The line-up was selected from a record number of 17,435 submissions from 153 countries or territories, including 4,410 feature-length films, with a host of unknown filmmakers joining the likes of Sundance staples like Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh and Christopher Nolan, who will be awarded with the inaugural Sundance Institute Trailblazer Award.

TheWrap spoke with Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente, Film Festival Director Eugene Hernandez and Director of Programming Kim Yutani about this year’s festival, how the strikes impacted Sundance and that secret Steven Soderbergh movie.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

What is different about this year’s festival?

Eugene Hernandez: I’m excited to be in this role, so that’s really important just to say out front. I’m totally biased because I’ve been such a big fan of Sundance for forever and this will be my 30th edition attending, but it being the 40th edition that’s a really special thing that you’ll probably hear us come back to a couple of times today because in the lineup you see some familiar names from the history and the legacy of Sundance but, at the same time, making space for true international discovery is super exciting.

What’s new for us is [having] the most submissions ever in the history of the festival: 17,500 films submitted from around the world – features, shorts, episodic. That’s a big deal.

It’s really important for me to convey that giving each of those films the best possible launchpad on that opening week and that opening weekend, especially, is really important. So, that’s why you’ll see on the first day of the festival, on the 18th, we’re kicking it off, starting right at noon there will be screenings…we’re still finalizing the schedule, but 19 films premier that day, films looking for distribution, films that are going to be unveiled for the first time, and that’s really exciting. To give each film the opportunity to launch into the festival that opening weekend we’re spending time thinking about how each film can resonate and pop in front of all the different audiences.

It’s the industry audience, it’s critics, it’s press, it’s curators who come from around the world, it’s our local audiences and folks [who] come back year after year to Sundance in Park City and Salt Lake. How do we create the right conditions so those films can be embraced, and celebrated and discovered in that first half before we move into the hybrid portion of the festival and to all the activities we have planned for the second half, in-person, as well? That is, I think, an important framing because we do talk a lot internally about giving each of those films we’ve selected the right first impression to get out the gate.

Joana Vicente: It’s thrilling for us to have Eugene be the director of the festival, his first festival working with Kim, and it’s also such an incredible opportunity to celebrate 40 editions of the festival, an incredible, rich history. So many filmmakers [who] got their launch at Sundance, some of them coming back with films this year, and then with the opening night gala celebrating Chris Nolan, who had “Memento” at Sundance in 2001 and is having a big year this year. Also with the Vanguard Award, celebrating some of the amazing talent from last year, like Celine Song. [I’m] really excited about continuing to evolve the festival and use that opening night gala as a way to fundraise for the organization and support the incredible work that we do year ‘round.

Kim Yutani: Every year is a different year. That’s one of the exciting parts about my contribution to this festival and our team’s contribution is that, as Eugene referenced, we had 17,000 plus submissions to go through and to figure out. What do we actually show and how do we make sense of all that we’ve seen this year? It’s always a new challenge and this year what we’ve extracted from that mass of films is a crop of exciting, distinctive new films to launch.

One of the things that’s particularly exciting is that next to those recognizable faces in our program, we also have so many newcomers, first and second features that will catch the industry’s attention. We also have a very good number of films without distribution who are looking for buyers. This year is going to be a positive one, I hope. That’s how we can start off this year with a lot of new films to see, and buy, and discuss and debate. It’s a real opportunity for our industry to embrace the work we’re showing and to engage with it.

How did the strikes impact programming and the planning of this year’s festival?

Kim Yutani: The numbers show that we did not suffer from the strikes. There was not a lack of submissions, at all. We know that there were a number of films that were made with interim agreements and there are a few of those films that ended up in the festival. I’ll single out the Sean Wang film, “Dìdi (弟弟),” which is in our US dramatic competition, and also a film called “Ghost Light” that’s in our premiere section. People love to talk about “Oh, are you guys going to have enough films to watch this season?” We have more than plenty and, in the end, we had to make very, very difficult decision to put this program together, and look at the entire slate and make sure that it was balanced. It was a challenging year, as it always is.

Can you speak to the balance of films that will be online and in-person?

Eugene Hernandez: I was talking a little while ago about the first half of the festival being the opportunity where folks can gather around these films in person, and that’s that communal aspect of people coming together. That’s part of the magic that we all know from Sundance going back to the earliest days of attending this festival.

But that part of the festival is so important because it takes the films that folks are going to be reading about in the papers, and in the trades, and on social media from the first half and gives them a chance to sample and explore, in a limited window, limited number of views, but have a chance to engage with the conversation that’s starting at Sundance.

We really believe in the strength of this year’s lineup and know that all of our audiences are really going to connect with this, but it requires the industry, and the critics, and the curators, and everybody to meet this lineup, and we’re excited to show it to them.

Joana Vicente: What started as a necessity to host a festival digitally in ’21 and then ’22, we had to pivot and have the festival digital. Last year was our first hybrid edition of the festival. It was about taking a lot of learnings on what worked, what could work better. It is not just very popular, it’s also an opportunity for us to have more reach, to make the festival more accessible, more inclusive, gives us the opportunity to connect with press and industry outside of the US, and then with audiences across the US.

It’s also important to remember that we treated it as a venue, in terms of the public availability of tickets – there’s a limited amount of seats and if people are excited and want to contribute they better get tickets fast. 60% of the program is online and we’re excited to continue to evolve and tak[e] input from the industry, and press, and filmmakers, and continuing to evolve the offering.

One of the names that jumped out from the line-up is Steven Soderbergh, who has such a storied history with the festival. Can you talk about what it means to Sundance to have him back?

Eugene Hernandez: Steven Soderbergh is such an important figure in the story of Sundance. There’s a handful of filmmakers that came of age at this festival in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Soderbergh, Tarantino, Jennie Livingston, Todd Haynes, Rick Linklater… When Steven reached out to us to share this film with us, that was exciting. When we saw it was also exciting because he’s a filmmaker who continues to explore and experiment, and this is a truly accessible and creepy ghost story but he’s tackling it in a way that is so inventive. He just continues to innovate in his approach to making movies. It was such a joy to have the opportunity to consider the film and then to invite it and engage with Steven to bring the film to the festival.

I don’t want to speak for him but he seems genuinely thrilled to have this. This is the 35th anniversary of “Sex, Lies and Videotape.” It sets a tone for our opportunity to acknowledge and recognize the history of this festival. It also paves the way for us to bring to the table the next Steve Soderbergh, or so many filmmakers [who] follow in that tradition of bold, adventurous storytelling that will resonate with an audience, that will entertain.

Were there any films or conversations happening at the festival that you’d like to point people to, in terms of advancing the conversation about where we are in the world right now?

Joanna Vicente: The festival always reflects the world, not the immediate, surrounding world, but sometimes it’s how you see films and how stories resonate that create pathways to understand the current world. That’s the space that we create for artists to launch the work, and for people to experience and have their minds being challenged. That’s the power of film, to help us see things differently. We are really excited as usual to create a space where we have important conversations, where we really foster dialogue, where we introduce new trends, new storytelling. That’s what artists do is they’re able to transport us through the journeys that they create. Part of being a festival is being relevant and creating that space for creative expression.

What do you hope attendees take away from this year’s iteration of the festival?

Eugene Hernandez: I hope they arrive in time to start watching movies at noon on Thursday the 18th. I hope they arrive with an openness and a curiosity because yes, go see the Soderbergh film and discover the strong creative choice that he’s making in telling this story, but then explore more deeply into the program. In every section of this carefully curated selection chosen from 17,500 submissions, there is discovery everywhere in every corner of this festival.

You can think you’re going in one direction to see a film and someone on the shuttle will tell you, “Oh my God, I just saw this film from a different part of the world.” We had films from more than 150 countries and territories submitted to us. I’ve never been let down by taking those unexpected turns at Sundance and that’s the bigger takeaway I really hope our audiences take seriously.

I hope our industry buyers, critics, the curators traveling to the festival from all over the world, really dig into this program, especially in the first half when we’re all together, and even as audiences dig in at the middle of the festival, we’ve got more things that we’ll announce as we get closer into that final weekend, both in-person and online. There’s so much room for discovery in this festival and it requires, at the start of this new year, coming out of these strikes with this really strong program in front of us, to just show up and meet this program, and dig into it. Our team has done such an amazing job of going through this record number of submissions to shape a program that will really connect with all the different audiences we serve.

The post Sundance Programmers Talk 40th Anniversary Festival, Strike Impact on Submissions and the Return of Soderbergh appeared first on TheWrap.

The U.S. Dramatic Competition will include “A Real Pain,” written by, directed and starring Jesse Eisenberg; Sam and Andy Zuchero’s “Love Me” starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun; and ShortList Film Festival award winner Sean Wang‘s coming-of-age tale “Love Me.”

