Premiere: Turan catches 'Sleep Dealer'

Some half a dozen Park City police cars were in the Eccles Theatre parking lot on Saturday night, getting ready for an appearance by U2 to promote their “U23D” concert film. But the cinematic excitement was elsewhere, specifically at the nearby Racquet Club Theatre for the premiere of one of the most talked-about films in the dramatic competition, Alex Rivera’s “Sleep Dealer.”

A vivid, visually exciting science-fiction film with a strong sense of social commentary, “Sleep Dealer” managed to create a fully realized future world on a shoestring budget. Director Rivera, who had terrific assistance from cinematographer Lisa Rinzler, said at the screening that his crew went beyond teamwork into “collective delirium and insanity.”

The result was a memorable debut film that offers even greater promise for the future.

— Kenneth Turan

(Photo: In director Alex Rivera's first feature, "Sleep Dealer," a man stumbles on a transmission destined to pave the way to the city of the future, courtesy SleepDealer.com.)