Yep, it’s that time of year again: The Sundance Film Festival! SAGindie returns to Park City on January 18 for another week of films, events, and complaining about snow (follow us on Twitter and Instagram to get photographic proof that we are there and keeping warm).
But in anticipation of this year’s fest, our staff has listed the movies we are most excited for at Sundance ’18!
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Darrien’s Picks:
This Sundance, I’m excited to see…
MONSTERS AND MEN – Reinaldo Green always has something interesting to say.
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Written and Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. This interwoven narrative explores the aftermath of a police killing of a black man. The film is told through the eyes of the bystander who filmed the act, an African-American police officer and a high school baseball phenom inspired to take a stand.)
DAMSEL – The Zellners’ take on the Western? I’m there for that.
(Premieres, Written and Directed by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner. Samuel Alabaster, an affluent pioneer, ventures across the American Frontier to marry the love of his life, Penelope. As Samuel, a drunkard named Parson Henry and a miniature horse called Butterscotch traverse the Wild West, their once-simple journey grows treacherous, blurring the lines between hero, villain, and damsel.)
THE HAPPY PRINCE – Because I love Oscar Wilde.
(Premieres, Written and Directed by Rupert Everett. The last days of Oscar Wilde — and the ghosts haunting them — are brought to vivid life. His body ailing, Wilde lives in exile, surviving on the flamboyant irony and brilliant wit that defined him as the transience of lust is laid bare and the true riches of love are revealed.)
NIGHT COMES ON – I can’t wait to see Jordana Spiro shine as a director.
(NEXT, Directed by Jordana Spiro. Angel LaMere is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10 year- old sister that could destroy their future.)
Eliza’s Picks:
NEVER GOIN’ BACK
(Midnight, Written and Directed by Augustine Frizzell. Jessie and Angela, high school dropout BFFs, are taking a week off to chill at the beach. Too bad their house got robbed, rent’s due, they’re about to get fired and they’re broke. Now they’ve gotta avoid eviction, stay out of jail and get to the beach, no matter what!!!)
MADELINE’S MADELINE
(NEXT, Written and Directed by Josephine Decker. Madeline got the part! She’s going to play the lead in a theater piece! Except the lead wears sweatpants like Madeline’s. And has a cat like Madeline’s. And is holding a steaming hot iron next to her mother’s face – like Madeline is.)
MONSTERS AND MEN
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Written and Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. This interwoven narrative explores the aftermath of a police killing of a black man. The film is told through the eyes of the bystander who filmed the act, an African-American police officer and a high school baseball phenom inspired to take a stand.)
DEAD PIGS
(World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Written and Directed by Cathy Yan. A bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai, China. Based on true events.)
SEARCH
(NEXT, Directed by Aneesh Chaganty. After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens.)
NANCY
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Written and Directed by Christina Choe. Blurring lines between fact and fiction, Nancy becomes increasingly convinced she was kidnapped as a child. When she meets a couple whose daughter went missing thirty years ago, reasonable doubts give way to willful belief – and the power of emotion threatens to overcome all rationality.)
TYREL
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Written and Directed by Sebastián Silva. Tyler spirals out of control when he realizes he’s the only black person attending a birthday weekend party in a secluded cabin.)
ASSASSINATION NATION
(Midnight, Written and Directed by Sam Levinson. This is a one-thousand-percent true story about how the quiet, all-American town of Salem, absolutely lost its mind.)
MIDNIGHT SHORTS PROGRAM
(Great Choice, Deer Boy, Hair Wolf, Thursday Night, Black, Ultraviolet, The Blazing World, The Shivering Truth)
Colin’s Picks:
A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE – This will be premiering at Sundance, and I am excited to see it. I will not, however, be seeing it at Sundance, because it premieres on Netflix the week we get back and I’m lazy, especially when traversing snow.
