PARK CITY, Utah – The Sundance Film Festival catalogue can be overwhelming to navigate, with around 90 feature films playing across 11 days.
This year the Robert Redford-founded independent film festival has something for everyone: Comedies, dramas, horrors, documentaries, the intriguingly undefinable (there’s a movie about cabbage smuggling called “Bubble & Squeak” and one in which a woman becomes a chair and everyone likes her better that way called “By Design”).
Here are a few of the films we’re looking forward to most:
“Atropia”
This is a film that the producers would rather audiences experience blind, but the brief synopsis is that Alia Shawkat plays an aspiring actress in a military role-playing facility who falls for a soldier playing an insurgent. Luca Guadagnino produced the film, written and directed by Hailey Gates. It also stars Callum Turner and Chloë Sevigny. When asked how she likes to describe the film, Gates told The Associated Press that, “Sometimes I describe it as a military industrial complex romantic comedy.”
“Bunnylovr”
This film delves into the life of a Chinese-American “cam girl,” kind of a virtual sex worker, who is navigating a toxic relationship with a client while attempting to repair her relationship with her dying father. Katarina Zhu wrote, directed and stars in the film, alongside Rachel Sennott.
“2000 Meters to Andriivka”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Mstyslav Chernov took audiences into the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the Oscar-winning “20 Days in Mariupol” and is back with another dispatch from the ongoing war. In “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a joint production between the AP and Frontline, Chernov turns his lens to Ukrainian soldiers attempting to traverse one mile of forest to reclaim the occupied village Andriivka. “It’s a beautiful, horrifying portrait of the futility of war,” said Kim Yutani, the festival’s director of programming.
“Love, Brooklyn”
Steven Soderbergh produced this film from first time filmmaker Rachael Abigail Holder about three Brooklynites navigating relationships and a changing city. André Holland stars alongside Nicole Beharie and DeWanda Wise.
“The Zodiac Killer Project”
This is a documentary about a failed attempt to make documentary about the Zodiac Killer, from filmmaker Charlie Shackleton. “There aren’t many cases as puzzling as that of the Zodiac Killer, despite half a century of clues compiled in countless true crime TV shows, podcasts and books,” Shackelton wrote. He walks the viewer through what could have been in this film that fell apart in this meta commentary on the ubiquitous true crime genre.
“Train Dreams”
Clint Bentley, who co-wrote “Sing Sing,” directs this adaptation of a Denis Johnson story about a day laborer working the railroads in the early 20th century, starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones. In his director’s statement, Bentley said, “It’s about the people left behind by modernization. It’s about the toll industrialization takes on the natural world. It’s about the possibilities love can open up in our lives and about the hope that can blossom in the aftermath of grief.”
“Seeds”
Black generational farmers in rural Georgia are the subject of this black-and-white documentary from first time filmmaker Brittany Shayne. The film shines a spotlight on their struggle to maintain their land amid discriminatory government policies.
“The Ugly Stepsister”
This Norwegian film about a fairy tale kingdom and stepsisters competing to be the most beautiful for the prince has been described, intriguingly, as “The Substance” meets “Bridgerton.” Writer and director Emilie Blichfeldt could be poised to join Coralie Fargeat and Julia Ducournau as filmmakers reinventing the body horror genre from a female gaze.
“The Perfect Neighbor”
A neighborhood dispute in Florida turns deadly in this inventive film from Geeta Gandbhir, constructed largely with police bodycam footage, which examines the state’s “stand your ground laws.”
“Sorry, Baby”
Barry Jenkins produced this film from writer-director-star Eva Victor, which is reason enough to take note. “There are scenes in this film that I’ve never seen before,” Yutani said. “I was struck by this film because of the way that this filmmaker chooses to tell the story and framing her character’s trauma through a very innovative way of storytelling. It was a real revelation to see.”
“SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)”
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won an Oscar for his portrait of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in “Summer of Soul,” and now he’s back and focused on one of the performers that day: Sly Stone. This new film grapples with the question of the burden of Black genius (also its title) as it tells the story of his rise, his cultural influence and his struggles with drugs. Elegance Bratton is also debuting an accidental companion doc, “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House.”
Also of note among music-themed documentaries: Amy Berg’s “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley”; Kevin MacDonald’s “One to One: John & Yoko,” a Venice film that’s getting a spotlight showing at Sundance; Isabel Castro’s “Selena y Los Dinos” about Selena Quintanilla.
“Ricky”
Filmmaker Rashad Frett looks at life after incarceration through the character Ricky (Stephan James), who was locked up in his teens and is now 30-years-old trying to rebuild his life. “It’s an incredibly moving story about family and how he’s reintegrating into society and just the real struggles that he is going through in that process,” Yutani said.
“Jimpa”
Olivia Colman and John Lithgow play father and daughter in this LGBTQ-themed film from Sophie Hyde (the filmmaker behind “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” ). It revolves around a visit to Amsterdam with her non-binary teenager to stay with Lithgow’s character, who is gay. “The way that these two truly gifted actors are able to portray the love and the tension, you really trust that they’re depicting characters who have a long complex life together,” festival director Eugene Hernandez said.
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