The virtual Sundance Film Festival kicks off on Thursday (January 20) and buyers will be scouring the selection from afar for completed acquisition titles, which have been in short supply since the pandemic began.
Screen profiles 20 of the films expected to be among the most sought-after targets, spanning all sections of the festival. While Sundance cancelled the in-person component, the Satellite Screen programme is going ahead whereby seven arthouse cinemas across the US will present a curated line-up over the final weekend.
Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30.
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Dir: Abi Damaris Corbin
John Boyega and the late Michael Kenneth Williams (The Wire) star in the must-see drama in which Boyega plays desperate war veteran Brian Brown-Easley as he attempts to hold up a bank.
Sundance section: US Dramatic Competition
Premiere date: January 21
Sales: WME Independent
Am I OK?
Dir: Tig Nataro and Stephanie Allynne
One of two Dakota Johnson (The Lost Daughter) films in Sundance alongside Cha Cha Real Smooth, Am I OK? centres on a woman who realises she might be gay at the same time as her best friend announces she is relocating to London.
Sundance section: Premieres
Premiere date: January 24
Sales: UTA Independent Film Group
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Dir: Cooper Raiff
2020 SXSW Grand Jury Award winner Raiff (Shithouse) returns with his third feature, about a college graduate who bonds with a young mother (Johnson) and her teenage daughter while trying to make it as a bar mitzvah party “hype man.
Sundance section: US Dramatic Competition
Premiere date: January 23
Sales: WME Independent/Endeavor Content/ICM Partners
Dual
Dir: Riley Stearns
XYZ Films produced the satirical sci-fi that shot in Finland and tells of a woman who must fight her clone in a dual. Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul star.
Sundance section: US Dramatic Competition
Premiere date: January 22
Sales: UTA Independent Film Group/CAA Media Finance/XYZ Films
Emily The Criminal
Dir: John Patton Ford
Indie darling Aubrey Plaza plays a debt-ridden woman involved in a credit card scam who gets sucked into the criminal underbelly of Los Angeles. Plaza also produced alongside Tyler Davidson (Take Shelter) and Drew Sykes (The Signal).
Sundance section: Premieres
Premiere date: January 24
Sales: CAA Media Finance/ICM Partners, Verve
The Exiles
Dirs: Ben Klein and Violet Columbus
The film follows documentarian Christine Choy as she attempts to complete a film on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre by tracking down three dissidents now living in exile. Steven Soderbergh and Chris Columbus are among the executive producers.
Sundance section: US Documentary Competition
Premiere date January 22
Sales WME Independent/Endeavor Content
Fire Of Love
Dir: Sara Dosa
The story of doomed French volcanologists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died doing their job and captured spectacular images. Day One.
Sundance section: US Documentary Competition
Premiere date: January 20
Sales: Submarine
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
Dir: Sophie Hyde
One of the most commercial-looking selections sees Emma Thompson plays a retired schoolteacher searching for good sex.
Sundance section: Premieres
Premiere date: January 22
Sales: CAA Media Finance/Cornerstone (US); Cornerstone (international)
La Guerra Civil
Dir: Eva Longoria Baston
The actor’s feature directorial debut is a documentary about the boxing rivalry in the 1990s between Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez and its influence on Latino culture.
Sundance section: Premieres
Premiere date: January 20
Sales: DAZN
Living
Dir: Oliver Hermanus
Bill Nighy plays a 1950s London civil servant who learns he has a terminal illness and sets out to find meaning in his life before it is too late.
Sundance section: Premieres
Premiere date: January 21
Sales: CAA Media Finance (US); Rocket Science (international)
Mars One
Dir: Gabriel Martins
Martins’ drama about a lower-middle-class Black family living on the outskirts of a major Brazilian city who try to stay positive after the country elects far-right president Jair Bolsonaro won last year’s Paradiso WIP (works in progress) award at Ventana Sur.
Sundance section: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Premiere date: January 20
Sales: Magnolia Pictures International
Nothing Compares
Dir: Kathryn Ferguson
Sadly made more topical by the recent death of her teenage son, Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor is the subject of this documentary about her early life trauma, rise to fame, outspoken views and exile from the pop world against the backdrop of intense media scrutiny.
Sundance section: World Cinema Documentary Competition
Premiere date: January 21
Sales: Submarine
Piggy (Sp)
Dir: Carlota Pereda
An overweight Spanish teenager must decide what to do when her tormentors are kidnapped. Laura Galán stars.
Sundance section: Midnight
Premiere date: January 24
Sales: XYZ (US); Charades (international)
Resurrection
Dir: Andrew Semans
Powerhouse duo Rebecca Hall, whose directorial debut and awards contender Passing premiered at Sundance 2021, and Tim Roth star in the story of a woman whose orderly life is threatened by her past.
Sundance section: Premieres
Premiere date: January 22
Sales: WME Independent/2AM
Riotsville, USA
Dir: Sierra Pettengil
Archive footage recreates the construction by the US military of a fake town in the late 1960s where police and soldiers practiced suppression of civil disorder.
Sundance section: NEXT
Premiere date: January 21
Sales: Cinetic
Sharp Stick
Dir: Lena Dunham
Indie comedy queen Dunham (Tiny Furniture) is back with the story of a heartbroken, naïve woman in Hollywood who embarks on a sexual odyssey. Dunham stars with Jon Bernthal.
Sundance section: Premieres
Premiere date: January 22
Sales: CAA Media Finance (US); FilmNation (international)
To The End
Dir: Rachel Lears
Lears reunites with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her anticipated follow-up to Sundance 2019 entry Knock Down The House as the US congresswoman and three other women of colour fight climate change.
Sundance section: Premieres
Premiere date: January 23
Sales: Cinetic
Utama (Bol-Uru-Fr)
Dir: Alejandro Loayza Grisi
An elderly Bolivian couple from the highlands face a dilemma when a drought threatens their way of life.
Sundance section: World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Premiere date: January 22
Sales: CAA Media Finance (US); Alpha Violet (international)
Watcher
Dir: Chloe Okuno
Maika Monroe, who broke out in Cannes 2014 selection It Follows, plays a woman who relocates with her husband to his native Romania and becomes convinced she is being watched by a mysterious neighbour. Image Nation Abu Dhabi produced with Roy Lee (It, Ring) and his Spooky Pictures partner Steven Schneider.
Sundance section: US Dramatic Competition
Premiere date: January 21
Sales: Cinetic/UTA Independent Film Group (US); AGC (international)
We Met In Virtual Reality (UK)
Dir: Joe Hunting
A 2D-rendered feature shot entirely inside VR focuses on the booming immersive platform VRChat, where users find love, build communities and shed inhibitions.
Sundance section: World Cinema Documentary Competition
Premiere date: January 21
Sales: Cinetic
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