(Premieres, Directed by David Wain. The story of comedy wunderkind Doug Kenney, who co-created the National Lampoon, Caddyshack, and Animal House. Kenney was at the center of the 70’s comedy counter-culture which gave birth to Saturday Night Live and a whole generation’s way of looking at the world.)
THE LONG DUMB ROAD – This is also premiereing at Sundance and I am excited to see it, but will be unable to see it because it’s not screening until after we leave, which is a bummer.
(Premieres, Directed by Hannah Fidell. Two very different men at personal crossroads meet serendipitously and take an unpredictable journey through the American Southwest)
LIZZIE – This stars Kristen Stewart as Lizzie Borden and I am excited to see Kristen Stewart murder her parents with an axe. Allegedly.
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Craig William Macneill. Based on the 1892 murder of Lizzie Borden’s family in Fall River, Massachusetts, this tense psychological thriller lays bare the legend of Lizzie Borden to reveal the much more complex, poignant, and truly terrifying woman within — and her intimate bond with the family’s young Irish housemaid, Bridget Sullivan.)
SUMMER OF ’84 – ’80s kids on an adventure? So hot right now.
(Midnight, Directed by François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell. Summer, 1984: a perfect time to be a carefree 15-year-old. But when neighborhood conspiracy theorist Davey Armstrong begins to suspect his police officer neighbor might be the serial killer all over the local news, he and his three best friends begin an investigation that soon turns dangerous.)
WE THE ANIMALS – I am one of three brothers, so this one might strike a chord.
(NEXT, Directed by Jeremiah Zagar. Us three, us brothers, us kings. Manny, Joel, and Jonah tear their way through childhood and push against the volatile love of their parents. As Manny and Joel grow into versions of their father, and Ma dreams of escape, Jonah, the youngest, embraces an imagined world all his own.)
THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS – Hey, speaking of three brothers!
(U.S. Documentary Competition, Directed by Tim Wardle. New York, 1980: Three complete strangers accidentally discover that they’re identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds’ joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but it also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives — and could transform our understanding of human nature forever)
Shefali’s Picks:
My first Sundance picks. How exciting!
First up…
TYREL – (I think Darrien, Eliza, Colin and I are all planning to see this!) I have heard great things about Sebastian Silva’s work and that this is actually his sixth time at Sundance — so I see they have trouble keeping him away!
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Written and Directed by Sebastián Silva. Tyler spirals out of control when he realizes he’s the only black person attending a birthday weekend party in a secluded cabin.)
There is also a good amount of films directed by women this year that I’m excited about including…
DEAD PIGS…
(World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Written and Directed by Cathy Yan. A bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai, China. Based on true events.)
A WOMAN CAPTURED…
(World Cinema Documentary, Directed by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter. A European woman has been kept by a family as a domestic slave for 10 years — one of over 45 million victims of modern-day slavery. Drawing courage from the lmmaker’s presence, she decides to escape the unbearable oppression and become a free person.)
NEVER GOIN’ BACK…
(Midnight, Written and Directed by Augustine Frizzell. Jessie and Angela, high school dropout BFFs, are taking a week off to chill at the beach. Too bad their house got robbed, rent’s due, they’re about to get fired and they’re broke. Now they’ve gotta avoid eviction, stay out of jail and get to the beach, no matter what!!!)
MADELINE’S MADELINE…
(NEXT, Written and Directed by Josephine Decker. Madeline got the part! She’s going to play the lead in a theater piece! Except the lead wears sweatpants like Madeline’s. And has a cat like Madeline’s. And is holding a steaming hot iron next to her mother’s face – like Madeline is.)
…And so many more!
SEARCH – From the NEXT category, looks interesting.
(NEXT, Directed by Aneesh Chaganty. After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens.)
And I also hope to get to one or two of the INDIE EPISODIC programs as it looks like this category has expanded from previous years.
WILL WE SEE YOU AT SUNDANCE ’18? WHAT’S ON YOUR PARK CITY TO-DO LIST?
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