Editor’s Note: Our new writer Kristen will be covering Sundance 2010 this year. Look for reviews and interviews in the coming days!
On Friday, January 22, actor/director Adrian Grenier will premiere his new documentary Teenage Paparazzo at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
The documentary examines the relationship between celebrity and society, with a style that combines both personal encounters and cultural commentary. When 13-year-old paparazzo Austin Visschedyk takes a photo of Grenier, the celebrity surprises him by stepping behind the lens himself. The relationship that develops between the two is a mentoring one, as Grenier offers guidance to this young teenager who is obsessed with the Hollywood lifestyle.
Through their mutual exploitation, questions are raised about the allure of Hollywood, and society’s invested interest with star lifestyles. Teenage Paparazzo charts this global cultural phenomenon of celebrity obsession and the adolescent desire for fame. The film has an impressive star line-up, including Alec Baldwin, Lindsay Lohan, Drew Barrymore, Kevin Connolly, Eva Longoria Parker, Paris Hilton and Whoopi Goldberg.
Grenier, best known for playing Vincent Chase in the HBO series Entourage, is no stranger to documentary film. In 2002, Grenier made his directorial debut with the doc Shot in the Dark, which chronicled his search for his father, with whom he was eventually reunited. The documentary premiered on HBO in 2007.
In addition to premiering at Sundance’s Spotlight section, Teenage Paparazzo will also be showing within the festival’s new Sundance USA program, which will take place on January 28th. This section of the festival involves the dispatching of 8 filmmakers and their films from Park City to eight other cities across the country. In these other locations, filmmakers will screen and discuss their direct-from-festival films with audiences.
Following the Teenage Paprazzo world premiere, both Grenier and his film will travel to Los Angeles, where the film will screen at the Downtown Independent Theater. Following this screening, Grenier and the film will return to Park City for additional screenings.
What elements of celebrity-life and the public fascination with it would you like to see explored in this film?