The indie thriller Black Rock tells the story of three young women – Sarah (Kate Bosworth), Abby (Katie Aselton, who also directed the film from a script by her husband, Mark Duplass) and Lou (Lake Bell) – who decide to renew their bond by revisiting a moment from their childhood and returning to an empty island off the coast of Maine.  Once there, they realize they are not alone when they encounter three recently returned servicemen who have come to the island to hunt, and things quickly get out of hand, leaving the women to fight for their lives.

At the film’s press day, actress/director Katie Aselton and actress Lake Bell talked about surviving the challenging shoot, the crazy weather, being game for anything, having no trailers or bathrooms on set, what they did to unwind, and wanting to do lighter fare once the film was finished.  Bell also spoke about the experience of directing her own first full-length feature In a World….  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

Ryan Coogler‘s Fruitvale made audiences at this year’s Sundance Film Festival weep with the true story of Oscar Grant, who was murdered by BART Station police in 2009.  At last night’s awards ceremony, Coogler’s debut feature was awarded with both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, which made it the first film to win in both categories since 2009′s Precious.  The Weinstein Company picked up the movie for $2 million after a heated bidding war, and I would expect a release sometime later this year.  Click here for my review.

Other winners included This Is Martin Bonner for “Best of NEXT” (voters must have connected with a movie where nothing happens), best screenwriting for Lake Bell for In a World… (click here for my review), and Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley for their tremendous performances in The Spectacular Now.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

I usually like movies that have some sense of structure and pacing.  If they don’t have these qualities, then I like these films to be truly daring and outside-the-box.  Lake Bell‘s In a World… is a rambling mess of a nice little comedy with too many characters, and has almost no sense of pacing or flow.  But somehow, it’s still a charming flick.  Bell gives a fun lead performance, and she surrounds herself with a likable cast.  Even the subtext is cutesy.  In a World… should be a movie that I found a slog, but somehow, Bell’s film won me over despite its glaring flaws.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival recently announced a couple batches of films that will screen at the Fest in January, and today we’ve got some first images and synopses for a few films that will be playing in competition as part of the U.S. Dramatic lineup.  Briefly

• Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes – Written and directed by Francesca Gregorini, starring Kaya Scodelario, Jessica Biel, Alfred Molina, Frances O’Connor, Jimmi Simpson, and Aneurin Barnard.
• Fruitvale – Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, starring Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O’Reilly, Kevin Durand, and Chad Michael Murray.
• In a World… – Written and directed by Lake Bell, starring Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, and Fred Melamed.
• May in the Summer – Written and directed by Cherien Dabis, starring Dabis, Hiam Abbass, Bill Pullman, Alia Shawkat, Nadine Malouf, and Alexander Siddig.

Hit the jump for the images and synopses.  The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17 – 27.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival is a little under two months away, and the first exciting lineups of films have been announced.  Today the lineups for U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions were unveiled, as well as the lineup for the out-of-competitions NEXT section.  A few highlights include the Daniel Radcliffe-fronted Kill Your Darlings, the outlaw pic Ain’t Them Bodies Saints with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, the strong ensemble The Spectacular Now, Primer director Shane Carruth’s new film Upstream Color, and many, many more.

Hit the jump to check out the full lineups, and be sure to check back here on Collider in January for our in-depth coverage from the festival including reviews and interviews.  The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17 – 27.