The 2019 Sundance Film Festival is approaching, and here’s the Final Line-Up! Discover the list of films to watch in Park City this year!
A few months ago the Sundance Institute announced the full line-up of one of the most anticipated film festivals of the year, with information about the 112 films that will be shown at the Sundance Film Festival from January 24 till February 3, 2019. Weeks later, five feature films and a Special Event were added to the festival’s already impressive program, and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind was named winner of the 2019 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. But the surprises aren’t over: this week the Institute revealed that Alison Klayman’s The Brink (Documentary Premiere) and Dan Reed’s Leaving Neverland (Special Event) have been added to the final lineup, which now consists of over 200 projects. But that’s not all: the surprise screening has been revealed, and it’s Stephen Merchant’s much anticipated drama Fighting with My Family, produced by Dwayne Johnson and starring, among others, Florence Pugh, Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn and Dwayne Johnson himself. Discover the final line-up for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival!
The 2019 Sundance Film Festival has selected a total of 241 projects, and will screen 115 feature-length films. A total of 45 first-time filmmakers have been chosen and 169 screenings will be world premieres. But that’s not all: 49 countries will be represented at this year’s Festival, and 47% of all films and projects were directed or created by one or more women. Robert Redford promises “storytellers who offer challenges, questions and entertainment”, and John Cooper (Director of the Sundance Film Festival) guarantees a “layered, intense and authentic” slate.
Check out the updated 2019 Sundance line-up below (the new films are listed at the top of each section), and don’t forget to download the official festival app to start planning your trip.
SUNDANCE 2019 PREMIERES
AFTER THE WEDDING
Opening Night Film
World Premiere, Day One
Director and screenwriter: Bart Freundlich
Producers: Joel B. Michaels, Harry Finkel
Cast: Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup, Abby Quinn
Country: U.S.A.
Seeking funds for her orphanage in India, Isabelle travels to New York to meet Theresa, a wealthy benefactor. An invitation to attend a wedding ignites a series of events in which the past collides with the present while mysteries unravel. Based on the Academy Award-nominated film by Susanne Bier.
TROOP ZERO
Closing Night Film
World Premiere
Director: Bert & Bertie
Screenwriter: Lucy Alibar
Producers: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Alex Siskin, Viola Davis
Cast: Viola Davis, Mckenna Grace, Jim Gaffigan, Mike Epps, Charlie Shotwell, Allison Janney
Country: U.S.A.
In rural 1977 Georgia, a misfit girl dreams of life in outer space. When a national competition offers her a chance at her dream, to be recorded on NASA’s Golden Record, she recruits a makeshift troupe of Birdie Scouts, forging friendships that last a lifetime and beyond.
FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY
World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Stephen Merchant
Producers: Kevin Misher, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Stephen Merchant Michael J. Luisi;
Executive Producers: Andy Berman, Hiram Garcia, Daniel Battsek, Tracey Josephs, David Kosse, Rhodri Thomas
Cast: Florence Pugh, Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Jack Lowden, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne Johnson
Country: United Kingdom, U.S.A.
Raya Knight (Florence Pugh) is an English teenager, and her favorite thing about her family is that they are all obsessed with wrestling—an unusual family pastime most places by any means, but especially in Great Britain. While her parents (Lena Headey and Nick Frost) aim to book wrestling matches in tiny venues around the country for Raya and her brother, Zak (Jack Lowden), true fighting stardom has always eluded them. That all changes when the WWE sees one of their tapes and offers the siblings the opportunity to audition for coach Hutch (Vince Vaughn). As glory starts to seem just within Raya and Zak’s grasp, it also threatens to change their sibling dynamic forever.
PADDLETON
World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Alex Lehmann
Producers: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Alana Carithers, Sean Bradley
Cast: Mark Duplass, Ray Romano, Ravi Patel, Christine Woods
Country: U.S.A.
An unlikely friendship between two misfit neighbors becomes an unexpectedly emotional journey when the younger man is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
ANIMALS
World Premiere
Director: Sophie Hyde
Screenwriter: Emma Jane Unsworth
Producers: Sarah Brocklehurst, Rebecca Summerton, Cormac Fox, Sophie Hyde
Cast: Holliday Grainger, Alia Shawkat
Countries: United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia
After a decade of partying, Laura and Tyler’s friendship is strained by Laura’s new love and her focus on her novel. A snapshot of a modern woman with competing desires, at once a celebration of female friendship and an examination of the choices we make when facing a crossroads.
BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
World Premiere
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Screenwriters: Sarfraz Manzoor, Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges
Producers: Gurinder Chadha, Jane Barclay, Jamal Daniel
Cast: Viveik Kalra, Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon, Kulvinder Ghir, Nell Williams, Aaron Phagura
Country: United Kingdom
In 1987 during the austere days of Thatcher’s Britain, a teenager learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen.
EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE
World Premiere
Director: Joe Berlinger
Screenwriter: Michael Werwie
Producers: Michael Costigan, Nicolas Chartier, Ara Keshishian, Michael Simkin
Cast: Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Haley Joel Osment, Kaya Scodelario, John Malkovich, Jim Parsons
Country: U.S.A.
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy from the perspective of Liz, his longtime girlfriend, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
I AM MOTHER
World Premiere
Director: Grant Sputore
Screenwriter: Michael Lloyd Green
Producers: Timothy White, Kelvin Munro
Cast: Clara Rugaard, Rose Byrne, Hilary Swank
Country: Australia
In the wake of humanity’s extinction, a teenage girl is raised by a robot designed to repopulate the earth. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
LATE NIGHT
World Premiere
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Screenwriter: Mindy Kaling
Producers: Ben Browning, Howard Klein, Jillian Apfelbaum, Mindy Kaling
Cast: Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Paul Walter Hauser, Reid Scott, Amy Ryan
Country: U.S.A.
Legendary late-night talk show host’s world is turned upside down when she hires her only female staff writer. Originally intended to smooth over diversity concerns, her decision has unexpectedly hilarious consequences as the two women separated by culture and generation are united by their love of a biting punchline.
