2018 Sundance Docs in Focus: THE LAST RACE

Michael Dweck explores a once-thriving but now vanishing subculture of stock car racing in Long Island.

Festival Section: US Documentary Competition

Some Background:

Director/Producer: Michael Dweck

This marks the feature directorial debut of the visual artist, known for his photographic projects centered on communities and locales, such as THE END: MONTAUK, NY, about the surfing subculture in a traditional fishing village at the end of his native Long Island; and HABANA LIBRE, a privileged look at the secret lives of Cuba’s underground intelligentsia.

Producer: Gregory Kershaw

This is Kershaw’s first Sundance credit. He has a background working for Oscar-nominated filmmaker Geoffrey O’Connor (AT THE EDGE OF CONQUEST), who shares an interest in documenting subcultures, and as a cinematographer, a role he also plays for this project.

Executive Producer: Michael L Dweck

This is also the first Sundance credit for Dweck, a former exec at Goldman Sachs and avid photography collector.

Co-Executive Producers: Howard Schultz and Sheri Schultz

Howard Schultz is the executive chairman and former CEO of Starbucks. His wife Sheri and he cofounded the Schultz Family Foundation to combat the inequality of opportunity, supporting innovative programs to remove barriers to success. This is the couple’s first project at Sundance.

Co-Executive Producer: Cecilia Luppi

Luppi, who is also Dweck’s wife, serves as the studio director and handles business development for Michael Dweck Studio. This is also her first film credit.

Editor: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen

This is Bengtsen’s first Sundance project. Among her past editing credits is the Oscar-nominated THE ACT OF KILLING.

Why You Should Watch:
Dweck pairs an experiential immersion into the subculture of stock car racing with a broader contextualization of the changing fortunes and interests of the local area, using sound and camerawork to deftly balance both a sense of gravitas and an easy familiarity to his portrait.