Slamdance films can be hard to catch. Miss one of a few film festival screenings, and you might be out of luck. But the Park City Film Series is bringing a few back. The organization will continue its Best of Slamdance Film Series this week and Dec. 8, with screenings of "Commune" and "In a Nutshell," respectively. "Commune" tells the story of a group of artists and activists who move to a ranch in the Californian wilderness in 1968, trying to live by the slogan, "free land for free people." "It was a big hit at Slamdance last year," said Frank Normile, the executive director of the Park City Film Series. Normile also noted that the film offers a good example the quality some of the Slamdance movies. "I’m happy to be, again, showing the Best of Slamdance," said Frank Normile, the executive director of the Park City Film Series. In addition to the Slamdance films, the schedule will also include a screening of "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster," which is part of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Series, on Dec. 1. Both the Sundance and Slamdance film series are free. "The free films are working out very well for us," said Normile, "and hopefully the R.A.P. (Restaurants Arts and Parks) Tax people agree." The R.A.P. Tax provides a significant source of funding for the relatively low-budget film series. Normile also noted the 2005 Global Lens film series, which visited the Park City Film Series screen in September. "I was happy with Global Lens," he said. "The numbers were all right." The films, said Normile, offered some of the most interesting views of the Third World he had seen perspectives from within the cultures. The newest Park City Film Series calendar started with "The Constant Gardner" last weekend and continues this weekend with "Broken Flowers," a Jim Jarmusch film about a man, played by Bill Murray, who launches a trip to visit each of his past loves in search of a lost son. "[It’s] a very powerful story of a man going back into his past loves to see if he had fathered a child," said Normile. Nov. 18-20, the 2005 Sundance Film Festival film "Junebug," will screen, chronicling an intellectual Chicago art dealer’s trip to rural North Carolina to see her husband’s family. That film will be followed by another 2005 Sundance Film Festival work, "Rize." "It’s very, very electric, almost," said Normile. The movie, he said, offers a different perspective of a different world, showing a group of urban dancers in chronically-depressed Southwest Los Angeles. "You see the gang members take on this ferocious rivalry of dance," Normile said. The film, he said, illustrates the almost-complete separation between the mostly-black areas of Los Angeles and the mostly-white areas of the city, and the reality of life in the black areas of the city, from which many of the dancers come. "I think this film gets at that," Normile noted. "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster," the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Series film, plays Dec. 1 and documents a stretch of time in the lives of the members of the iconic rock band, Metallica. The following weekend, a Chinese film, "Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress" will play. Based on a book of the same name, the film is a love story set in the mountains of China telling the story of a man’s "reeducation" by the Chinese government. Normile said the film was significant for a few reasons. "The novelist somehow got to direct the version of the film in China," he said. The story, he noted, is a partially autobiographical account of director and author’s Dai Sijie’s experiences. According to Normile, the Park City Library will put together a display with an English translation of the book and a the books featured in the film. The Best of Slamdance Film "In a Nutshell" will play next in the lineup. "It’s a very, very powerful story and a great example of the kind of story Slamdance brings to our community when it’s here," said Normile. The documentary follows the life of "Nut Lady" Elizabeth Yegsa Tashjian, who, while once a regular on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, is, at the time of the film, a ward of the state of Connecticut, confined to a nursing home against her will. The film, noted Normile, speaks to how society treats the eccentric. "Beautiful Country" will continue the month for the film series, playing Dec. 9-11. Like the 2005 Global Lens films, the work tells the international story of a Vietnamese boy with a GI father who must travel from his native country to the U.S., and while Nick Nolte and Tim Roth star in the film, Normile said it isn’t a typical movie. "It’s not really an American Hollywood film," he said. Rather, shot by a Swedish director in mostly Vietnamese (with English subtitles) the film tells its story from the perspective of one foreign to the United States. To close out the film series’ December films, "The Memory of a Killer" will screen. "This is the story of a hired assassin who is getting on in years and suffering from Alzheimer’s," said Normile. While "The Memory of a Killer," is an action film a genre the film series traditionally avoids according to Normile, the film was just too good to ignore. The movie is as much about Alzheimer’s, he said, as it is about assassins. After "The Memory of a Killer" closes on Dec. 18, the film series will go dark for Christmas and New Year’s weekends, and return for two weeks in January before the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. But on the current calendar, Normile said there should be plenty to watch. "I’m real happy with this lineup," he said, "I think it’s one of the best lineups I’ve put together." The Park City Film Series regular screenings are $5 for students and seniors and $6 for all others. 10-punch passes are available for $45. For a complete schedule or more information, visit www.parkcityfilmseries.com.

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Take a walk through the Badami Gallery in the Kimball Art Center, and you’ll likely notice a new piece of artwork. Its surface shines, glossy, almost luminescent green, grooved with long, sweeping cuts and accented with round edges on one side while rutted with angular hollows on another. Six cast-bronze cinderblocks support its weight.

The work, named "Calyx," is a jade sculpture by Colorado Springs-based artist Hellen Eberhardie-Heaven and it is the newest piece in the Kimball’s permanent collection. The stone appeared at the art center on Tuesday and made its first official public appearance on Thursday.

"I’ve been working on this since the summer," said Eberhardie-Heaven. Primarily a stone-sculptor, Eberhardie-Heaven specializes in installation pieces. One of her works, "Flamebird" can be seen at the Swaner Nature Preserve, and another sculpture, "Snow Spirit," is displayed on the National Ability Center campus. "Flamebird" is a golden, bird-like figure perched on a bronze post, and "Snow Spirit" is a ghost-like marble woman carved from a block of Colorado Yule Marble. On the advice of a friend, Eberhardie-Heaven found the stone for "Calyx" in southern British Columbia and drove the block, which weighs 350 pounds (carved), back to Colorado Springs. Since she had never worked with jade before, Eberhardie-Heaven talked to some friends for some advice about the stone. There, she learned that the work might be a bit more difficult than she had anticipated. Because she was pregnant at the time and didn’t want to risk hurting her baby, she decided to take a different tack.