94% of the film’s slate consists of world premiere films — including 40% from first-time directors — and the 20 films in the festival’s Premieres section include Chiwetel Ejiofor’s “Rob Peace,” a true story tale about a biochemist who rose from poverty in Newark to the upper ranks of academia while selling marijuana; Sarah Dowland’s sports documentary “Sue Bird: In the Clutch,” and a new Steven Soderbergh horror film “Presence” starring Lucy Liu and written by David Koepp.

“From the first edition in 1985, Sundance Film Festival has aimed to provide a space to gather, celebrate, and engage with risk-taking artists that are committed to bringing their independent visions to audiences — the Festival remains true to that goal to this day,” said Robert Redford, Sundance Institute Founder and President. “It continues to evolve, but its legacy of showcasing bold work that starts necessary conversations continues with the 2024 program.”

“The Institute takes great pride in the role the Festival plays in advancing our mission to support artists creating audacious work,” said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “This year is especially significant as we look back on our history of showcasing stories that surprise and delight, spark empathy and reflection, and honor our shared humanity. We’re all thrilled for this opportunity to celebrate the power of storytelling as we gather in January to introduce captivating works from acclaimed filmmakers and discover more new voices.”

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival will be held in Park City, Utah from Jan. 18 to Jan. 28, with a selection of films being made available online from Jan. 25 to Jan. 28. Festival passes are available now on the Sundance website, with single screening passes being made available on Jan. 11.

Read the full Sundance festival program below:

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
The U.S. Dramatic Competition offers Festivalgoers a first look at the world premieres of groundbreaking new voices in American independent film. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include Fair Play, Nanny, CODA, Passing, Minari, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The Farewell, Clemency, Eighth Grade, and Sorry to Bother You. 

Between the Temples / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Nathan Silver, Screenwriter: C. Mason Wells, Producers: Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, Nate Kamiya, Adam Kersh, Taylor Hess) — A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher reenters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student. Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Carol Kane, Dolly de Leon, Caroline Aaron, Robert Smigel, Madeline Weinstein. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Dìdi (弟弟) / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Sean Wang, Producers: Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters, Valerie Bush) — In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom. Cast: Izaac Wang, Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, Chang Li Hua. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Exhibiting Forgiveness / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Titus Kaphar, Producers: Stephanie Allain, Derek Cianfrance, Jamie Patricof, Sean Cotton) — Utilizing his paintings to find freedom from his past, a Black artist on the path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father, a recovering addict desperate to reconcile. Together, they learn that forgetting might be a greater challenge than forgiving. Cast: André Holland, John Earl Jelks, Andra Day, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Good One / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: India Donaldson, Producers: Diana Irvine, Graham Mason, Wilson Cameron) — On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend. Cast: Lily Collias, James Le Gros, Danny McCarthy. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

In The Summers / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Alessandra Lacorazza, Producers: Alexander Dinelaris, Rob Quadrino, Fernando Rodriguez-Vila, Lynette Coll, Sergio Lira, Cristóbal Güell) — On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Cast: René Pérez Joglar, Sasha Calle, Lío Mehiel, Leslie Grace, Emma Ramos, Sharlene Cruz. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Love Me / U.S.A. (Directors and Screenwriters: Sam Zuchero, Andy Zuchero, Producers: Kevin Rowe, Luca Borghese, Ben Howe, Shivani Rawat, Julie Goldstein) — Long after humanity’s extinction, a buoy and a satellite meet online and fall in love. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Steven Yeun. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Ponyboi / U.S.A. (Director: Esteban Arango, Screenwriter: River Gallo, Producers:​ Mark Ankner, ​River Gallo, ​Adel “Future” Nur, ​Trevor Wall) — Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past. Cast: River Gallo, Dylan O’Brien, Victoria Pedretti, Murray Bartlett, Indya Moore. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

A Real Pain / U.S.A., Poland (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Jesse Eisenberg, Producers: Dave McCary, Ali Herting, Emma Stone, Jennifer Semler, Ewa Puszczyńska) — Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Stress Positions / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Theda Hammel, Producers: Brad Becker-Parton, John Early, Stephanie Roush, Allie Jane Compton, Greg Nobile) — Terry Goon is keeping strict quarantine in his ex-husband’s Brooklyn brownstone while caring for his nephew — a 19-year-old model from Morocco named Bahlul — bedridden in a full leg cast after an electric scooter accident. Unfortunately for Terry, everyone in his life wants to meet the model. Cast: John Early, Qaher Harhash, Theda Hammel, Amy Zimmer, Faheem Ali, John Roberts. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Suncoast / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Laura Chinn, Producers: Jeremy Plager, Francesca Silvestri, Kevin Chinoy, Oly Obst) — A teenager who, while caring for her brother along with her audacious mother, strikes up an unlikely friendship with an eccentric activist who is protesting one of the most landmark medical cases of all time. Inspired by a semi-autobiographical story. Cast: Laura Linney, Woody Harrelson, Nico Parker. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
The U.S. Documentary Competition offers Festivalgoers a first look at world premieres of nonfiction American films illuminating the ideas, people, and events that shape the present day. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, Navalny, Fire of Love, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Boys State, Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, APOLLO 11, Knock Down the House, One Child Nation, American Factory, Three Identical Strangers, and On Her Shoulders. 

As We Speak / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: J.M. Harper, Producers: Sam Widdoes, Peter Cambor, Sam Bisbee) — Bronx rap artist Kemba explores the growing weaponization of rap lyrics in the United States criminal justice system and abroad — revealing how law enforcement has quietly used artistic creation as evidence in criminal cases for decades. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Daughters / U.S.A. (Directors: Angela Patton, Natalie Rae, Producers: Lisa Mazzotta, Justin Benoliel, Mindy Goldberg, Sam Bisbee, Kathryn Everett, Laura Choi Raycroft) — Four young girls prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C., jail. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

EVERY LITTLE THING / Australia (Director: Sally Aitken, Producers: Bettina Dalton, Oli Harbottle, Anna Godas) — Amid the glamour of Hollywood, Los Angeles, a woman finds herself on a transformative journey as she nurtures wounded hummingbirds, unraveling a visually captivating and magical tale of love, fragility, healing, and the delicate beauty in tiny acts of greatness. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

FRIDA / U.S.A., Mexico (Director: Carla Gutiérrez, Producers: Katia Maguire, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Loren Hammonds, Alexandra Johnes) — An intimately raw and magical journey through the life, mind, and heart of iconic artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought vividly to life by lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Gaucho Gaucho / U.S.A., Argentina (Directors and Producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw, Producers: Cameron O’Reilly, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Matthew Perniciaro) — A celebration of a community of Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as Gauchos, living beyond the boundaries of the modern world. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Love Machina / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Peter Sillen, Producer: Brendan Doyle) — Futurists Martine and Bina Rothblatt commission an advanced humanoid AI named Bina48 to transfer Bina’s consciousness from a human to a robot in an attempt to continue their once-in-a-galaxy love affair for the rest of time. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Porcelain War / U.S.A., Ukraine (Director and Screenwriter: Brendan Bellomo, Director: Slava Leontyev, Producers and Screenwriters: Aniela Sidorska, Paula DuPre’ Pesmen, Producers: Camilla Mazzaferro, Olivia Ahnemann) — Under roaring fighter jets and missile strikes, Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind and fight, contending with the soldiers they have become. Defiantly finding beauty amid destruction, they show that although it’s easy to make people afraid, it’s hard to destroy their passion for living. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Skywalkers: A Love Story / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Jeff Zimbalist, Producers: Maria Bukhonina, Tamir Ardon, Chris Smith, Nick Spicer) — To save their career and relationship, a daredevil couple journey across the globe to climb the world’s last super skyscraper and perform a bold acrobatic stunt on the spire. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Sugarcane / U.S.A., Canada (Director: Julian Brave NoiseCat, Director and Producer: Emily Kassie, Producer: Kellen Quinn) — An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Union / U.S.A. (Directors: Stephen Maing, Brett Story, Producers: Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone) — The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) — a group of current and former Amazon workers in New York City’s Staten Island — takes on one of the world’s largest and most powerful companies in the fight to unionize. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
These narrative feature films from emerging talent around the world offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include Scrapper, Mami Wata, Brian and Charles, Hive, Luzzu, The Souvenir, The Guilty, Monos, Yardie, The Nile Hilton Incident, and Second Mother. 

