Indie 3D Feature playing at Sundance

"Charlie Victor Romeo", an independent 3D film directed by Robert Berger and Karlyn Michelson, funded through a Kickstarter campaign, will be playing at this year's Sundance film festival in the New Frontier Film category.

From the official website:
One of the most unique and riveting theatrical experiences, CHARLIE VICTOR ROMEO (CVR) is a performance documentary derived entirely from the "Black Box" transcripts of six major real-life airline emergencies. Allowing the audience into the tension-filled cockpits of actual flights in distress, CHARLIE VICTOR ROMEO is a fascinating portrait of the psychology of crisis and a testimony to the ability to live to the last second of life. What is going on up there behind the door in the front of the airplane? Who are these people we trust our lives to, and what do they really do when things go horribly wrong? Over the past 12 years there have been numerous discussions and investigations into how CVR might be brought to a larger audience through another medium. How do we preserve the artistic vision that makes it the dynamic presentation that it is? The power of our production is the intimate communication of the intensity and emotion of these emergencies, communicated between our cast and the audience. How do we take that closeness, that connection, and carry it over to the cinema? Through the use of state-of-the-art 3D Stereoscopic camera technology and the highest quality audio recording and engineering we will bring this groundbreaking and powerful international phenomenon to the big screen allowing moviegoers the same thrilling, devastating and uplifting experience live theater audiences have experienced for years in a way that has never been done before.

3D Feature Film: Hey Krishna

News of an Indian stereoscopic 3D animated movie, "Hey Krishna" (Krishna aur Kans), produced by Reliance Animation, converted by Reliance Media Works and distributed by Reliance BIG Entertainment, recently hit the Internet. It's impossible to judge how good the 3D will be from this 2D trailer, but the impressive 2D animation will hopefully translate to a high quality stereoscopic version.



The film has been dubbed India's first stereoscopic 3D animated film (apparently oblivious to Alpha and Omega).

"Hey Krishna" is scheduled for release August 3rd. It was written by Kamlesh Pandey, directed by Vikram Veturi. It stars Om Puri, Juhi Chawla, Manoj Bajpai, Anupam Kher, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Supriya Pilgaonkar, and A.K. Hangal.  More info can be found on their Facebook page.

Hopefully this Indian film will make it to the US, instead of cheap Disney/Pixar knockoffs like Kiara the Brave, which is now on Netflix and is even worse than it sounds.

Dial M for Murder gets Blu-ray 3D release

Finally, Dial M for Murder will be available on Blu-ray 3D. This marks the first 3D film from the 1950's to be released in this format.

Originally shot in WarnerVision 3Dimension (basically two cameras), the studio had left and right film reels to remaster this from. Despite the common misconception that 1950's films were all red/cyan anaglyph, most were in fact shot with two cameras, projected with two synchronized projectors, and viewed with passive glasses (similar to RealD). It wasn't until the 1980's 3D revival that many 50's films were rereleased as mediocre anaglyphs, because of the expense and lack of equipment/personnel to operate twin projectors.

By the release of Dial M for Murder, 3D was on the way out in favor of CinemaScope (a much cheaper-to-produce way to get people away from their TV's and back in the cinema). Most theaters opted to only show the film in 2D. Since then, the only way to see it was on some very low quality anaglyph copies or a rare dual-projector screening.Finally, emerging filmmakers will be able to study and learn what Hitchcock did with 3D almost 60 years ago, and classic cinema fans will be able to watch the Academy Award-winning Grace Kelly in all her 3D glory. I for one hope this is the start of many Blu-ray releases of vintage stereoscopic films.

Jeff Baker, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Theatrical Catalog, said in the press release: "Given the current trend toward 3D, we're delighted to be releasing this authentic classic 3D. This is not a conversion from 2D to 3D, but an original work, with a big tip of the cap to MPI, that illustrates just how good 3D can be. The Warner library has the largest number of classic 3D titles (15) of any studio and over the years we've been looking to release them, but not until now has the technology been perfected to the point we can do that. We're hoping Dial M for Murder is the first of several classic 3D films to be released, with the long-awaited, much requested "House of Wax" expected next."

Full press release after the break.

Hugo 3D Trailer

Official Site.

3D Film Review: Tangled 3D

(to watch the video in 3D, press play, then select a 3D format from the bottom right menu)

First up in our series of stereoscopic film reviews is Disney's Tangled, a re-imagining of the Rapunzel story. Fresh off the critical praise yet commercial disappointment of Princess and the Frog, Disney visits the fairy tale genre one last time with a picture marketed to both girl and boys alike. Their 50th animated feature is an enjoyable film, but is not without its flaws. Note: spoilers ahoy!