So created the work as one would compose a bronze sculpture, carving it from plaster. From there, she sent it to China, along with the stone, where a company that specialized in jade-carving replicated the plaster work. Eberhardie-Heaven said the procedure was a new one for her. "I’ve never had anyone carve my stone for me," she noted. But the method worked, and now the results are on display at the Kimball. The artist said the work was one of her less-representational pieces. "I’d been making sort of semi-figurative [pieces] for a while, and I started thinking about which pieces I liked most," she said

Her thoughts took her back to a large piece, "Tantric Heart," which she made for the International Collection of Women’s Art. A non-figurative piece made of marble and yew wood and looking like a giant, twisted flower, Eberhardie-Heaven said the piece still intrigued her.

"That was a point I hadn’t visited long enough," she said. So she set out down that path again. She said she designed "Calyx" to be a feminine sculpture. It was made to have a feeling of growth and life.

"This piece was very internal," she said. "It’s called ‘Calyx’ because it reminds me of the reproductive parts of a plant." With its angular bronze base, the sculpture does look like some sort of plant, the type one might imagine in a J.R. Tolkien book. But the blocks also have another meaning. They’re the same type of surface on which sculptors place the stones they carve.

"It’s a reference to the practical carving of it," Eberhardie-Heaven said. Kimball visitors can find the work just to the left of the stairs that lead down to the Badami Gallery, sitting about waist-high on the cinder blocks. One can walk around the piece to view it, and Eberhardie-Heaven said the it was made to be touched, so guests should feel free to trace the notches and feel the smooth surfaces. "It’s an articulation of my physical interpretation of things," said Eberhardie-Heaven. And now, it is available for the public to explore.

For more information about the Kimball Art Center, visit www.kimball-art.org or call 649-8882.

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"It’s a rite of passage for the ski season," she said, "a Warren Miller film."

Shot along Fantasy Ridge, off Ninety-Nine Ninety, among other places, Eldridge noted that last year’s snow allowed for some great scenes. "It’s phenomenal when it comes together," Eldridge said. "It’s some of the best footage I’ve ever seen at the resort& We have our A-list athletes arcing turns in the powder on the big screen."

Among the area skiers showcased in the segment is Parkite Jeremy Nobis and Salt Lake City residents Josh Madsen and Jamie Parks. "We skied a lot of pow," Madsen said. In the segment, the group takes its turn ripping in and out of bounds, sliding through shin-deep powder on some of The Canyons’ wide-open aspens, hucking off cliffs higher up on the hill, and carving big turns on the mountains open slopes. Also in the piece, Nobis talks about growing up living the skiing life near Kimball Junction, while, at the same time, Parks and Madsen hit some kickers in the terrain park. Madsen, a telemark skier, said it was a great opportunity to show off some free-heel tricks. He said he’s excited to show a newer side of the discipline. Telemark in the park is finally starting to grow, he noted.

"I’m really stoked about it," he said, "It’s been a long time coming."

Madsen said he is doing his best to promote the sport and its nascent evolution. Last year was Madsen’s first as a full-time pro, and the Warren Miller film, he noted, is one of his first significant ski-movie roles. "This is kind of really my break-out year," he noted. Madsen said that without many free-heel predecessors, breaking into the pro-skier ranks was tough.

"It definitely took some time to figure out especially being a telemarker to find out how to do the whole professional thing," he said. Now, after taking some tips from Nobis during their time at The Canyons last season, Madsen will be appearing at the movie screenings. "After the Utah shows [of the Warren Miller film] I leave to go out on tour for the next two months," he said, "and after that, I have some trips planned."

But before all of that, he will be at "Higher Ground’s" Park City premier, he said. Speaking about the film, Kim Schneider, who edited the work for Warren Miller Entertainment, said the ski movie is worth watching. "Higher Ground" will be the one of first ski films presented in high-definition. Schneider said the high-definition part of the film could be explained pretty easily.

"It means, like, you’re hanging out of the helicopter yourself," he said. "It’s like you’re seeing it just like the cameraman saw it& You can pretty much feel the cold coming off the screen."

So those who see the film in the theaters, he said, should have a new experience. A 27-year veteran at Warren Miller Entertainment, Schneider talked about a few subtle changes viewers might notice when they watch "Higher Ground."

"We leaned it a little more heavily on the athletes to tell the story," he said. Indeed, the film contains more stories and experiences from its skiers and boarders. The traditional narrative of the film remains, now voiced primarily by pro-mogul skier Jeremy Bloom, although occasionally, Warren Miller himself adds a few words.

"We have too many people who live their winters by the sound of Warren’s voice to totally get rid of him," Schneider said. Ever since his first film, in 1949, Miller’s work has been winter’s harbinger for many, Schneider said, echoing Eldridge. "If you want to go skiing, it just gets you jacked about it," Schneider said. "I don’t care how long ago winter was, when I see the first footage each year, I get excited for winter."

For her part, Eldridge said working with the filmmakers was a worthwhile experience.

"It’s one of my favorite parts of my job here, coordinating the photo shoots," she said. And the payoff, which might be a payoff for all of a resort’s locals, is sweet, she added.

"With all of the planning and shooting, to see it all come to fruition," she said, "is awesome."

Warren Miller Entertainment’s "Higher Ground" will screen at the Eccles Center on Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $17 and are available from ArtTix at (801) 355-ARTS. For more information, visit www.warrenmiller.com.

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