Brief History of a Family / China, France, Denmark, Qatar (Director and Screenwriter: Jianjie Lin, Producers: Ying Lou, Yue Zheng, Yiwen Wang) — A middle-class family’s fate becomes intertwined with their only son’s enigmatic new friend in post one-child policy China, putting unspoken secrets, unmet expectations, and untended emotions under the microscope. Cast: Feng Zu, Keyu Guo, Xilun Sun, Muran Lin. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Girls Will Be Girls / India, France, Norway (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Shuchi Talati, Producers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne) — In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance. But her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself. Cast: Preeti Panigrahi, Kani Kusruti, Kesav Binoy Kiron. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Handling the Undead / Norway (Director and Screenwriter: Thea Hvistendahl, Screenwriter: John Ajvide Lindqvist, Producers: Kristin Emblem, Guri Neby) — On a hot summer day in Oslo, the newly dead awaken. Three families faced with loss try to figure out what this resurrection means and if their loved ones really are back. Based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Cast: Renate Reinsve, Bjørn Sundquist, Bente Børsum, Anders Danielsen Lie, Bahar Pars. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

In The Land of Brothers / Iran, France, Netherlands (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Raha Amirfazli, Alireza Ghasemi, Producers: Adrien Barrouillet, Frank Hoeve, Charles Meresse, Emma Binet, Arya Ghamavian) — Three members of an extended Afghan family start their lives over in Iran as refugees, unaware they face a decades-long struggle ahead to be “at home.” Cast: Hamideh Jafari, Bashir Nikzad, Mohammad Hosseini. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Layla / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Amrou Al-Kadhi, Producer: Savannah James-Bayly) — When Layla, a struggling Arab drag queen, falls in love for the first time, they lose and find themself in a transformative relationship that tests who they really are. Cast: Bilal Hasna, Louis Greatorex, Safiyya Ingar, Darkwah, Terique Jarrett, Sarah Agha. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Malu / Brazil (Director and Screenwriter: Pedro Freire, Producers: Tatiana Leite, Sabrina Garcia, Leo Ribeiro, Roberto Berliner) — Malu — a mercurial, unemployed actress living with her conservative mother in a precarious house in a Rio de Janeiro slum — tries to deal with her strained relationship with her own adult daughter while surviving on memories of her glorious artistic past. Cast: Yara de Novaes, Carol Duarte, Juliana Carneiro da Cunha, Átila Bee. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Reinas / Switzerland, Peru, Spain (Director and Screenwriter: Klaudia Reynicke, Screenwriter and Producer: Diego Vega, Producers: Britta Rindelaub, Thomas Reichlin, Daniel Vega, Valérie Delpierre) — Surrounded by social and political chaos in Lima during the summer of 1992, Lucia, Aurora, and their mother, Elena, plan to leave and seek opportunities in the United States. Their farewell involves reconnecting with their estranged father, Carlos, adding turbulence to the regrets, hopes, and fears of their emotional departure. Cast: Abril Gjurinovic, Luana Vega, Jimena Lindo, Gonzalo Molina, Susi Sánchez. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Sebastian / U.K., Finland, Belgium (Director and Screenwriter: Mikko Mäkelä, Producer: James Watson) — Max, a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London, begins a double life as a sex worker in order to research his debut novel. Cast: Ruaridh Mollica, Hiftu Quasem, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Jonathan Hyde, Leanne Best, Lara Rossi. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Sujo / Mexico, U.S.A., France (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Astrid Rondero, Fernanda Valadez, Producers: Diana Arcega, Jewerl Keats Ross, Virginie Devesa, Jean-Baptiste Bailly-Maitre) — When a cartel gunman is killed, he leaves behind Sujo, his beloved 4-year-old son. The shadow of violence surrounds Sujo during each stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside. As he grows into a man, Sujo finds that fulfilling his father’s destiny may be inescapable. Cast: Juan Jesús Varela, Yadira Pérez, Alexis Varela, Sandra Lorenzano, Jairo Hernández, Kevin Aguilar. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Veni Vidi Vici / Austria (Director and Screenwriter: Daniel Hoesl, Producer: Ulrich Seidl) — The Maynards and their children lead an almost perfect billionaire family life. Amon is a passionate hunter, but doesn’t shoot animals, as the family’s wealth allows them to live totally free from consequences. Cast: Laurence Rupp, Ursina Lardi, Olivia Goschler. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
These nonfiction feature films from emerging talent around the world showcase some of the most courageous and extraordinary filmmaking today. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include The Eternal Memory, 20 Days in Mariupol, All That Breathes, Flee, Honeyland, Sea of Shadows, Shirkers, This Is Home, Last Men in Aleppo, and Hooligan Sparrow. 

Agent of Happiness / Bhutan, Hungary (Director and Producer: Arun Bhattarai, Director: Dorottya Zurbó, Producers: Noémi Veronika Szakonyi, Máté Artur Vincze) — Amber is one of the many agents working for the Bhutanese government to measure people’s happiness levels among the remote Himalayan mountains. But will he find his own along the way? World Premiere. Available online for Public.

The Battle for Laikipia / Kenya, U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Daphne Matziaraki, Director: Peter Murimi, Producer: Toni Kamau) — Unresolved historical injustices and climate change raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Black Box Diaries / Japan, U.S.A., U.K. (Director and Producer: Shiori Ito, Producers: Eric Nyari, Hanna Aqvilin) — Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Eternal You / Germany, U.S.A. (Directors: Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck, Producers: Christian Beetz, Georg Tschurtschenthaler) — Startups are using AI to create avatars that allow relatives to talk with their loved ones after they have died. An exploration of a profound human desire and the consequences of turning the dream of immortality into a product. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Ibelin / Norway (Director: Benjamin Ree, Producer: Ingvil Giske) — Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer, died of a degenerative muscular disease at the age of 25. His parents mourned what they thought had been a lonely and isolated life, when they started receiving messages from online friends around the world. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

IGUALADA / Colombia, U.S.A., Mexico (Director: Juan Mejía Botero, Producers: Juan E. Yepes, Daniela Alatorre, Sonia Serna) — In one of Latin America’s most unequal countries, Francia Márquez, a Black Colombian rural activist, challenges the status quo with a presidential campaign that reappropriates the derogatory term “Igualada” — someone who acts as if they deserve rights that supposedly don’t correspond to them — and inspires a nation to dream. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Never Look Away / New Zealand (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Lucy Lawless, Screenwriters and Producers: Matthew Metcalfe, Tom Blackwell) — New Zealand–born groundbreaking CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth risks it all to show the reality of war from inside the conflict, staring down danger and confronting those who perpetuate it. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

A New Kind of Wilderness / Norway (Director: Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, Producer: Mari Bakke Riise) — In a forest in Norway, a family lives an isolated lifestyle in an attempt to be wild and free, but a tragic event changes everything, and they are forced to adjust to modern society. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Nocturnes / India, U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Anirban Dutta, Director: Anupama Srinivasan) — In the dense forests of the Eastern Himalayas, moths are whispering something to us. In the dark of night, two curious observers shine a light on this secret universe. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat / Belgium, France, Netherlands (Director and Screenwriter: Johan Grimonprez, Producers: Daan Milius, Rémi Grellety) — In 1960, United Nations: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe denouncing America’s color bar, while the U.S. dispatches jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the Congo to deflect attention from its first African post-colonial coup. World Premiere. Available online for Public.

NEXT
Pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling populate this program. Unfettered creativity promises that the films in this section will shape the greater next wave in American cinema. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include KOKOMO CITY, A Love Song, RIOTSVILLE, USA, The Infiltrators, Searching, Skate Kitchen, A Ghost Story, and Tangerine. NEXT is presented by Adobe.

Desire Lines / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Jules Rosskam, Screenwriter: Nate Gualtieri, Producers: André Pérez, Amy E. Powell, Brittani Ward) — Past and present collide when an Iranian American trans man time-travels through an LGBTQ+ archive on a dizzying and erotic quest to unravel his own sexual desires. Cast: Theo Germaine, Aden Hakimi. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online for Public.

Kneecap / Ireland, U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Rich Peppiatt, Producers: Jack Tarling, Trevor Birney) — There are 80,000 native Irish speakers in Ireland. 6,000 live in the North of Ireland. Three of them became a rap group called Kneecap. This anarchic Belfast trio becomes the unlikely figurehead of a civil rights movement to save the mother tongue. Cast: Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, JJ Ó Dochartaigh, Michael Fassbender, Josie Walker, Simone Kirby). World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for Public.

Little Death / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jack Begert, Screenwriter: Dani Goffstein, Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Andy S. Cohen, Dylan Golden, Brendan Naylor, Sam Canter, Noor Alfallah) — A middle-aged filmmaker on the verge of a breakthrough. Two kids in search of a lost backpack. A small dog a long way from home. Cast: David Schwimmer, Gaby Hoffmann, Dominic Fike, Talia Ryder, Jena Malone, Sante Bentivoglio. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for Public.