OFFICIAL SECRETS
World Premiere
Director: Gavin Hood
Screenwriters: Sara Bernstein, Gregory Bernstein, Gavin Hood
Producers: Ged Doherty, Elizabeth Fowler, Melissa Shiyu Zuo
Cast: Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans
Country: U.S.A., United Kingdom
The true story of British Intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun, who prior to the 2003 Iraq invasion leaked a top-secret NSA memo exposing a joint US-UK illegal spying operation against members of the UN Security Council. The memo proposed blackmailing member states into voting for war.
PHOTOGRAPH
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Ritesh Batra
Producers: Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqi, Sanya Malhotra
Country: India
Two lives intersect in Mumbai and go along together. A struggling street photographer, pressured to marry by his grandmother, convinces a shy stranger to pose as his fiancée. The pair develops a connection that transforms them in ways that they could not expect.
RELIVE
World Premiere
Director: Jacob Estes
Screenwriters: Jacob Estes, Drew Daywalt
Producers: Jason Blum, Bobby Cohen
Cast: David Oyelowo, Storm Reid, Mykelti Williamson, Alfred Molina, Bryan Tyree Henry
Country: U.S.A.
After a man’s family dies in what appears to be a murder, he gets a phone call from one of the dead, his niece. He’s not sure if she’s a ghost or if he’s going mad — but as it turns out, he’s not. Instead, her calls help him rewrite history.
SONJA: THE WHITE SWAN
International Premiere
Director: Anne Sewitsky
Screenwriters: Mette Marit Bølstad, Andreas Markusson
Producers: Cornelia Boysen, Synnøve Hørsdal
Cast: Ine Marie Wilmann, Valene Kane, Eldar Skar, Anders Mordal, Pål Sverre Hagen, Aiden McArdle
Country: Norway
(Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)
The true story of one of the world’s greatest athletes and the inventor of modern figure skating, who took Hollywood by storm in the 1930s, sacrificing everything to stay in the spotlight.
THE MUSTANG
World Premiere
Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
Screenwriters: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Mona Fastvold, Brock Norman Brock
Producer: Alain Goldman
Executive Producer: Robert Redford
Cast: Matthias Schoenaerts, Connie Britton, Bruce Dern, Jason Mitchell, Gideon Adlon, Josh Stewart
Country: U.S.A.
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.
THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND
Winner of the 2019 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize
World Premiere, Day One
Director and screenwriter: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Producers: Andrea Calderwood, Gail Egan
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, Lily Banda, Noma Dumezweni, Aissa Maiga, Joseph Marcell
Country: United Kingdom
Against all the odds, a thirteen year old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine. Based on the true story of William Kamkwamba.
THE REPORT
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Scott Z. Burns
Producers: Steven Soderbergh, Jennifer Fox, Scott Z. Burns, Danny Gabai, Eddy Moretti
Cast: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Ted Levine, Maura Tierney, Michael C. Hall
Country: U.S.A.
The story of Daniel Jones, lead investigator for the US Senate’s sweeping study into the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program, which was found to be brutal, immoral and ineffective. With the truth at stake, Jones battled tirelessly to make public what many in power sought to keep hidden.
THE SUNLIT NIGHT
World Premiere
Director: David Wnendt
Screenwriter: Rebecca Dinerstein
Producers: Michael Clark, Alex Turtletaub, Gabrielle Nadig, Fabian Gasmia, Ruben Thorkildsen, Jenny Slate
Cast: Jenny Slate, Zach Galifianakis, Alex Sharp, Gillian Anderson, Fridjov Sáheim, David Paymer
Country: Germany, Norway
Between New York City and the far north of Norway, an American painter and a Russian émigré find each other in the Arctic circle. Together under a sun that never sets, they discover a future and family that they didn’t know they had.
THE TOMORROW MAN
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Noble Jones
Producers: Luke Rivett, Nicolaas Bertelsen, James Schamus, Tony Lipp
Cast: John Lithgow, Blythe Danner, Derek Cecil, Katie Aselton, Sophie Thatcher, Eve Harlow
Country: U.S.A.
Ed Hemsler spends his life preparing for a disaster that may never come. Ronnie Meisner spends her life shopping for things she may never use. In a small town somewhere in America, these two people will try to find love while trying not to get lost in each other’s stuff.
TOP END WEDDING
World Premiere
Director: Wayne Blair
Screenwriters: Joshua Tyler, Miranda Tapsell
Producers: Rosemary Blight, Kylie du Fresne, Kate Croser
Cast: Miranda Tapsell, Gwilym Lee, Kerry Fox, Huw Higginson, Ursula Yovich, Shari Sebbens
Country: Australia
Lauren and Ned are engaged, they are in love, and they have just ten days to find Lauren’s mother who has gone AWOL somewhere in the remote far north of Australia, reunite her parents and pull off their dream wedding.
VELVET BUZZSAW
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Dan Gilroy
Producer: Jennifer Fox
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, Zawe Ashton, Tom Sturridge, Natalia Dyer
Country: U.S.A.
A thriller set in the contemporary art world scene of Los Angeles, where big money artists and mega-collectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce.
SUNDANCE 2019 WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT
World Premiere
Director: Hannah Pearl Utt
Screenwriters: Hannah Pearl Utt, Jen Tullock
Producers: Mallory Schwartz, Josh Hetzler, James Brown
Cast: Hannah Pearl Utt, Jen Tullock, Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin, Mike Colter, Alec Baldwin
Country: U.S.A.
A long-kept family secret thrusts codependent, thirty-something sisters Rachel and Jackie Gurner into a literal soap opera. A journey that proves that you really can come of age, at any age.
BIG TIME ADOLESCENCE
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Jason Orley,
Producers: Jeremy Garelick, Mickey Liddell, Pete Shiliamon, Mason Novick, Will Phelps
Cast: Pete Davidson, Griffin Gluck, Jon Cryer, Sydney Sweeney, Emily Arlook, Colson Baker.
Country: U.S.A.
A suburban teenager comes of age under the destructive guidance of his best friend, a charismatic college dropout.
BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Paul Downs Colaizzo
Producers: Matthew Plouffe, Tobey Maguire, Margot Hand
Cast: Gillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, Micah Stock, Alice Lee
Country: U.S.A.
A woman living in New York takes control of her life – one city block at a time.
CLEMENCY
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Chinonye Chukwu
Producers: Bronwyn Cornelius, Julian Cautherley, Peter Wong, Timur Bekbosunov
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge, Richard Schiff, Wendell Pierce, Richard Gunn, Danielle Brooks
Country: U.S.A.
Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.
THE FAREWELL
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Lulu Wan
Producers: Daniele Melia, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Chris Weitz, Andrew Miano, Anita Gou
Cast: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong, Jiang Yongbo
Country: U.S.A., China
A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family’s decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.
HALA
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Minhal Baig
Producers: Clarence Hammond, Jamal Watson, Minhal Baig
Cast: Geraldine Viswanathan, Jack Kilmer, Gabriel Luna, Purbi Joshi, Azad Khan, Anna Chlumsky.
Country: U.S.A.
Muslim teenager Hala copes with the unraveling of her family as she comes into her own.
HONEY BOY
World Premiere
Director: Alma Har’el
Screenwriter: Shia LaBeouf
Producers: Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Anita Gou, Christopher Leggett, Alma Har’el
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe
Country: U.S.A.
A child TV star and his ex-rodeo clown father face their stormy past through time and cinema.
IMAGINARY ORDER
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Debra Eisenstadt
Producers: Debra Eisenstadt, Cosmos Kiindarius
Cast: Wendi McLendon-Covey, Christine Woods, Max Burkholder, Steve Little, Catherine Curtin, Kate Alberts
Country: U.S.A.
The sexual, psychological and moral unraveling of an obsessive-compulsive suburban mom.
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
World Premiere
Director: Joe Talbot
Screenwriters: Joe Talbot, Rob Richert
Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Christina Oh, Khaliah Neal, Joe Talbot
Cast: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, Danny Glover
Country: U.S.A.
Jimmie Fails dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend Mont, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind.
LUCE
World Premiere
Director: Julius Onah
Screenwriters: JC Lee, Julius Onah
Producers: John Baker, Julius Onah, Andrew Yang
Cast: Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tim Roth, Norbert Leo Butz
Country: U.S.A.
A married couple is forced to reckon with their idealized image of their son, adopted from war-torn Eritrea, after an alarming discovery by a devoted high school teacher threatens his status as an all-star student.
MS. PURPLE
World Premiere
Director: Justin Chon
Screenwriters: Justin Chon, Chris Dinh
Producer: Alex Chi, Justin Cho
Cast: Tiffany Chu, Teddy Lee, Octavio Pizano, James Kang
Country: U.S.A.
Kasie, stuck in LA’s Koreatown, works as a karaoke hostess getting paid for her companionship by drunken men. When her dad’s hospice nurse quits she reconnects with her estranged brother, Carey, forcing them to enter a period of intense self-reflection as their single father who raised them nears death.
NATIVE SON
World Premiere
Director: Rashid Johnson
Screenwriter: Suzan-Lori Parks
Producers: Matthew Perniciaro, Michael Sherman
Cast: Ashton Sanders, Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, KiKi Layne, Bill Camp, Sanaa Lathan
Country: U.S.A.
In this modern reimagining of Richard Wright’s seminal novel, a young African-American man named Bigger Thomas takes a job working for a highly influential Chicago family, a decision that will change the course of his life forever.
SHARE
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Pippa Bianco
Producers: Carly Hugo, Tyler Byrne, Matt Parker
Cast: Rhianne Barreto, Charlie Plummer, Poorna Jagannathan, J.C. MacKenzie, Nick Galitzine, Lovie Simone
Country: U.S.A.
After discovering a disturbing video from a night she doesn’t remember, sixteen-year-old Mandy must try to figure out what happened and how to navigate the escalating fallout.
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
World Premiere
Director: Michael Tyburski
Screenwriters: Ben Nabors, Michael Tyburski
Producers: Ben Nabors, Michael Prall, Tariq Merhab, Charlie Scully, Mandy Tagger Brockey, Adi Ezroni
Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Rashida Jones, Tony Revolori, Austin Pendleton
Country: U.S.A.
A successful “house tuner” in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people’s homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can’t solve.
THEM THAT FOLLOW
World Premiere
Directors and screenwriters: Britt Poulton, Dan Madison Savage
Producers: Bradley Gallo, Michael Helfant, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Danielle Robinson
Cast: Olivia Colman, Kaitlyn Dever, Alice Englert, Jim Gaffigan, Walton Goggins, Thomas Mann
Country: U.S.A.
Inside a snake-handling church deep in Appalachia, a forbidden relationship forces a pastor’s daughter to confront her community’s deadly tradition.
TO THE STARS
World Premiere
Director: Martha Stephens
Screenwriter: Shannon Bradley-Colleary
Producers: Kristin Mann, Laura D. Smith, Erik Rommesmo
Cast: Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Jordana Spiro, Shea Whigham, Malin Akerman, Tony Hale
Country: U.S.A.
Under small town scrutiny, a withdrawn farmer’s daughter forges an intimate friendship with a worldly but reckless new girl in 1960s Oklahoma.
SUNDANCE 2019 DOCUMENTARY PREMIERES
THE BRINK
World Premiere
Director: Alison Klayman
Producer: Marie Therese Guirgis
Country: U.S.A.
Now unconstrained by an official White House post, Steve Bannon is free to peddle influence as a perceived kingmaker with a direct line to the President. After anointing himself leader of the “populist movement,” he travels around the U.S. and the world spreading his hard-line anti-immigration message.
ASK DR. RUTH
World Premiere
Director: Ryan White
Producers: Rafael Marmor, Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Christopher Leggett
Country: U.S.A.
A documentary portrait chronicling the incredible life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who became America’s most famous sex therapist. As her 90th birthday approaches, Dr. Ruth revisits her painful past and her career at the forefront of the sexual revolution.
