense novel by John Bingham that starred Pierce Brosnan, Rachel McAdams, Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson.

Sachs grew up in Memphis, but has lived for most of his adult life in New York, where “Keep the Lights On” was shot — on film (Super 16), rather than on digital video, which distinguishes it from most current independent productions. The 16-millimeter format also was used for “Forty Shades of Blue.”

Memphians Adam Hohenberg (also a producer of “Forty Shades of Blue”) and Iddo Patt are among the producers of “Keep the Lights On.” The original script is credited to Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias.

For Memphis, 2005 was an especially good year at Sundance. The same night Sachs won the Grand Jury Prize, Craig Brewer won the Audience Award for Drama for “Hustle & Flow,” which also earned the Excellence in Cinematography Award for drama for Amy Vincent.

— John Beifuss: 529-2394

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