REALM OF SATAN / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Scott Cummings, Producers: Caitlin Mae Burke, Pacho Velez, Molly Gandour) — An experiential portrait depicting Satanists in both the everyday and in the extraordinary as they fight to preserve their lifestyle: magic, mystery, and misanthropy. Cast: Peter Gilmore, Peggy Nadramia, Blanche Barton. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online for Public.

Seeking Mavis Beacon / U.S.A. (Director and Writer: Jazmin Renée Jones, Producer: Guetty Felin) — Launched in the late ’80s, educational software Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing taught millions globally, but the program’s Haitian-born cover model vanished decades ago. Two DIY investigators search for the unsung cultural icon, while questioning notions of digital security, AI, and Black representation in the digital realm. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online for Public.

Tendaberry / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Haley Elizabeth Anderson, Producers: Carlos Zozaya, Matthew Petock, Zachary Shedd, Hannah Dweck, Theodore Schaefer, Daniel Patrick Carbone) — When her boyfriend goes back to Ukraine to be with his ailing father, 23-year-old Dakota anxiously navigates her precarious new reality, surviving on her own in New York City. Cast: Kota Johan, Yuri Pleskun. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for Public.

PREMIERES
This showcase of world premieres presents highly anticipated films on a variety of subjects, in both fiction and nonfiction. Fiction films that have screened in Premieres include Past Lives, Passages, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Promising Young Woman, Kajillionaire,The Report, Late Night, and The Big Sick. Past documentary films include Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, Invisible Beauty, The Dissident, Lucy and Desi, On the Record, and Miss Americana.

The American Society of Magical Negroes / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Kobi Libii, Producers: Julia Lebedev, Eddie Vaisman, Angel Lopez) — A young man, Aren, is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier. Cast: Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Rupert Friend, Nicole Byer. World Premiere. Fiction.

And So It Begins / U.S.A., Philippines (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Ramona S. Diaz) — Amidst the traditional pomp and circumstance of Filipino elections, a quirky people’s movement rises to defend the nation against deepening threats to truth and democracy. In a collective act of joy as a form of resistance, hope flickers against the backdrop of increasing autocracy. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online for Public.

DEVO / U.K., U.S.A. (Director: Chris Smith, Producers: Chris Holmes, Anita Greenspan, Danny Gabai) — Born in response to the Kent State massacre, new wave band Devo took their concept of “de-evolution” from cult following to near–rock star status with groundbreaking 1980 hit “Whip It” while preaching an urgent social commentary. World Premiere. Documentary.

A Different Man / U.S.A. (Director and Writer: Aaron Schimberg, Producers: Christine Vachon, Vanessa McDonnell, Gabriel Mayers) — Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost. Cast: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Adam Pearson. World Premiere. Fiction.

Freaky Tales / U.S.A. (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden, Producers: Poppy Hanks, Jelani Johnson) — In 1987 Oakland, a mysterious force guides The Town’s underdogs in four interconnected tales: Teen punks defend their turf against Nazi skinheads, a rap duo battles for hip-hop immortality, a weary henchman gets a shot at redemption, and an NBA All-Star settles the score. Basically another day in the Bay. Cast: Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, Normani Kordei Hamilton, Dominique Thorne, Ben Mendelsohn, Ji-Young Yoo. World Premiere. Fiction.

Ghostlight / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Kelly O’Sullivan, Director and Producer: Alex Thompson, Producers: Pierce Cravens, Chelsea Krant, Ian Keiser, Eddie Linker, Alex Wilson) — When a construction worker unexpectedly joins a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet, the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life. Cast: Keith Kupferer, Dolly de Leon, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Tara Mallen. World Premiere. Fiction.

Girls State / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss) — Teenage girls from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri navigate a week-long immersive experiment in American democracy, build a government from the ground up, and reimagine what it means to govern. World Premiere. Documentary.

Look Into My Eyes / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Lana Wilson, Producer: Kyle Martin) — A group of New York City psychics conduct deeply intimate readings for their clients, revealing a kaleidoscope of loneliness, connection, and healing. World Premiere. Documentary.

Luther: Never Too Much / U.S.A. (Director: Dawn Porter, Producers: Trish D Chetty, Ged Doherty, Jamie Foxx, Datari Turner, Leah Smith) — Luther Vandross started his career supporting David Bowie, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, and more. His undeniable talent earned platinum records and accolades, but he struggled to break out beyond the R&B charts. Intensely driven, he overcame personal and professional challenges to secure his place amongst the greatest vocalists in history. World Premiere. Documentary. 

My Old Ass / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Megan Park, Producers: Tom Ackerley, Margot Robbie, Josey McNamara, Steven Rales) — The summer before college, bright-yet-irreverent Elliott comes face-to-face with her older self during a mushroom trip. The encounter spurs a funny and heartfelt journey of self-discovery and first love as Elliott prepares to leave her childhood home. Cast: Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks, Aubrey Plaza. World Premiere. Fiction.

The Outrun / U.K., Germany (Director and Screenwriter: Nora Fingscheidt, Screenwriter: Amy Liptrot, Producers: Sarah Brocklehurst, Dominic Norris, Jack Lowden, Saoirse Ronan) — After living life on the edge in London, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. She returns to the wild beauty of Scotland’s Orkney Islands — where she grew up — hoping to heal. Adapted from the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot. Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Stephen Dillane, Saskia Reeves. World Premiere. Fiction.

Power / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Yance Ford, Producers: Sweta Vohra, Jess Devaney, Netsanet Negussie) — Driven to maintain social order, policing in the United States has exploded in scope and scale over hundreds of years. Now, American policing embodies one word: power. World Premiere. Documentary. 

Presence / U.S.A. (Director: Steven Soderbergh, Screenwriter: David Koepp, Producers: Julie M. Anderson, Ken Meyer) — A family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they’re not alone. Cast: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Julia Fox, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland. World Premiere. Fiction.

Rob Peace / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Producers: Andrea Calderwood, Antoine Fuqua, Kat Samick, Rebecca Hobbs, Jeffrey Soros, Alex Kurtzman) — Robert Peace grew up in an impoverished section of Newark and later graduated from Yale with degrees in molecular biophysics and biochemistry while on scholarship. Peace led a dual life in academia and research while also earning six figures selling marijuana. Based on Jeff Hobbs’ bestselling biography. Cast: Jay Will, Mary J. Blige, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Camila Cabello, Michael Kelly, Mare Winningham. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for Public.

Sasquatch Sunset / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: David Zellner, Director and Producer: Nathan Zellner, Producers: Lars Knudsen, Tyler Campellone, George Rush, Jesse Eisenberg) — A year in the life of a singular family. Cast: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Nathan Zellner. World Premiere. Fiction.

Sue Bird: In The Clutch / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Sarah Dowland, Producers: Emily Singer Chapman, Svetlana Zill) — In her 21-year professional career, WNBA basketball legend Sue Bird has won five Olympic gold medals and become the most successful point guard to ever play the game. Alongside her fiancée, U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe, Sue confronts her next challenge: retiring from the only life she’s ever known. World Premiere. Documentary. 

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story / U.K., U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Ian Bonhôte, Director and Screenwriter: Peter Ettedgui, Producers: Lizzie Gillett, Robert Ford) — Never-before-seen home movies and extraordinary personal archives reveal how Christopher Reeve went from unknown actor to iconic movie star as the ultimate screen superhero. He learned the true meaning of heroism as an activist after suffering a tragic accident that left him quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator to breathe. World Premiere. Documentary. Salt Lake Opening Film

Thelma / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Josh Margolin, Producers: Zoë Worth, Chris Kaye, Nicholas Weinstock, Benjamin Simpson, Karl Spoerri, Viviana Vezzani) — When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her. Cast: June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Malcolm McDowell. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for Public.

Will & Harper / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Josh Greenbaum, Producers: Rafael Marmor, Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum, Christopher Leggett) — When Will Ferrell finds out his close friend of 30 years is coming out as a trans woman, the two decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and America. World Premiere. Documentary.

Winner / U.S.A., Canada (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Susanna Fogel, Screenwriter: Kerry Howley, Producers: Amanda Phillips, Shivani Rawat, Julie Goldstein, Scott Budnick, Ameet Shukla) — Reality Winner is a brilliant young misfit from a Texas border town who finds her morals challenged while serving as an NSA contractor. A sarcastic, gun-lovin, vegan, yogi, and CrossFit fanatic, Reality is an unconventional whistleblower who ends up being prosecuted for exposing Russia’s hacking of the 2016 election. Cast: Emilia Jones, Connie Britton, Zach Galifianakis, Kathryn Newton, Danny Ramirez. World Premiere. Fiction.

MIDNIGHT
From horror flicks and wild comedies to chilling thrillers and works that defy any genre, these films will keep you wide awake and on the edge of your seat. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include Infinity Pool, Talk to Me, FRESH, Hereditary, Mandy, Relic, Assassination Nation, and The Babadook.

