…Another Sundance doc is also a wonderful portrait of an unexpected lifetime. Steve James, who directed “Hoop Dreams,” is here with “Reel Paradise,” the story of a New Yorker named John Pierson, who distributed and represented the films of Spike Lee, Kevin Smith and many other indie directors, and hosted “Split Screen,” an IFC program on independent films.

He grew tired of doing the same job day after day, he said, and decided to move with his wife, Georgia, teenage daughter Janet and middle-school son Wyatt to — well, to Taveuni, one of the smaller and more obscure of the Fiji Islands. There they would reopen the local movie theater and show movies — mostly free — for a year.

Steve James joined the Pierson family for the last month of their year to shoot this film. You might wonder if there is much of a film to shoot: Movie nut goes tropical, shows Buster Keaton, “Matrix” and “Jackass” to cheering local audiences. But James has a knack, a gift or a curse of turning up when dramatic things are happening. The closing scenes of “Hoop Dreams” outrival fiction, for example.

Here, what happens is such intriguing human drama that we realize: This is what reality TV could be like if it had a brain and a soul. Pierson’s experiment in Fiji is a great success, despite travails with unpredictable projectionists. The theater is jammed with audiences who scream with delight more or less nonstop through everything, which is why Buster Keaton is so popular: With a silent film, you don’t need to hear the dialogue. He also shows “Apocalypse Now,” over the objections of Wyatt, an uncommonly smart and realistic kid who predicts no one will come, and observes that “most indie films are boring.”

Meanwhile, Janet has become best friends with Miriama, a girl her age, and goes through a period of wanting to stay out later than her mother thinks is wise. It’s the usual teenage rebellion stuff, made simpler because her Fijian friends are good kids. But then there are two thefts, including John and Georgia’s laptop computers, and suspicion descends — not on Miriama, but in general. It feels like betrayal.

Still, the family loves their decision to spend a year on the other side of the world, and Wyatt observes that in New York, he might have five kids in his house in a week, but in Fiji, he never had less than five friends in the house at any given time. The movie is about families, cultural differences, ideas of raising children — and about movies. If I had seen “Jackass” in John Pierson’s theater with those 300 uproariously happy kids, I might have liked it. I certainly would have understood it better.

The 21st [February] is out, because the theater wants their screen on the long President’s Day Weekend. It’s a bummer, but there it is. They were also
giving us a hard time about the 28th (or any Monday, really), and were suggesting March 1. But that’s a Tuesday, and I think a Monday would be better.

So, in an effort to give everyone more time (and maybe secure ourselves a Monday, so that if anyone’s coming in from out of town, they can make their trip
a long weekend), we’re now looking at later in March – perhaps the 21st or the 28th.

More news when we get it.

No one knows what to expect from the Sundance Film Festival, least of all Chicago-based filmmaker Steve James, whose career was launched when the Utah-based event embraced his 1994 documentary “Hoop Dreams.”

Now James is returning to the festival, which kicks off Thursday, with a documentary that’s existing in a strange state known as Miramax limbo. Miramax, the alpha distributor that long dominated the indie-film scene, has been embroiled in contentious contract negotiations with parent company Disney, and all signs point to an imminent divorce, with Disney keeping the Miramax name and film library and Miramax co-founders Harry and Bob Weinstein raising money to start another company elsewhere.

“Reel Paradise,” James’ nuanced, deceptively moving documentary about former indie film rep/IFC TV show host John Pierson’s moving his family to Fiji so he could run a movie theater for a year, was underwritten by Kevin Smith’s production company View Askew, which in turn is funded by Miramax. The understanding was that Miramax eventually would distribute the film, but with the company having squeezed its release schedule down to a trickle, James is seeking a new distributor at Sundance.

The situation is amicable. Miramax even is having its publicity team at Sundance work the film, which has its first screening Saturday.

“It’s a strange situation because they’ve been extremely supportive in many ways, but they’re not going to be distributing it,” James said.

If that dynamic sounds confusing, welcome to Miramax’s world. Although the distributor hasn’t been a dominant player at Sundance for a couple of years, Miramax always manages to move to the center of discussion as the festival approaches.

Last year the talk was all about author Peter Biskind’s brutal portrayal of Harvey Weinstein in “Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film.” This year the big question is what, if any, role Miramax will play at the festival.

Given the company’s uncertain future, many in the industry assumed Miramax might be sitting this one out, but earlier this month Dimension, Miramax’s genre-film division, snatched up the Australian horror film “Wolf Creek” before its Sundance debut. This big buy (for a reported $3.5 million, though you never can trust such numbers) sent a signal to fellow distributors and film sellers: Miramax remains in the game.