HALSTON
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Frédéric Tcheng
Producers: Roland Ballester, Frédéric Tcheng, Stephanie Levy, Paul Dallas
Country: U.S.A.
From Iowa to Studio 54, this investigation into the rags-to-riches story of America’s first superstar designer uncovers the cautionary tale of an artist who sold his name to Wall Street.
LOVE, ANTOSHA
World Premiere
Director: Garret Price
Producers: Adam Gibbs, Drake Doremus
Country: U.S.A.
A portrait of the extraordinary life and career of actor Anton Yelchin.
MARIANNE & LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE
World Premiere
Director: Nick Broomfield
Producers: Marc Hoeferlin, Shani Hinton, Kyle Gibbon
Country: U.S.A.
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love is a beautiful yet tragic love story between Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse Marianne Ihlen. Their love began on the idyllic Greek island of Hydra in 1960 as part of a bohemian community of foreign artists, writers, and musicians. The film follows their relationship from the early days on Hydra, a humble time of “free love” and open marriage, to how their love evolved when Leonard became a successful musician. Marianne and Leonard’s was a love story that would continue for the rest of their lives. Along the way we learn of the tragedy that befell those that could not survive the beauty of Hydra, the highs and lows of Leonard’s career, and the inspirational power that Marianne possessed.
MERATA: HOW MUM DECOLONISED THE SCREEN
International Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Heperi MIta
Producer: Chelsea Winstanley
Country: New Zealand
An intimate portrayal of pioneering filmmaker Merata Mita, told through the eyes of her children. Using hours of archive footage, some never before seen, her youngest child discovers the filmmaker he never knew and shares with the world the mother he lost.
MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL
World Premiere
Director: Stanley Nelson
Producers: Nicole London, Stanley Nelson
Country: U.S.A., United Kingdom
A visionary, innovator, and originator who defied categorization and embodied the word cool: a foray into the life and career of musical and cultural icon Miles Davis.
RAISE HELL: THE LIFE & TIMES OF MOLLY IRVINS
World Premiere
Director: Janice Engel
Screenwriters: Janice Engel, Monique Zavistovski
Producers: James Egan, Janice Engel, Carlisle Vandervoort
Country: U.S.A.
Molly Ivins was six feet of flame-haired Texas trouble, a prescient political journalist, best-selling author and Bill of Rights warrior. She took no prisoners, leaving both sides of the aisle laughing and craving more of her razor-sharp wit. It’s time to Raise Hell like Molly!
THE GREAT HACK
World Premiere
Directors: Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim
Screenwriters: Karim Amer, Erin Barnett, Pedro Kos
Producers: Karim Amer, Geralyn Dreyfous, Judy Korin
Country: U.S.A.
Data, arguably the world’s most valuable asset, is being weaponized to wage cultural and political wars. The dark world of data exploitation is uncovered through the unpredictable personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data story.
THE INVENTOR: OUT FOR BLOOD IN SILICON VALLEY
World Premiere, Day One
Director: Alex Gibney
Producers: Jessie Deeter, Erin Edeiken, Alex Gibney
Country: U.S.A.
With a magical new invention that promised to revolutionize blood testing, Elizabeth Holmes became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, heralded as the next Steve Jobs. Then, overnight, her $10-billion-dollar company dissolved. The rise and fall of Theranos is a window into the psychology of fraud.
TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM
World Premiere
Director: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Producers: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Johanna Giebelhaus, Chad Thompson, Tommy Walker
Country: U.S.A.
This artful and intimate meditation on the legendary storyteller examines her life, her works and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career. Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, history, America and the human condition.
UNTOUCHABLE
World Premiere
Director: Ursula Macfarlane
Producers: Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn, Poppy Dixon
Country: U.S.A.
The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquires and protects his power even as scandal threatens to engulf him. Former colleagues and accusers detail the method and consequences of his alleged abuse, hoping for justice and to inspire change.
WORDS FROM A BEAR
World Premiere
Director and producer: Jeffrey Palmer
Executive Produces: Michael Kantor, Shirley K. Sneve and Sally Jo Fifer
Featuring Joy Harjo, Robert Redford, Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges, James Earl Jones
Country: U.S.A.
When N. Scott Momaday won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, it marked one of the first major acknowledgments of Native American literature and the vibrant contemporary culture it described. Now, Momaday’s transportive words come to life in this cinematic biography of one of Native America’s most celebrated storytellers.
In Jeffrey Palmer’s directorial debut, distinctly expressive animations intersect with stunning footage of the Great Plains as Momaday draws from his Kiowa ancestry and identity to pose universal questions about how we connect to our origins, each other, and the earth. In a series of intimate interviews, Momaday expounds on his life and its many challenges, while insights from the likes of Joy Harjo, Robert Redford, and Jeff and Beau Bridges reveal the impact of his literary contributions. WORDS FROM A BEAR reveals the inspiring beauty of Momaday’s work while also guiding audiences through the grave historical struggles that Native American communities have faced. The result is a profound celebration of not only Momaday’s writing and history but also the art of storytelling itself.
SUNDANCE 2019 U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
ALWAYS IN SEASON
World Premiere
Director: Jacqueline Olive
Country: U.S.A.
When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother’s search for justice and reconciliation begins as the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.
AMERICAN FACTORY
World Premiere
Directors: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
Producers: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, Jeff Reichert, Julie Parker Benello
Country: U.S.A.
In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
APOLLO 11
World Premiere, Day One
Director: Todd Douglas Miller
Producers: Todd Douglas Miller, Thomas Petersen, Evan Krauss
Country: U.S.A.
A purely archival reconstruction of humanity’s first trip to another world, featuring never-before-seen 70mm footage and never-before-heard audio from the mission.
BEDLAM
World Premiere
Director: Kenneth Paul Rosenberg
Producers: Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, Peter Mille
Country: U.S.A.
BEDLAM is a harrowing trip inside the epicenter of the national crisis and criminalization of the mentally ill. While capturing never-before-seen footage at a Los Angeles County Psych ER over five years; psychiatrist/filmmaker Kenneth Rosenberg unveils disturbing realities for hundreds of thousands of homeless and our nation’s disastrous approach to caring for its psychiatric patients.
DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME
World Premiere
Director: A.J. Eaton
Producers: Cameron Crowe, Michele Farinola, Greg Mariotti
Country: U.S.A.
You thought you knew him. Meet David Crosby now in this portrait of a man with everything but an easy retirement on his mind. With unflinching honesty, self-examination, regret, fear, exuberance and an unshakable belief in family and the transformative nature of music, Crosby shares his often challenging journey.
HAIL SATAN
World Premiere
Director: Penny Lane
Producer: Gabriel Sedgwick
Country: U.S.A.
A look at the intersection of religion and activism, tracing the rise of The Satanic Temple: only six years old and already one of the most controversial religious movements in American history. The Temple is calling for a Satanic revolution to save the nation’s soul. But are they for real?
JAWLINE
World Premiere
Director: Liza Mandelup
Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Hannah Reyer
Country: U.S.A.
The film follows 16-year-old Austyn Tester, a rising star in the live-broadcast ecosystem who built his following on wide-eyed optimism and teen girl lust, as he tries to escape a dead-end life in rural Tennessee.
KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE
World Premiere
Director: Rachel Lears
Producers: Sarah Olson, Robin Blotnick, Rachel Lears
Country: U.S.A.
A young bartender in the Bronx, a coal miner’s daughter in West Virginia, a grieving mother in Nevada and a registered nurse in Missouri build a movement of insurgent candidates challenging powerful incumbents in Congress. One of their races will become the most shocking political upset in recent American history.
MIDNIGHT FAMILY
World Premiere
Director: Luke Lorentzen
Producers: Kellen Quinn, Daniela Alatorre, Elena Fortes
Country: Mexico, U.S.A.
In Mexico City’s wealthiest neighborhoods, the Ochoa family runs a private ambulance, competing with other for-profit EMTs for patients in need of urgent help. As they try to make a living in this cutthroat industry, they struggle to keep their financial needs from compromising the people in their care.
MIKE WALLACE IS HERE
World Premiere
Director: Avi Belkin
Producers: Rafael Marmor, John Battsek, Peggy Drexler, Avi Belkin, Christopher Leggett
Country: U.S.A.
For over half a century, 60 Minutes’ fearsome newsman Mike Wallace went head-to-head with the world’s most influential figures. Relying exclusively on archival footage, the film interrogates the interrogator, tracking Mike’s storied career and troubled personal life while unpacking how broadcast journalism evolved to today’s precarious tipping point.
MOONLIGHT SONATA: DEAFNESS IN THREE MOVEMENTS
World Premiere
Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky
Producers: Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tahria Sheather
Country: U.S.A.
A deeply personal portrait of three lives, and the discoveries that lie beyond loss: a deaf boy growing up, his deaf grandfather growing old, and Beethoven the year he was blindsided by deafness and wrote his iconic sonata.
ONE CHILD NATION
World Premiere
Director: Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang
Producers: Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, Julie Goldman, Christoph Jörg, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn
Country: China, U.S.A.
After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China’s one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.
PAHOKEE
World Premiere
Directors: Ivete Lucas, Patrick Bresnan
Producers: Ivete Lucas, Patrick Bresnan, Maida Lynn
Country: U.S.A.
Directors Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan (The Send Off, Skip Day, Rabbit Hunt) return to the Sundance Film Festival with their feature debut PAHOKEE. Displaying the powerful sensibilities of their short films, they follow four high-school students, Na’Kerria, Jocabed, Junior, and BJ, as they embark on their senior year in Pahokee, a small agricultural town in Florida.
TIGERLAND
World Premiere
Director: Ross Kauffman
Producers: Fisher Stevens, Xan Parker, Zara Duffy
Country: U.S.A.
50 years ago, a young forest officer in India rallied the world to save tigers from extinction. Today, the creed is carried on in Far East Russia by the guardians of the last Siberian tigers, who risk everything to save the species.
UNTITLED AMAZING JONATHAN DOCUMENTARY
World Premiere
Director: Ben Berman
Producers: Miranda Bailey, Ben Berman, Russell Groves, Amanda Marshall, Jacob Perlin
Cast: Johnathan Szeles
Country: U.S.A.
What begins as a documentary following the final tour of a dying magician — “The Amazing Johnathan” — becomes an unexpected and increasingly bizarre journey as the filmmaker struggles to separate truth from illusion.
WHERE’S MY ROY COHN?
World Premiere
Director: Matt Tyrnauer
Producers: Matt Tyrnauer , Corey Reeser, Marie Brenner, Andrea Lewis
Country: U.S.A.
Roy Cohn personified the dark arts of American politics, turning empty vessels into dangerous demagogues – from Joseph McCarthy to his final project, Donald J. Trump. This thriller-like exposé connects the dots, revealing how a deeply troubled master manipulator shaped our current American nightmare.
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
DIRTY GOD
International Premiere
Director: Sacha Polak
Screenwriters: Sacha Polak, Susanne Farrell, Producers: Marleen Slot, Michael Elliott
Cast: Vicky Knight, Katherine Kelly, Eliza Brady-Girard, Rebecca Stone, Bluey Robinson, Dana Marienci
Country: Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland
Sacha Polak, Susanne Farrell, Producers: Marleen Slot, Michael Elliott) — Jade is a young mother in the prime of her life when an acid attack leaves her severely burned. While her face has been reconstructed, her beauty is lost beneath the scars. Descending a self-destructive path with relationships crumbling, Jade must take drastic action to reclaim her life.
DIVINE LOVE
World Premiere
Director: Gabriel Mascaro
Screenwriters: Gabriel Mascaro, Rachel Daisy Ellis, Esdras Bezerra, Producer: Rachel Daisy Ellis
Cast: Dira Praes, Julio Machado, Emilio de Melo, Teca Pereira, Mariana Nunes, Thalita Carauta
Country: Brazil, Uruguay, Denmark, Norway
Brazil, 2027. A deeply religious woman uses her position in a notary’s office to advance her mission to save struggling couples from divorce. Whilst waiting for a sign in recognition of her efforts, she’s confronted with a crisis in her own marriage that ultimately brings her closer to God.