I Saw the TV Glow / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jane Schoenbrun, Producers: Emma Stone, Dave McCary, Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Sarah Winshall) — Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack. Cast: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Fred Durst, Danielle Deadwyler. World Premiere. Fiction.

In A Violent Nature / Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Chris Nash, Producers: Peter Kuplowsky, Shannon Hanmer) — The enigmatic resurrection, rampage, and retribution of an undead monster in a remote wilderness. Cast: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Lauren Taylor. World Premiere. Fiction. 

It’s What’s Inside / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Greg Jardin, Producers: William Rosenfeld, Kate Andrews, Jason Baum, Raúl Domingo) — A pre-wedding party descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase. Cast: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, Nina Bloomgarden. World Premiere. Fiction. 

Kidnapping Inc. / Haiti, France, Canada (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Bruno Mourral, Screenwriter and Producer: Gilbert Jr. Mirambeau, Screenwriter: Jasmuel Andri, Producers: Samuel Chauvin, Yanick Letourneau, Gaëthan Chancy) — Tasked with what appears to be a simple abduction for hire, two hapless kidnappers find out that it’s anything but and end up in the middle of a political conspiracy. Cast: Jasmuel Andri, Rolaphton Mercure, Anabel Lopez, Ashley Laraque, Gessica Geneus, Patrick Joseph. World Premiere. Fiction. 

Krazy House / Netherlands (Directors and Screenwriters: Steffen Haars, Flip van der Kuil, Producer: Maarten Swart) — When Russian workers in Bernie’s house turn out to be wanted criminals, Bernie has to man up and save his ’90s sitcom family. Cast: Nick Frost, Alicia Silverstone, Jan Bijvoet, Gaite Jansen, Walt Klink, Kevin Connolly. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for Public.

Love Lies Bleeding / U.S.A., U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Rose Glass, Producers: Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman — Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, Ed Harris, Dave Franco, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov. World Premiere. Fiction.

The Moogai / Australia (Director and Screenwriter: Jon Bell, Producers: Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings, Mitchell Stanley) — A young Aboriginal couple bring home their second baby. What should be a joyous time takes a sinister turn as the mother starts seeing a malevolent spirit she is convinced is trying to take her baby. Cast: Shari Sebbens, Meyne Wyatt, Tessa Rose, Jahdeana Mary, Clarence Ryan, Bella Heathcote. World Premiere. Fiction. 

Your Monster / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Caroline Lindy, Producers: Kayla Foster, Shannon Reilly, Melanie Donkers, Kira Carstensen) — After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming, monster living in her closet. Cast: Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Meghann Fahy, Edmund Donovan, Kayla Foster. World Premiere. Fiction. 

EPISODIC

Our Episodic section was created specifically for bold stories told in multiple episodes, with an emphasis on independent perspectives and innovative storytelling. Past projects that have premiered within this category include Willie Nelson and Family, OJ: Made in America, Wild Wild Country, The Jinx, Bring on the Dancing Horses, Work in Progress, State of the Union, Gentefied, Wu Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men, and Quarter Life Poetry.

Better Angels: The Gospel According To Tammy Faye / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Dana Adam Shapiro, Executive Producers: Elton John, David Furnish, Danny Gabai, Alexander Moore, Hellen Rollins, Peter Rollins, Screenwriter: Helen Rollins) — As told by her family, friends, and enemies, the meteoric rise, scandalous fall, and unlikely resurrection of Tammy Faye, the “First Lady of the Electric Church,” poses an increasingly relevant question: How did we get the story so wrong? World Premiere. Documentary. Four-part limited series, screening parts one and two. 

Conbody VS Everybody / U.S.A. (Director and Executive Producer: Debra Granik, Executive Producers: Anne Rosellini, Victoria Stewart, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Joslyn Barnes, Jonathan Scheuer) — Taking place over eight years, Coss Marte builds ConBody, a gym inspired by workouts he developed while in prison. Committed to employing trainers who were formerly incarcerated, Coss creates a community fighting to break the cycle of recidivism while navigating society’s many obstacles to reentry. World Premiere. Documentary. Six-part limited series, screening two episodes. Available online for Public.

God Save Texas / U.S.A.  — Three directors offer their unique and personal perspectives on their home state of Texas, creating vivid portraits of a state that mirrors the United States’ past, present, and future. Inspired by the book God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright. World Premiere. Documentary. Anthology series. 

God Save Texas: Hometown Prison (Director and Executive Producer: Richard Linklater, Executive Producers: Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney, Peter Berg, Michael Lombardo, Elizabeth Rogers) — Huntsville, Texas, known as “Prison City,” sits at the heart of an expansive prison industrial complex. Yet, for many residents, these prisons exist in another realm, disconnected from their lives. Richard Linklater revisits his hometown to explore its diverse inhabitants, painting a vibrant portrait that encapsulates the essence of Texas.

God Save Texas: The Price of Oil (Director: Alex Stapleton, Executive Producers: Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney, Richard Linklater, Peter Berg, Michael Lombardo, Stacey Offman) – As the world’s energy capital, Houston is a city that manufactures both its prominence and demise. Alex Stapleton explores the industry’s impact on her family, who arrived as enslaved people in the 1830’s, built thriving communities, and now must cope with the human costs of Texas’ biggest money-maker.

God Save Texas: La Frontera (Director: Iliana Sosa, Executive Producers: Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney, Richard Linklater, Peter Berg, Michael Lombardo, Richard Perello) — Iliana Sosa examines how “nepantla,” an embrace of in-betweenness, characterizes relations to both her Mexican heritage and her hometown of El Paso, Texas. An exploration revealing how the city’s humanity and unique hybridity catalyzed unity, nurturing healing in the aftermath of a devastating mass shooting in 2019.

LOLLA: THE STORY OF LOLLAPALOOZA / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Michael John Warren, Producers: James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte, Brian Levy, Mat Whittington, Daniel Gibbs) — In the summer of ’91, the Lollapalooza music festival was born. What started as a farewell tour for the band Jane’s Addiction rose from the underground to launch a cultural movement and change music forever. World Premiere. Documentary. Three-part limited series, screening parts one and two. Available online for Public.

The Synanon Fix / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Rory Kennedy, Producer and Screenwriter: Mark Bailey, Producers: Alexandra Korba, Keven McAlester, Screenwriter: Jeff Swimmer) — Exploring the rise and fall of the Synanon organization — through the eyes of the members who lived it — from its early days as a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation program to its later descent into what many consider a cult. World Premiere. Documentary. Four-part series, screening parts one and two.

Episodic Pilot Showcase: 

Me/We / U.S.A. (Director and Executive Producer: Nzingha Stewart, Executive Producers and Screenwriters: Rob McElhenney, Keyonna Taylor, Executive Producers: Jackie Cohn, Nick Frenkel, Jermaine Johnson) — Amaria “Yaya” Jones, an argumentative teenager with a passion for dance, must plead her case to her overprotective brother in hopes of winning his blessing to walk to school with her first crush. Yaya’s story is a celebration of life. Cast: Camryn Jones, Victor Musoni, Anji White, Travis Wolfe Jr., Nadirah Bost, Mike Sampson. World Premiere. Fiction. 

La Mesías / Spain (Directors, Screenwriters, and Executive Producers: Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi, Executive Producers: Domingo Corral, Susana Herreras, Fran Araújo) — Siblings Enric and Irene have a dark childhood, unbearable memories, and a toxic relationship with their mother. They live outside their family sect and are now far from the reach of their mother, yet not completely free. Cast: Roger Casamajor, Macarena García, Lofla Dueñas, Carmen Machi, Ana Rujas, Albert Pla, Amaia, Biel Rossell, Cecilia Roth. International Premiere. Fiction. 

Penelope / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Executive Producer: Mel Eslyn, Screenwriter and Executive Producer: Mark Duplass, Executive Producers: Jay Duplass, Shuli Harel) — Feeling out of place in modern society, a 16-year-old is drawn into the unknown wilderness, where she begins forming a new life for herself. Cast: Megan Stott, Austin Abrams. World Premiere. Fiction. 

SPOTLIGHT
The Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love, presenting films that have played throughout the world. Films that have played in this category in recent years include Joyland, The Worst Person in the World, The Biggest Little Farm, Birds of Passage, The Rider, Ida, and The Lobster. Spotlight is presented by Audible.

àma Gloria / France (Director and Screenwriter: Marie Amachoukeli, Producer: Bénédicte Couvreur) — Six-year-old Cléo loves her nanny, Gloria, more than anything. When Gloria must return to Cape Verde to care for her own children, the two must make the most of their last summer together. Cast: Louise Mauroy-Panzani, Ilça Moreno Zego, Abnara Gomes Varela, Fredy Gomes Tavares, Arnaud Rebotini, Domingos Borges Almeida. U.S. Premiere. Fiction.

