The lights may be dim at the Eccles Theater and less cinephiles packing the icy sidewalks in Park City’s Main Street when the Sundance Film Festival begins its 44th edition on Thursday night. But if 2021 proves anything, it’s that the world’s premier independent film festival is about much more than its ski town locale.
This year Sundance is back online and armed with nine days of high-profile documentaries all about Kanye West And from Princess Diana to Lucille Ball and Bill Cosby, debut films, virtual gatherings, and filmmaker Q&As, from familiar and unknown people. The festival had planned to return to the mountains this year, but two weeks before the thousands gathered in Park City, Utah, organizers decided to pivot rather than cancel or postpone, as many have done. omicron Wave.
The 2021 experience taught programmers that not only could they run a successful festival online, but that movies could break even when the filmmakers, audience, buyers, sellers and press weren’t all in the same physical location. Several films that premiered last year are in the award conversation (from Summer of Souls to Passing). The festival also claimed record acquisition (Apple TV+ paid $25 million for heartwarming CODA). The price was at least partially filled by streamers in need of fresh entertainment – a demand that has only intensified during the pandemic.
And this year the festival’s programming is as strong as ever, with dozens of conversation-starting movies.
Thursday night’s selection included a deeply comical look at issues such as the emergency, race and assault, as well as Eva Longoria’s documentaries La Guerra Civil, the 1996 battles of Oscar de la Hoya and Julio Cesar Chávez, and several Mexican Americans. Includes questions of identity raised. ,
“That fight really divided the Mexican community in the United States,” Longoria said. “It divided the houses.”
For some, this is their chance to get into the limelight before the release. The Kanye West documentary Jean-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy is debuting at Fest, before Part 1 hits Netflix on February 16 (with the other two coming out in the next two weeks). This festival w. Kamau will also host the premiere of Bell’s We Need to Talk About Cosby, which will later air on Showtime, and the first part of Phoenix Rising, about the journey of Evan Rachel Wood to name her alleged abuser, Marilyn Manson, was preceded by HBO. Launch.
Some have already made a splash at other festivals, such as Audrey Dewan’s The Happening, a 1960s French drama about a college student seeking an abortion, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
But most others are looking for the spotlight and distribution. Sundance has always prided itself on being an exploration festival and has helped fuel many filmmaking careers, from Steven Sodeberg to Ryan Coogler.
892, based on the story of first-time filmmaker Abi Damaris Corbin, a former Marine who keeps a bank. This is one of the high profile acquisition titles John Boyega The late Michael K. Williams, in the lead role. Boyega said he was in tears reading the script.
“I thought this story needed to be told,” Boyega said.
In another hot title, Watcher, Maika Monroe plays an American who has just moved to Romania and begins to suspect that she is being stalked. Director Chloe Okuno’s atmospheric thriller captures a familiar feel for women, and counts films like Lost in Translation and Perfect Blue as stylistic influences.
Maika Monroe appears in Watcher by Chloe Okuno, Official Selection of the US Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. (Sundance Institute via AP)
“Sundance is the dream for a lot of independent filmmakers,” Okuno said. “That’s what you’re working for.”
Others eagerly await follow-ups, such as Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick Los Angeles 20-something (Christine Froseth) and Cooper Raff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth, in which he stars opposite Dakota Johnson,
There are also several debuts by known names, such as Tig Notaro, who directs Am I OK with wife Stephanie Allin? Almost two best friends played by Dakota Johnson and Sonoya Mizuno. Ramin Bahrani has a second chance documentary, a lively and sharp look at the man who invented the modern bulletproof vest. and Carol screenwriter Phillies Negi directs Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver in Call Jane, one of two films in celebration about the Jane Collective, an underground group in Chicago who had an abortion in the early 1970s. .
As always, pressing social issues are explored in myriad ways and may pop up in genre fare like Kristin Ver Linden’s Alice, starring Keke Palmer as a slave woman who finds out That it’s actually 1973, and more straightforward documentaries, such as Paula Eiselt and Tonya Louise Lee’s Aftershock, a moving look at the maternal health crisis and its adverse effects on black women.
Some deals are already underway: Searchlight Pictures acquires Fresh, a dating thriller starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan, to stream on Hulu from March 4.
Sebastian Stan, left, and Daisy Edgar-Jones appear in Fresh, an official selection of the midnight section at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. (Sundance Institute via AP)
Still, it is a bitter moment for many, especially filmmakers early in their careers, who were waiting for the energy of a personal gathering.
“I guess I was hooked to it at first. Over the past few days, I started to feel it a little bit more,” Okuno said. “Obviously, this is very disappointing for any filmmaker. Also, I completely understand.”
One film, Final Cut, from The Artist’s director Michel Hazanavicius, even fell out of favor when it switched to the online format.
But Jackson learned last year that the festival could be equally beneficial online.
“There is nothing virtual about the emotions of the filmmakers, the enthusiasm of the audience, and the impact of the work,” Jackson said.
Although many of the individual movies have already sold out, there are still many options available to movie fans and Sundance-curious viewers for whom Park City was never an option. Jackson recommends the Explorer Pass, which she describes as a microcosm of the festival.
“Festivals allow us to elevate the voices and perspectives that the market may not be looking for, but certainly once the work is seen, the market expands to accommodate them,” Jackson said. That’s what we’ve seen throughout history,” Jackson said. , “Being there first and helping to support these voices and people who speak truth to these perspectives and power, that’s what one ticket does: it’s an investment in this incredible freedom of creative expression.”
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