Sundance 2019 will soon be upon us! Next week, the SAGindie staff will once again pack up our bulkiest clothes and head to Park City, Utah, for maximum film-going and minimal oxygen. You can follow our travels during the fest on Twitter and Instagram, but we know you’re most interested in what movies we’re excited to see.
Here are our Sundance 2019 movie picks!
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Darrien’s Picks:
Films I’m looking forward to at Sundance:
CLEMENCY – Not much of a light-hearted subject, but I think it will be powerful.
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Chinonye Chukwu. Years of carrying out executions has taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another death-row inmate, she confronts the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, which ultimately connect her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.)
SWEETHEART – Cuz I love Kiersey Clemons.
(Midnight, Directed by JD Dillard. Jenn has washed ashore on a small tropical island, and it doesn’t take her long to realize she’s completely alone. She must spend her days not only surviving the elements but also fending off the malevolent force that comes out each night.)
LATE NIGHT – Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling? Of course!
(Premieres, Directed by Nisha Ganatra. A legendary late-night talk-show host’s world is turned upside down when she hires her only female staff writer. Originally intended to smooth over diversity concerns, her decision has unexpectedly hilarious consequences as two women separated by culture and generation are united by their love of a biting punch line.)
PREMATURE – Sounds amazing.
(NEXT, Directed by Rasaad Ernesto Green. The summer before she leaves for college, Ayanna meets handsome and mysterious outsider Isaiah; her entire world is turned upside down as she navigates the demanding terrain of young love, against a changing Harlem landscape.)
Eliza’s Picks:
UNTITLED AMAZING JONATHAN DOC
(U.S. Documentary Competition, Directed by Ben Berman. What begins as a documentary following the final tour of a dying magician — “The Amazing Johnathan” — becomes an unexpected and increasingly bizarre journey as the filmmaker struggles to separate truth from illusion.)
HAIL SATAN?
(U.S. Documentary Competition, Directed by Penny Lane. A look at the intersection of religion and activism, tracing the rise of the Satanic Temple — only six years old and already one of the most controversial religious movements in American history. The temple is calling for a Satanic revolution to save this nation’s soul. But are they for real?)
THIS IS NOT BERLIN
(World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Directed by Hari Sama. 1986, Mexico City. Seventeen-year-old Carlos doesn’t fit in anywhere — not in his family nor with the friends he has chosen in school. But everything changes when he is invited to a mythical nightclub, where he discovers the underground nightlife scene: punk, sexual liberty, and drugs.)
SISTER AIMEE
(NEXT, Directed by Samantha Buck & Marie Schlingmann. In 1926, America’s most famous evangelist is a woman. And she’s looking for a way out. Fed up with her own success, she gets swept up in her lover’s daydreams about Mexico and finds herself on a wild road trip toward the border. Based on true events. Mostly made up.)
THE DEATH OF DICK LONG
(NEXT, Directed by Daniel Scheinert. Dick died last night, and Zeke and Earl don’t want anybody finding out how. That’s too bad, though, ’cause news travels fast in small-town Alabama.)
COLD CASE HAMMARSKJÖLD
(Wold Cinema Documentary Competition, Directed by Mads Brügger. Danish director Mads Brügger and Swedish private investigator Göran Björkdahl are trying to solve the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld. As their investigation closes in, they discover a crime far worse than killing the secretary general of the United Nations.)
ALWAYS IN SEASON
(U.S. Documentary Competition, Directed by Jacqueline Olive. When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother’s search for justice and reconciliation begins, as the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.)
VELVET BUZZSAW
(Premieres, Directed by Dan Gilroy. A thriller set in the contemporary-art world of Los Angeles, where big money, artists, and megacollectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce.)
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Hannah Pearl Utt. A long-kept family secret thrusts co-dependent, thirtysomething sisters Rachel and Jackie Gurner into a literal soap opera. A journey that proves that you really can come of age, at any age.)