Hit Man / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Richard Linklater, Producer and Screenwriter: Glen Powell, Producers: Mike Blizzard, Jason Bateman, Michael Costigan) — A strait-laced professor discovers his hidden talent as a fake hit man. He meets his match in a client who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities. Inspired by an unbelievable true story. Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao. Fiction.

How to Have Sex / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Molly Manning Walker, Producers: Ivana MacKinnon, Emily Leo, Konstantinos Kontovrakis) — Three British teenage girls go on a rite-of-passage holiday, drinking, clubbing, and hooking up in what should be the best summer of their lives. As they dance their way across the sun-drenched streets of Malia, they find themselves navigating the complexities of sex, consent, and self-discovery. Cast: Mia McKenna-Bruce, Samuel Bottomley, Shaun Thomas, Lara Peake, Enva Lewis, Laura Ambler. U.S. Premiere. Fiction.

The Mother of All Lies / Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar (Director and Producer: Asmae El Moudir) — On a handmade set re-creating her Casablanca neighborhood, a young Moroccan filmmaker enlists family and friends to help unearth the troubling lies built into her childhood. Documentary. Available online for Public.

FAMILY MATINEE

Geared towards our youngest independent-film fans, this section of the Festival is programmed for children and adolescents. Films that have played in this category in recent years include Blueback, The Elephant Queen, Science Fair, My Life as a Zucchini, The Eagle Huntress, and Shaun the Sheep.

Out of My Mind / U.S.A. (Director: Amber Sealey, Screenwriter: Daniel Stiepleman, Producers: Peter Saraf, Robert Kessel, Dan Angel, Michael B. Clark) — Melody Brooks is navigating sixth grade as a nonverbal wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy. With the help of some assistive technology and her devoted, exuberant allies, Melody shows that what she has to say is more important than how she says it. Cast: Phoebe-Rae Taylor, Rosemarie DeWitt, Luke Kirby, Michael Chernus, Courtney Taylor, Judith Light. World Premiere. Fiction.

10 Lives / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Christopher Jenkins, Screenwriters: Karen Wengrod, Ken Cinnamon, Producers: Guy Collins, Sean Feeney, Yann Zenou, Adrian Politowski, Martin Metz) — A pampered cat takes for granted the lucky hand he has been dealt after he is rescued and loved by Rose, a kind-hearted and passionate student. When he loses his ninth life, fate steps in to set him on a transformative journey. Cast: Mo Gilligan, Simone Ashley, Sophie Okonedo, Dylan Llewellyn, Zayn Malik, Bill Nighy. World Premiere. Fiction. 

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

One-of-a-kind moments highlight new independent works that add to the unique Festival experience.

War Game / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Jesse Moss, Director: Tony Gerber, Producers: Todd Lubin, Jack Turner, Mark DiCristofaro, Jessica Grimshaw, Nick Shumaker) — A bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations participate in an unscripted role-play exercise in which they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the U.S. military, in the wake of a contested presidential election. World Premiere. Documentary.

NEW FRONTIER

New Frontier champions artists practicing at the crossroads of film, art, performance, and new media technology. This year, the section focuses on the powerful rise of AI, the role of artists on the rapidly changing landscape of technologies, and empowering narrative agency and sustainable creative practice through design.

Being (the Digital Griot) / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Rashaad Newsome) — In this innovative participatory experience, Being, an artificial intelligence digital griot, asks the audience to engage in unifying and challenging discussions. It features a soundscape and movement informed by a dataset from Black communities, theorists, poets, and activists, including bell hooks, Paulo Freire, Dazié Grego-Sykes, and Cornel West.

Eno / U.S.A., U.K. (Director: Gary Hustwit) — Visionary musician and artist Brian Eno — known for producing David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, among many others; pioneering the genre of ambient music; and releasing over 40 solo and collaboration albums — reveals his creative processes in this groundbreaking generative documentary: a film that’s different every time it’s shown. World Premiere.

The post Sundance 2024 Lineup Includes New Films From Steven Soderbergh, Chiwetel Ejiofor for 40th Edition appeared first on TheWrap.

It will again, and of course, feature a deluge of feature films, short films and episodic content. The Sundance Film Festival programming team will screen submissions for consideration collected via FilmFreeway. Project submissions will open on May 11.  

The early deadline for feature films will be August 11, while the official deadline is September 4 of 2023. The late deadline will be September 25.  

For shorts, the early deadline is July 31, while the official deadline is August 18. The late deadline is September 4. For episodic submissions, the early deadline is August 7 and the official deadline is September 1. The late deadline is September 18.  

Finally, New Frontier, which specializes in experimental or boundary-pushing submissions, will have an early deadline of August 4, while the official deadline is August 21. The late deadline is September 1. Last year’s festival did not feature New Frontier programming. 

Lodging can be booked via lodging.sundance.org/lodging. Information concerning ticket passes and packages will be shared closer to the festival. Details on applications, including frequently asked questions, are available here.

The post Sundance Film Festival Sets Submission and Event Dates for 2024 appeared first on TheWrap.

The program was designed to support storytellers from historically marginalized communities and filmmakers that have “recently achieved a noteworthy accomplishment” (like a TV show or movie). The Momentum Fellowship provides each artist with a ”full-year program of deep, customized support around the goals they have identified for themselves to level up in their craft and career.” The Momentum Fellowship is a program of Women at Sundance with support from Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.

Among the Momentum Fellows are “Aftersun” director Charlotte Wells and “Nanny” filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu.

“The most ingenious part of Momentum is its timing at this precarious point in our careers as we all consider our futures beyond the first film. The grant itself, in addition to the community and accountability through the coaching program have already been steadying forces and I’m eternally grateful to and in awe of the Sundance Institute’s commitment to artists’  (and to my) development,” Wells said.

“Over the years, the fellows selected for Momentum have all experienced success with their recently completed projects. This has often been a critical moment for artists  to receive creative and tactical support as they focus on a meaningful path forward.” said Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director, Artist Programs, said in an official statement. “This is where Momentum is both aptly named and unique in the industry–the fellowship is customized to the needs of individual filmmakers as they move forward with their next steps, making choices that’ll ensure they can sustain a career that gives them exciting and timely creative opportunities.”

The 2023 Momentum Fellows are:

Francisca Alegria is an award-winning filmmaker who’s short film “And the Whole Sky Fit in the Dead Cow’s Eye” received the award for Best International Fiction Short at Sundance Film Festival. Her debut feature “The Cow Who Sang A Song Into the Future” premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2022 and was supported by the 2017 Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Lab along with the Catalyst Forum.

Rita Baghdadi is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker known for the intimacy of her bold, character-driven films. Her latest feature, “Sirens,” premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at Outfest. Rita’s work has been supported by Sundance, Tribeca, Netflix, HBO, IDA and Film Independent.

Michelle Garza is a director and screenwriter who graduated from CCC in Mexico City and Goldsmiths in London. Her debut feature “Huesera” premiered at Tribeca 2022 where it won the Best New Narrative Director and the Nora Ephron awards. Michelle also won the Citizen Kane award for the best new director at Sitges 2022.

Nikyatu Jusu is a writer and director and her first feature film, “Nanny,” was developed at the Sundance Institute’s 2020 Directors and Screenwriters Labs and debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. Her follow up original feature film screenplay was acquired by Universal Studios and Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions. She works as an Assistant Professor of Directing and Screenwriting, Film and Video Studies, at the College of Visual & Performing Arts at George Mason University.

Bing Liu is a China-born, Midwest-raised filmmaker. His directorial credits include “Minding the Gap,” “America To Me” and “All these Sons.” Bing was supported by the Sundance Institute’s 2020 Directors and Screenwriters Lab on his first fiction feature which is currently in development.

Kate Tsang is an artist/filmmaker creating imaginative, offbeat stories with heart. Her debut feature “Marvelous and the Black Hole” premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. She wrote on the Emmy-nominated shows “Adventure Time: Distant Lands” (HBO MAX) and “Steven Universe Future” (Cartoon Network).

Charlotte Wells is a BAFTA winning Scottish filmmaker whose debut feature, the award-winning “Aftersun” premiered in Critics’ Week at Cannes. Prior to “Aftersun,” Wells wrote and directed three short films, “Tuesday,” “Laps,” and “Blue Christmas.” She is a graduate of the MBA/MFA program at NYU where she was supported by BAFTA NY and LA. Charlotte, with her project “Aftersun,” was supported by the Sundance Institute’s 2020 Directors and Screenwriters Labs.

Violet du Feng is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. She has directed, produced or executive produced 13 films including the most recent Tribeca-premiered and Sundance Documentary Film Program supported “Hidden Letters.” Her main producing credits include “Dear Mother,” “I Meant to Write About Death,” “Singing in the Wilderness,” “Confucian Dream,” “Maineland” and “Please Remember Me.”