DOLCE FINE GIORNATA
World Premiere
Director: Jacek Borcuch
Screenwriters: Jacek Borcuch, Szczepan Twardoch, Producer: Marta Habior
Cast: Krystyna Janda, Katarzyna Smutniak, Vincent Riotta, Antonio Catania, Lorenzo de Moor, Robin Renucci.
Country: Poland
In Tuscany, Maria’s stable family life begins to erode as her relationship with a young immigrant develops against a backdrop of terrorism and eroding democracy.
JUDY & PUNCH
World Premiere
Director: Mirrah Foulkes
Producers: Michele Bennett, Nash Edgerton, Danny Gabai
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Damon Herriman, Tom Budge, Benedict Hardie, Lucy Velik, Terry Norris
Country: Australia
In the anarchic town of Seaside, nowhere near the sea, puppeteers Judy and Punch are trying to resurrect their marionette show. The show is a hit due to Judy’s superior puppeteering but Punch’s driving ambition and penchant for whisky lead to a inevitable tragedy that Judy must avenge.
KOKO-DI KOKO-DA
World Premiere
Director: Johannes Nyholm
Producer: Johannes Nyholm
Cast: Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Peter Belli, Katarina Jacobson
Country: Sweden, Denmark
As a couple goes on a trip to find their way back to each other, a sideshow artist and his shady entourage emerge from the woods, terrorizing them, luring them deeper and deeper into a maelstrom of psychological terror and humiliating slapstick.
THE LAST TREE
World Premiere, Day One
Director: Shola Amoo
Producers: Lee Thomas, Myf Hopkins
Cast: Sam Adewunmi, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Tai Golding
Country: United Kingdom
Femi is a British boy of Nigerian heritage who, after a happy childhood in rural Lincolnshire, moves to inner London to live with his mum. Struggling with the unfamiliar culture and values of his new environment, teenage Femi has to figure out which path to adulthood he wants to take.
MONOS
World Premiere
Director: Alejandro Landes
Screenwriters: Alejandro Landes, Alexis Dos Santos
Producers: Alejandro Landes, Fernando Epstein, Santiago Zapata, Cristina Landes
Cast: Julianne Nicholson, Moisés Arias, Sofia Buenaventura, Deibi Rueda, Karen Quintero, Laura Castrillón
Country: Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Uruguay
On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
QUEEN OF HEARTS
World Premiere
Director: May el-Toukhy
Screenwriters: Maren Louise Käehne, May el-Toukhy
Producers: Caroline Blanco, René Ezra
Cast: Trine Dyrholm, Gustav Lindh, Magnus Krepper
Country: Denmark
A woman jeopardizes both her career and her family when she seduces her teenage stepson and is forced to make an irreversible decision with fatal consequences.
THE SHARKS
World Premiere
Director: Lucía Garibaldi
Producers: Pancho Magnou Arnábal, Isabel García
Cast: Romina Bentancur, Federico Morosini, Fabián Arenillas, Valeria Lois, Antonella Aquistapache
Country: Uruguay, Argentina, Spain
While a rumor about the presence of sharks in a small beach town distracts residents, 14-year-old Rosina begins to feel an instinct to shorten the distance between her body and Joselo’s.
THE SOUVENIR
World Premiere
Director: Joanna Hogg
Producers: Luke Schiller, Joanna Hogg
Cast: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, Tilda Swinton
Country: United Kingdom
A quiet film student begins finding her voice as an artist while navigating a turbulent courtship with a charismatic but untrustworthy man. She defies her protective mother and concerned friends as she slips deeper and deeper into an intense, emotionally fraught relationship which comes dangerously close to destroying her dreams.
THIS IS NOT BERLIN
World Premiere
Director: Hari Sama
Screenwriters: Rodrigo Ordóñez, Hari Sama, Max Zunino
Producers: Ale García, Antonio Urdapilleta, Hari Sama, Verónica Valadez P.
Cast: Xabiani Ponce de León, José Antonio Toledano, Ximena Romo, Mauro Sánchez Navarro, Klaudia García, Marina de Tavira
Country: Mexico
1986, Mexico City. Seventeen-year-old Carlos doesn’t fit in anywhere, not in his family nor with the friends he has chosen in school. But everything changes when he is invited to a mythical nightclub where he discovers the underground nightlife scene: punk, sexual liberty and drugs.
WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES
World Premiere
Director: Makoto Nagahisa
Producers: Shinichi Takahashi, Tahei Tamanishi, Haruki Yokoyama, Haruhiko Hasegawa
Cast: Keita Ninomiya, Satoshi Mizuno, Mondo Okumura, Sena Nakajima
Country: Japan
One sunny day, four young strangers—Hikari, Ikuko, Ishi, and Takemura—meet by chance at a crematorium. They have all recently lost their parents, but none of them can shed a tear. They are like zombies, devoid of all emotion. Alone in the world at 13 years old with no future, no dreams, and no way to move forward, our protagonists dress themselves in scraps from a garbage dump, track down musical instruments, and decide to form a kick-ass band. They call themselves LITTLE ZOMBIES. This is a story about their quest to retrieve their ability to feel.
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
THE MAGIC LIFE OF V
World Premiere
Director: Tonislav Hristov
Screenwriters: Tonislav Hristov, Kaarle Aho
Producers: Kaarle Aho, Kai Nordberg
Country: Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria
Wizards, magic spells, and heroic sword battles are just fantasy for some, but for Veera they’re a meaningful part of conquering her inner trauma. When Veera transforms into her LARP (live-action role-play) persona V, the game’s fantasy-battlefields give her a space to combat her psychological turmoil. Tormented by her past, Veera finds in LARPing the support and solace she needs to become the hero of her own story.