JUDY & PUNCH
(World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Directed by Mirrah Foulkes. In the anarchic town of Seaside (nowhere near the sea), puppeteers Judy and Punch try to resurrect their marionette show. The show is a hit due to Judy’s superior puppeteering, but Punch’s driving ambition and penchant for whiskey lead to an inevitable tragedy that Judy must avenge.)
SHORTS PROGRAM 1
(Lavender, Fast Horse, Dunya’s Day, Fatherland, Muteum, One Cambodian Family Please for My Pleasure, Feathers)
Colin’s Picks:
WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES – Sounds real fucked up. But maybe really fun? You never know!
(World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Directed by Makoto Nagahisa. Their parents are dead. They should be sad, but they can’t cry. So instead they form a kick-ass band. This is the story of four 13-year-olds in search of their emotions.)
THE NIGHTINGALE – Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to The Babadook!
(Spotlight, Directed by Jennifer Kent. 1825. Clare, a young Irish convictwoman, chases a British officer through the Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way, she enlists the services of Aboriginal tracker Billy, who is marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.)
BIG TIME ADOLESCENCE – Let’s watch Pete Davidson mentor a child!
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Jason Orley. A suburban teenager comes of age under the destructive guidance of his best friend, a charismatic college dropout.)
SUNDOWNERS – I’m a big fan of this filmmaking team. I’m also psyched for the feature it precedes, SISTER AIMEE.
(Shorts, Directed by Lisa Steen. Ali and her father cook, drink, and ignore what’s going on in the next room.)
Shefali’s Picks:
Excited for a mix of different films at Sundance ’19!
First off, I’m excited for a few different South Asian female filmmakers and their films:
- HALA – Starring Geraldine Viswanathan and directed by Minhal Baig
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Minhal Baig. Muslim teenager Hala comes into her own while also coping with the unraveling of her family.) - LATE NIGHT – Starring Mindy Kaling and directed by Nisha Ganatra
(Premieres, Directed by Nisha Ganatra. A legendary late-night talk-show host’s world is turned upside down when she hires her only female staff writer. Originally intended to smooth over diversity concerns, her decision has unexpectedly hilarious consequences as two women separated by culture and generation are united by their love of a biting punch line.) - BLINDED BY THE LIGHT – Directed by Gurinder Chadha
(Premieres, Directed by Gurinder Chadha. In 1987, during the austere days of Thatcher’s Britain, a teenager learns to live life, understand his family, and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen.)
Some other films with diverse cast and crews that I’m excited for:
- NATIVE SON
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Rashid Johnson. In this modern reimagining of Richard Wright’s seminal novel, a young African American man named Bigger Thomas takes a job working for a highly influential Chicago family, a decision that will change the course of his life forever.) - MS. PURPLE
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Justin Chon. Kasie, stuck in LA’s Koreatown, works as a karaoke hostess getting paid for her companionship by drunken men. When her dad’s hospice nurse quits she reconnects with her estranged brother, Carey, forcing them to enter a period of intense self-reflection as their single father who raised them nears death. - LUCE
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Julius Onah. A married couple is forced to reckon with their idealized image of their son, who was adopted from war-torn Eritrea, after an alarming discovery by a devoted high-school teacher threatens his status as an all star student.) - THE FAREWELL
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Lulu Wang. A headstrong Chinese American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family’s decision to keep grandma in the dark about her illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.)
And then a few screenings that I don’t have tickets for, but I’ve been hearing good things about (maybe I’ll switch some tickets around!):
- HAIL SATAN?
(U.S. Documentary Competition, Directed by Penny Lane. A look at the intersection of religion and activism, tracing the rise of the Satanic Temple — only six years old and already one of the most controversial religious movements in American history. The temple is calling for a Satanic revolution to save this nation’s soul. But are they for real?) - NOW APOCALYPSE
(Special Events, Directed by Gregg Araki. Ulysses and his friends are trying to navigate Los Angeles as they pursue love, sex, and fame. Between dating-app adventures, Ulysses grows increasingly troubled as foreboding dreams make him paranoid — or maybe he’s just smoking too much weed.)
WILL YOU BE AT SUNDANCE 2019? WHAT’S ON YOUR PARK CITY MUST-SEE LIST?
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