The Momentum Fellowship includes an unrestricted artist grant; professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company, supported by The Harnisch Foundation; connection to ELEVATE, Sundance’s professional development initiative, and bespoke year-round support from Sundance Institute staff. Additionally, as part of an ongoing partnership with Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team (GTDI), the Studio will provide additional support for up to four (4) Momentum fellows working on fiction projects.  GTDI is providing select participants access to the Studio’s creative executives and producers to build career momentum and exposure to potential directing opportunities across the Company’s portfolio.

The Momentum Fellowship was launched in 2018 as a highly successful model for sustaining and leveling up artists in their careers that merited expansion for impact across a broader cohort of underrepresented communities. Those eligible for this intersectional program include artists identifying as women, non-binary and/or transgender, Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color, and artists with disabilities.

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The film most recently premiered at Sundance as part of the Next lineup and is being eyed for a theatrical release in the fall. Utopia and Sumerian together secured its worldwide rights.

Directed by Alcazar, “Divinity” stars Stephen Dorff, Moises Arias, Jason Genao, Mike O’Hearn, Karrueche Tran, Emily Willis, Scott Bakula and Bella Thorne.

The film’s synopsis per the Sundance film guide reads: “Set in an otherworldly human existence, scientist Sterling Pierce dedicated his life to the quest for immortality, slowly creating the building blocks of a groundbreaking serum named “Divinity.” Jaxxon Pierce, his son (Dorff), now controls and manufactures his father’s once-benevolent dream. Society on this barren planet has been entirely perverted by the supremacy of the drug, whose true origins are shrouded in mystery. Two mysterious brothers arrive with a plan to abduct the mogul, and with the help of a seductive woman named Nikita, they will be set on a path hurtling toward true immortality.”

“Our worlds collided when falling in love with Eddie’s film and vision for ‘Divinity.’ The film represents a cultural crossroads of film, music, fashion and art,” Utopia and Sumerian said in a statement. “We believe that this partnership represents the beginning of a new era where stories can live on screen and off the screen by blurring the lines between a film itself and the integral components that compose a film’s DNA.”

Alcazar added: “I’m grateful to work with such forward thinking distributors like Utopia and Sumerian. I believe more audiences are looking to re-appreciate the art of film these days and having a company like Utopia/Sumerian support unique cinematic visions and take them to the big screen is a dream come true.”

The deal for “Divinity” was brokered by CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers and Danielle DiGiacomo and Ryan Anthony Menge on behalf of Utopia and Sumerian.

Variety first reported the news.

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The distributor holds all media rights in North America, Latin America, Benelux, Eastern Europe, Portugal, the Middle East, and Turkey.

Executive produced by Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films, the first feature by writer-director Noora Niasari follows Shayda and her six-year-old daughter Mona, two Iranians living in Australia. After divorcing her husband Hossein, Shayda moves them into a women’s shelter, where she struggles to adjust to her new life while trying to create one for Mona. Encouraged by the start of the Persian New Year, Nowruz, to embrace her newfound freedom, Shayda is thrown off when Hossein wins visitation rights, raising the possibility that he’ll attempt to take his daughter back to Iran.

The film stars stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”), Osamah Sami, Leah Purcell, Jillian Nguyen, Mojean Aria, Selina Zahednia, and Rina Mousavi.

“I have held the deepest admiration for Sony Pictures Classics since childhood. For my debut feature to be distributed by them is a dream,” said Niasari. “I know they will set the stage for a wonderful release, so that audiences worldwide can experience the emotional depth and power of Shayda.”

“With ‘Shayda,’ Noora Niasari makes an impressive feature debut. Her characters are beautifully relatable and her relationships formed with honesty, humanity, and the warmth that can come from family and community. It is our pleasure to bring this story and Noora to audiences everywhere,” added Sony Pictures Classics.

“Shayda” is an Origma 45 production. It is produced by Vincent Sheehan and Niasari in association with Dirty Films, Parandeh Pictures, and The 51 Fund and executive produced by Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, Coco Francini, Caitlin Gold, Lindsay Lanzillotta, Lois Scott, Naomi McDougall Jones, and Nivedita Kulkarni. Additional production investments come from Screen Australia in association with The 51 Fund, VicScreen and the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) Premiere Fund.

The deal was negotiated with United Talent Agency. HanWay Films will be selling the remaining international territories and screening ‘Shayda’ to buyers in the upcoming EFM. Metropolitan will distribute in France. Madman Entertainment will handle local distribution in Australia and New Zealand.

Niasari is represented at United Talent Agency and Granderson Des Rochers, LLP.

Variety first reported the deal.

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The collected “Discworld” novels by Terry Pratchett are so weird and so imaginative and so wry that very few filmmakers have ever seriously tried to adapt them. We’ve had one short-lived live-action series, one short film, a few animated mini-series and three ambitious live-action mini-series. (“The Hogfather” is a perennial yuletide viewing experience for all of us, or at least it should be.)

But feature films have eluded the dwellers of “Discworld” until just about — actually wait, let me check my watch here — now.

“The Amazing Maurice,” based on the 2001 children’s book “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents,” features the voice of Hugh Laurie as the title character. He’s a cat who can talk in a world where cats don’t usually do that, even though magic is real, the living personification of Death walks among us and fairy-tale characters abound as well.

Then again, rats can’t talk either, but there sure are a lot of talking rats in “The Amazing Maurice.” It turns out they were living in the trash pile full of discarded wizard’s potions, they ate a bunch of weird glowing goo, and now here they are, like the rats of NIMH but more easily swayed by religious zeitgeist.

Because you see, Maurice has tricked these talking rats into believing that a children’s storybook, the Beatrix Potter–esque “Mr. Bunny Has an Adventure,” is actually a promise of a faraway utopia where animals wear clothes and live among humans as equals. But in order to get there, they’ll have to raise a lot of money, naturally. So Maurice and a human being with all the personality of a paper bag named Keith (Himesh Patel, “Enola Holmes 2”) pull a Pied-Piper scam, filling cities with rats and then musically removing them, cutting the rats in on the deal.

Unfortunately, the rats are now developing a complex and powerful sense of morality, thanks in large part to their spiritual leader Dangerous Beans (David Tennant). They don’t want to trick their way into paradise. But they embark on another job anyway in a town where, wouldn’t you know it, there are plot points afoot. A couple of rat-catchers have already removed the rats, but the food keeps disappearing anyway, and now it’s up to Maurice, Keith, the rats and the mayor’s daughter Malicia (Emilie Clarke) to solve the mystery and save the day.

Malicia is rather a lot. She narrates “The Amazing Maurice” via a framing device in which she explains the concept of a framing device, and then reduces every other aspect of the story to a familiar cliché as well. She does this within the story too, with practically every line of dialogue, and the film isn’t quite charming or funny enough to get away with that. You can only wink so many times before people think you’re not doing it on purpose and just have something in your eye.

It’s unfortunately rather endemic to “The Amazing Maurice” as a whole. It’s a film that’s extraordinarily clever and proud of itself, even though it rarely manages to make that cleverness fun for the rest of us. The film expects applause for its encyclopedic knowledge of tvtropes.com but rarely earns applause for using that self-awareness to make funny jokes, tell a satisfying story or impress us with genuine satirical insight.

Of course, animated movies about fairy-tale scenarios have been self-aware for quite a while now, and it’s not like the “Shrek” movies were so mind-bogglingly brilliant that nobody else can horn in on their territory. But “The Amazing Maurice” just has a frustrating way of making smart ideas seem uninspired and funny jokes not funny. It’s all in the execution, and the executioner has their hood on backwards and keeps swinging the axe anyway.

There are moments in “The Amazing Maurice” where director Toby Genkel, co-director Florian Westermann and screenwriter Terry Rossio (“The Lone Ranger”) lean heavily into the religious allegory and try to make serious points about faith, but the film sets up that conflict in such a halfhearted, clunky way that it doesn’t amount to much. Dangerous Beans seems to be a metaphor for Christian saviors but doesn’t have very much to expound other than hope is good, and not to take the Bible — I mean, “Mr. Bunny Has an Adventure” — too literally. A whole can of worms gets opened, and they only used one. It’s a bit of a waste.

As far as the characters go, Malicia is very amusing, but she sucks all the air out of the room, leaving poor Keith suffocating for screen time, character development or a sliver of personality. Maurice is ostensibly the lead, but it feels like the movie forgets about him most of the time, shoveling his path to redemption into the final act where it plays well but probably could have been set up more effectively and to bigger impact.