Tonislav Hristov’s elegant film is an intimate representation of an epic emotional journey. Wielding a tight camera, Hristov deftly translates Veera’s internal struggle into nuanced cinematic moments. Images of Veera traversing snowy landscapes offer transitional reprieve between her battlegrounds. Flashes from home videos offer impressionistic glimpses into her childhood. Discussions about her alcoholic and abusive father are a source of tension between Veera and her disabled brother Ville, whom she cares for. Therapy sessions slowly reveal the complexities of Veera’s struggle. Yet remembering and speaking about these memories goes only so far—Veera will need V’s courage if she’s going to confront her most intimidating challenge of all.
THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
World Premiere
Director: Petra Costa
Producers: Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris, Tiago Pavan
Country: Brazil
A cautionary tale for these times of democracy in crisis – the personal and political fuse to explore one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history. With unprecedented access to Presidents Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva, we witness their rise and fall and the tragically polarized nation that remains.
ADVOCATE
World Premiere
Directors: Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaïche
Producers: Philippe Bellaïche, Rachel Leah Jones, Paul Cadieux, Joelle Bertossa
Country: Israel, Canada, Switzerland
Israeli human-rights lawyer Lea Tsemel is a force that won’t be deterred. Having defended Palestinians against a host of criminal charges in Israeli courts for nearly five decades, she is a staunch supporter of compassion within the court system. Frequently subjected to harsh criticism in the press and in the public view, Tsemel remains optimistically steadfast in her belief that justice can be served. In this impressive documentary, Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaïche masterfully juxtapose two of Tsemel’s cases, one professional and the other personal: the defense of a minor accused of attempted murder and a past case in which she defended her activist husband from an accusation of treason against the state. Delicately animated sequences conceal defendants’ identities as Tsemel frankly addresses their best possible chances for acquittal, while interviews with Tsemel’s adult children reveal her unique ability to see the humanity of those accused. Advocate is an original, provocative film that both exposes the human fallout of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and provides hope for a peaceful resolution.
COLD CASE HAMMARSKJOLD
World Premiere
Director: Mads Brügger
Producers: Peter Engel, Andreas Rocksén, Bjarte M. Tveit
Country: Denmark
In 1961, United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane mysteriously crashed, leaving no known survivors. It’s understood that because Hammarskjöld was, at the time, advocating for Congo’s independence (against the wishes of European mining companies and other powerful entities), the “crash” was an assassination. With the case still unsolved 50-plus years later, Danish journalist, filmmaker, and provocateur Mads Brügger (The Red Chapel, The Ambassador) leads us down an investigative rabbit hole to unearth the truth. He, his Swedish private-investigator sidekick, and a host of co-conspirators tirelessly pursue a winding trail of clues, but they turn up more mysteries than revelations. Scores of false starts, dead ends, and elusive interviews later, they begin to sniff out something more monumental than anything they’d initially imagined.
In his signature agitprop style, Brügger becomes both filmmaker and subject, challenging the very nature of truth by “performing” the role of truth-seeker. As Brügger uncovers a critical secret that could send shockwaves around the world, we realize that sometimes absurdity and irony are the emboldening ingredients needed to confront what’s truly sinister..
THE DISAPPEARENCE OF MY MOTHER
World Premiere
Director: Beniamino Barrese
Producer: Filippo Macelloni
Country: Italy
An aging fashion model strives to escape the world of images and disappear for good, but her son’s determination to make a final film about her sparks an unexpected collaboration and confrontation with the camera’s gaze.
GAZA
World Premiere
Directors: Garry Keane, Andrew McConnell
Producers: Brendan J. Byrne, Garry Keane, Andrew McConnell, Paul Cadieux
Country: Ireland
From directing duo Garry Keane (The Deafening, The Writing in the Sky) and Award-winning conflict photographer Andrew McConnell, GAZA is a beautiful portrait of everyday Gazan citizens. It brings us into a unique place beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict.
LAPÜ
World Premiere
Directors: Juan Pablo Polanco, César Alejandro Jaimes
Screenwriters: Juan Pablo Polanco, César Alejandro Jaimes, María Canela Reyes, Producer: Julián David Quintero
Country: Colombia
In the middle of the Guajira Desert, Doris, a young Wayuu woman, exhumes her cousin’s remains in order to meet her for the last time. Through a sensory journey this ritual leads her to confront death and blend the world of the dreams with the world of the living.
THE MAGIC LAND OF V
World Premiere
Director: Tonislav Hristov
Screenwriters: Tonislav Hristov, Kaarle Aho
Producers: Kaarle Aho, Kai Nordberg
Country: Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria
Haunted by childhood traumas, Veera is trying to become more independent through live roleplaying. As she guides herself and her mentally-challenged brother through worlds of multiple roles and identities, witches and wizards, she finds the courage to face the demons of her own past and her abusive father’s legacy.
MIDNIGHT TRAVELER
World Premiere
Director: Hassan Fazili
Screenwriter: Emelie Mahdavian
Producers: Emelie Mahdavian, Su Kim
Country: U.S.A., Qatar, United Kingdom, Canada
When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he is forced to flee with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing their uncertain journey, Fazili shows firsthand the dangers facing refugees seeking asylum and the love shared between a family on the run.
SEA OF SHADOWS
World Premiere
Director: Richard Ladkani
Producers: Walter Koehler, Wolfgang Knoepfler
Country: Austria
The vaquita, the world’s smallest whale, is near extinction as its habitat is destroyed by Mexican cartels and Chinese mafia, who harvest the swim bladder of the totoaba fish, the “cocaine of the sea.” Environmental activists, Mexican navy and undercover investigators are fighting back against this illegal multimillion-dollar business.
SHOOTING THE MAFIA
World Premiere
Director: Kim Longinotto
Producer: Niamh Fagan
Country: Ireland
Sicilian Letizia Battaglia began a lifelong battle with the Mafia when she first pointed her camera at a brutally slain victim. Documenting the Cosa Nostra’s barbaric rule, she bore unflinching witness to their crimes. Her photographs, art, and bravery helped to bring an end to a shocking reign of slaughter.
STIEG LARSSON
THE MAN WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
International Premiere
Director: Henrik Georgsson
Producers: Mattias Nohrborg, Fredrik Heinig
Country: Sweden
A documentary about the Millennium-trilogy author Stieg Larsson and his pioneering work of fighting right wing extremists and neo-Nazis, an obsession with fatal consequences.