“We are tracking projects,” Miramax spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said. “We are always interested in quality independent films. We’ll have an active presence at Sundance.”

Lions Gate President Tom Ortenberg said he takes Miramax at its word. “If they’re saying there going to be a major presence, I’m assuming they’re going to be a major presence,” he said.

Fate of films unknown

No one knows (or is saying) whether any Miramax-acquired films would ultimately belong to Disney — as by definition they would at this point — or would be negotiated to travel with the Weinsteins to a spinoff company.

But even with Miramax’s unresolved status, the indie-film landscape has changed. “A few years ago we weren’t the major presence that we are now,” Ortenberg said of Lions Gate. “Focus didn’t exist, and Fox Searchlight was just starting.”

Add to the mix the 2-year-old Warner Independent Pictures, the trying-to-rebound Paramount Classics and Newmarket Films (which, despite some recent misfires, should remain flush with “The Passion of the Christ” cash), and Sundance 2005 could be particularly lively on the business side.

“The acquisitions market is robust,” said filmmakers’ representative John Sloss, who is selling 14 titles at Sundance, including “Reel Paradise.”

…

Then there’s “Reel Paradise,” which paints a complex portrait of family dynamics as well as the ambiguous relationship between a well-meaning white American and the impoverished Fiji natives treated to a year’s worth of free movies. It’s both heartwarming and a bit disturbing to see Fijian kids delighting in the antics of “Bringing Down the House” and “Jackass.”

Pierson — whose 1995 book “Spike, Mike, Slackers, and Dykes” chronicled his experiences selling such festival films as “She’s Gotta Have It,” “Roger and Me,” “Slacker” and “Go Fish” — now finds himself on the other side of the table but said he’s not too nervous.

“My No. 1 goal is not to get tarred and feathered,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say it’s a complicated portrait of me. No. 2, I want my kids to have a great experience. We’re pretty exposed here, so I hope that doesn’t turn out to be a bad choice.

“In terms of the business of the film, I hope that people get excited by the story and really want to think about it, write about it, talk about it. That’s what the film needs to push it over the top.”

But, he added, the movie doesn’t need to become another “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

“It’s water seeking its own level,” Pierson said. “There’s no big pressure to get a mega deal. It would be great for it to get theatrical distribution. If it winds up on one of the more substantial cable networks, we’ll be happy with that too.”

The eclectic pair, well known as on-screen personas Jay and Silent Bob, will make their Canadian television debuts on Monday, Jan. 31 at 8:30 p.m. ET followed by Monday, Feb. 7 and the season finale on Monday, Feb. 14, also at 8:30 p.m. ET on CTV. World-renowned singer/songwriter and Smith friend, Alanis Morissette, will join the two in a cameo appearance for the Feb. 7 episode.

After nearly two decades and public endorsement of the franchise, Smith is now able to fulfill his self-proclaimed longtime fantasy of starring on the show, opposite his favourite Degrassi leading lady, Caitlin Ryan, played by Stacie Mistysyn.

“I got to make out with Caitlin Ryan…for hours” said Smith. “It was pretty hot. Just take after take…I essentially got to play kind of a leading man, you know – which barely happens to me in the real world, let alone films. Usually I wind up kissing a f*$#ing monkey or something”.

In the much-anticipated three-episode story arc, Smith and Mewes find themselves in Canada, researching a Jay and Silent Bob sequel called Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?. The pair stumbles into the surreal, but very real-life world of Degrassi Community School, and decide to shoot the film at the school, using Degrassi students as extras in the film. Also starring in the fictional film is Alanis Morissette, who in actuality has played God in two of Smith’s previous projects.

While working on the movie, Smith meets Caitlin Ryan (Mistysyn) and things get very interesting. Ever the opportunist, Smith pursues Caitlin, and in turn threatens her relationship with Joey (Pat Mastroianni). All the while as Degrassi hurtles to its season finale, life at school continues to be interesting for it’s students. Craig (Jake Epstein) continues to struggle with manic-depression as he deals with the impending summer apart from Ashley (Melissa McIntyre), and the catfight continues between the very competitive Paige (Lauren Collins) and Manny (Cassie Steele).

For those of you who missed out on Kevin’s Q&A appearance last year or who want to see him again – here’s your chance! Kevin will be appearing at The Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus on March 7th, 2005 at 7:00pm for another hilarious Q&A. Tickets are £30.00 each and can only be obtained at our website.

For those of you who have always wanted to be immortalized on DVD, here is your chance! The ‘An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder’ crew will be there to record this Q&A! So get your questions ready and head here to but tickets:

http://www.viewaskew.com/news/uk