The animation in “The Amazing Maurice” is all perfectly competent, and occasionally rather playful, but it never quite matches the whirlwind energy of the story or (some of) the characters. Only the villainous Boss Man, voiced by David Thewlis, comes across like an interesting creation. The secret origins of his bizarre figure, swathed in baggy clothes, are rather obvious from the outset but nevertheless yield creepy, interesting physicality.

Families confusing “The Amazing Maurice” with a conventional American animated studio film may be somewhat surprised, however, to discover that the film goes to some deeply unpleasant places with its animal characters. Death is a literal figure here and so is, not coincidentally, Death of Rats, his rodential counterpart, and they’re on the job today. The sudden onset of violence in the film is technically off camera but nevertheless harsh, and families should probably be prepared for it, even if it’s arguably necessary for the heaviness of the thematic material to sink in.

It’s tempting to sign off by arguing that “The Amazing Maurice” isn’t amazing, but it’s not an everyday film either. It’s a seemingly honest attempt to translate Terry Pratchett’s bizarre, overstuffed, heady world of wonder into an animated film that’s relatively family-friendly, and everybody here deserves bonus points for even trying. They came pretty close to getting the mixture right; it would just be an exaggeration to say they got close enough.

“The Amazing Maurice” opens in US theaters Feb. 3.

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The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and stars Eliza Scanlen (“Little Women,” “Sharp Objects”), Lewis Pullman (“Outer Range”, “Top Gun: Maverick”), Jimmi Simpson (“Westworld”, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), Wrenn Schmidt (“For All Mankind”, “Nope”) and Austin Abrams (“Paper Towns,” “Do Revenge”).

Bleecker Street will release the film theatrically later this year.

“The Starling Girl” follows 17-year-old Jem Starling (Scanlen), who struggles to define her place within her fundamentalist Christian community in rural Kentucky. Even her greatest joy — the church dance group — is tempered by worry that her love of dance is actually sinful, and she’s caught between a burgeoning awareness of her own sexuality and an instinctive resistance to her mom’s urging that the time has come to begin courting. She finds respite from her confusion in the encouragement of her youth pastor Owen (Pullman), who is likewise drawn to the blossoming Jem’s attention.

The film is produced by Kevin Rowe and Kara Durrett. Executive producers include Jessamine Burgum, Will Greenfield, Douglas Choi, Martina Bassenger, Chris Stolte, Heidi Stolte, William Reedy, Emily Reedy and David Hinojosa.

The deal was negotiated by Miranda King and Avy Eschenasy on behalf of Bleecker Street and UTA Independent Film Group and WME Independent on behalf of the filmmakers.

Variety first reported the news.

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Written, directed and produced by Maryam Keshavarz, “The Persian Version” follows an Iranian-American girl named Leila who struggles to balance her opposing cultures while visiting New York City for her father’s heart transplant.

“After two plus years of watching everything at home and in our PJs, I am excited to bring ‘The Persian Version’ to theaters where we can experience the joy and humor of this big rowdy immigrant American family together in a communal setting,” Keshavarz said in a statement. “Having grown up watching and loving SPC films, I’m stoked to partner with them to reach the widest possible audience for this crazy film.”

Keshavarz is the first director to have two films win the Sundance Audience Award in the Dramatic Competition category, with her film “Circumstance” taking the award in 2011.

“Maryam Keshavarz’s ‘The Persian Version’ is an eloquent film about family and freedom while at the same time grand entertainment,” Sony Pictures Classics said. “We are excited to bring the movie to audiences everywhere and to be working again with our colleagues at Stage 6 Films.”

“The Persian Version” was produced by Keshavarz for Marakesh Films, Anne Carey for Archer Gray Productions, Ben Howe and Luca Borghese for AGX, and Peter Block and Cory Neal for A Bigger Boat. It stars Layla Mohammadi, Niousha Noor, Kamand Shafieisabet, Bijan Daneshmand, Bella Warda, Chiara Stella, Tom Byrne, and Shervin Alenabi.

UTA Independent Film Group represented US rights with Stage 6 Films. Keshavarz is represented by UTA, Anne Damato, and Victoria Cook at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.

Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the film in partnership with Stage 6 Films. Sony Pictures Releasing International will release the film internationally.

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From Chloe Zhao (“Eternals”) to Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok”), Disney’s Marvel Studios has tapped Sundance talent with notable regularity.

A top dealmaker gave a brutally honest reason for what has become a pattern:

“It’s because they’re young, cheap, and will follow Feige’s rules,” the dealmaker said, referring to Marvel Studios president and keeper of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kevin Feige.

How the annual Park City, Utah gathering has evolved into minor league farm system for Marvel is a phenomenon that tracks with the MCU’s ambitious slate, which constantly demands new ideas and talent. If Marvel exists to create fantasy worlds where characters put on power armor and save (or destroy) the world, the studio is also looking for edginess honed in indie film. Sundance has become the “Comic Con for the indie cinema scene,” a high-ranking theatrical studio executive told TheWrap.

A half dozen filmmakers have joined the MCU ranks following their Sundance breakouts.

“Black Panther” filmmaker Ryan Coogler broke out at Sundance with “Fruitvale Station,” which starred future Killmonger actor Michael B. Jordan. Coogler would go on to launch the massive “Black Panther” franchise which garnered a Best Picture nomination for the first film, and most recently an MCU first Best Supporting Actress nomination for “Wakanda Forever” star Angela Basset.

While 2014’s “What We Do in the Shadows” put director Taika Waititi on Marvel’s radar, he was hired to direct “Thor: Ragnarok” a few months before his 2016 indie “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” premiered at Sundance, and the response to the film only boosted excitement for the “Thor” sequel.

Filmmaker Jon Watts’ “Cop Car” debuted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival before he was hired to reboot the “Spider-Man” franchise. He would go on to direct two sequels to immense success and introduce the world to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.

Filmmaking duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck debuted “Mississippi Grind” at Sundance 2015 before landing the “Captain Marvel” assignment. The female superhero movie starring Brie Larson grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide in 2019, making it the first female-led superhero film to pass the billion-dollar mark.

Cate Shortland went to Sundance 2017 with her third film, the psychological horror thriller “Berlin Syndrome,” before she took the “Black Widow” job the following year in 2018.

And although Chloe Zhao broke out at Sundance 2015 with her debut feature “Songs My Brother Taught Me,” it wasn’t until after her second film, 2017’s “The Rider,” that she booked Marvel’s “Eternals” in September 2018.

Jonathan Majors, whose Kang the Conqueror is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next Big Bad after Thanos isn’t a filmmaker, but his ability to star in a Marvel production and do a Sundance indie is an interesting dichotomy. He was at Sundance last month to promote his indie “Magazine Dreams” which centers on Killian Maddox, a lonely, emotionally troubled young man who develops an obsession with bodybuilding. Premiering to a somewhat divisive response at the festival (although most agreed Majors’ performance was impressive), the film is both an individual character study and a portrait of the American Dream in all its flawed glory. 

Does Marvel Studios actually send scouts to the festival to eye talent? Not really, because according to an insider with knowledge, the company has all the internal producers constantly looking for talent regardless. “Studios are still seeing the movies, but the prevailing conversation is ‘This actor or director is worth looking at for one of our movies or franchise titles,'” the theatrical executive said.

The dealmaker added: “High-level directors who are hot don’t work for Marvel Studios. It’s only up-and-comers and veterans who are cold.”

While it’s true that Marvel’s recent hires have been more opportunistic in nature (up-and-comers like Watts, Shortland, and “The Marvels” director Nia DaCosta; “cold” veterans like “Doctor Strange 2’s” Sam Raimi, who hadn’t directed a feature in a decade), other “hot” filmmakers like Coogler, “Fantastic Four’s” Matt Shakman (who left a “Star Trek” film to direct the Marvel reboot), and upcoming “Deadpool 3” filmmaker Shawn Levy don’t quite fit that description.

One top manager told TheWrap that “in order to keep the franchises alive longer you need to inject the voices into it that will help revitalize and refresh the IP. Festivals like Sundance curate distinctive variety, and these newer filmmakers are keener to lend that to these studios.”

“Marvel Studios gives early career directors their first opportunity to make tentpole movies with budgets over $100 million dollars,” the insider added. “After directing blockbuster hits for Marvel, directors go on to other high-profile projects at other studios. Filmmakers are often complimentary and surprised by the creative freedom and flexibility they have working with Marvel Studios, and in the case of directors like Watts, Coogler and Waititi, all returned to direct for Marvel again.”

Of course, Sundance serving as the breakout for major talent is nothing new — filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino, to Steven Soderbergh, to Damien Chazelle all got their start with buzz in Park City — but the notion that the most consistent blockbuster hit-maker in town is looking to Sundance for its roster of talent speaks to the state of the industry today.

Scott Mendelson contributed to this report.

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