NEXT
ADAM
World Premiere
Director: Rhys Ernst
Screenwriter: Ariel Schrag
Producers: Howard Gertler, James Schamus
Cast: Nicholas Alexander, India Menuez, Leo Sheng, Chloe Levine, Margaret Qualley
Country: U.S.A.
Awkward teenager Adam arrives to spend his final high school summer with his older sister, who has thrown herself into New York City’s lesbian and trans activist scene. Over the summer, Adam and those around him experience love, friendship, and attendant hard truths in this coming-of-age comedy.
GIVE ME LIBERTY
World Premiere, Day One
Director: Kirill Mikhanovsky
Screenwriters: Alice Austen, Kirill Mikhanovsky
Producers: Alice Austen, George Rush, Walter S. Hall, Michael Manasseri, Sergey Shtern, Val Abel
Cast: Lauren “Lolo” Spencer, Chris Galust, Maksim Stoyanov, Darya Ekamasova
Country: U.S.A.
When a riot breaks out in Milwaukee, America’s most segregated city, medical transport driver Vic is torn between his promise to get a group of elderly Russians to a funeral and his desire to help Tracy, a young black woman with ALS.
LIGHT FROM LIGHT
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Paul Harrill
Producers: James M. Johnston, Kelly Williams, Toby Halbrooks, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Headington, Theresa Page
Cast: Marin Ireland, Jim Gaffigan, Josh Wiggins, Atheena Frizzell, David Cale
Country: U.S.A.
Shelia, a single mom and sometime paranormal investigator, is enlisted to investigate a possible “haunting” at a widower’s farmhouse in East Tennessee.
PARADISE HILLS
World Premiere
Director: Alice Waddington
Screenwriters: Nacho Vigalondo, Brian DeLeeuw
Producers: Adrian Guerra, Núria Valls
Cast: Emma Roberts, Danielle Macdonald, Awkwafina, Eiza González, Milla Jovovich, Jeremy Irvine
Country: Spain, U.S.A.
A young woman is sent to Paradise Hills to be reformed, only to learn that the high-class facility’s beautiful facade hides a sinister secret.
PREMATURE
World Premiere
Director: Rashaad Ernesto Green
Screenwriters: Rashaad Ernesto Green, Zora Howard
Producers: Joy Ganes, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Darren Dean
Cast: Zora Howard, Joshua Boone, Michelle Wilson, Alexis Marie Wint, Imani Lewis, Tashiana Washington
Country: U.S.A.
Ayana is making the most out of her last summer in Harlem before heading to college. She’s bold, confident, and not really looking for love—until she meets the slightly older Isaiah. After one of those rare first dates that lasts for hours, she knows there’s something different about him. Ayana has found herself at an intimidating crossroads: one foot is still under her mother’s roof, while the the other is primed to step out on her own with Isaiahc.
SELAH AND THE SPADES
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Tayarisha Poe
Producers: Lauren McBride, Lucas Joaquin, Drew Houpt, Tayarisha Poe, Jill Ahrens
Cast: Lovie Simone, Celeste O’Connor, Jharrel Jerome, Gina Torres, Jesse Williams
Country: U.S.A.
Five factions run the underground life of the prestigious Haldwell boarding school. At the head of the most powerful faction – The Spades – sits Selah Summers. By turns charming and callous, she chooses whom to keep close and whom to cut loose, walking the fine line between being feared and loved.
SISTER AIMEE
World Premiere
Directors and screenwriters: Samantha Buck, Marie SchlingmannProducers: Bettina Barrow, David Hartstein, Katherine Harper
Cast: Anna Margaret Hollyman, Michael Mosley, Andrea Suarez Paz, Julie White, Macon Blair, Amy Hargreaves
Country: U.S.A.
In 1926 America’s most famous evangelist is a woman. And she’s looking for a way out. Fed up with her own success, she gets swept up in her lover’s daydreams about Mexico and finds herself on a wild road trip towards the border. Based on true events.
THE DEATH OF DICK LONG
World Premiere
Director: Daniel Scheinert
Screenwriter: Billy Chew
Producers: Jonathan Wang, Daniel Scheinert
Cast: Michael Abbott Jr., Virginia Newcomb, Andre Hyland, Sarah Baker, Jess Weixler
Country: U.S.A.
Dick died last night, and Zeke and Earl don’t want anybody finding out how. That’s too bad though, cause news travels fast in small-town Alabama.
THE INFILTRATORS
World Premiere
Directors: Alex Rivera, Cristina Ibarra
Screenwriters: Alex Rivera, Aldo Velasco
Producers: Cristina Ibarra, Alex Rivera, Darren Dean
Cast: Maynor Alvarado, Manuel Uriza, Chelsea Rendon, Juan Gabriel Pareja, Vik Sahay
Country: U.S.A.
A rag-tag group of undocumented youth – Dreamers – deliberately get detained by Border Patrol in order to infiltrate a shadowy, for-profit detention center.
THE WOLF HOUR
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Alistair Banks Griffin
Producers: Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Bailey Conway Anglewicz, Bradley Pilz
Cast: Naomi Watts, Emory Cohen, Jennifer Ehle, Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Country: U.S.A.
Once a known counterculture figure, June E. Leigh now lives in self-imposed exile in her South Bronx apartment during the incendiary ’77 Summer of Sam. When an unseen tormentor begins exploiting June’s weaknesses, her insular universe begins to unravel.
MIDNIGHT
CORPORATE ANIMALS
World Premiere
Director: Patrick Brice
Screenwriter: Sam Bain
Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Mike Falbo, Ed Helms
Cast: Demi Moore, Ed Helms, Jessica Williams, Karan Soni
Country: U.S.A.
Disaster strikes when the egotistical CEO of an edible cutlery company leads her long-suffering staff on a corporate team-building trip in New Mexico. Trapped underground, this mismatched and disgruntled group must pull together to survive.
WOUNDS
World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Babak Anvari
Producers: Lucan Toh, Christopher Kopp
Cast: Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, Zazie Beetz, Karl Glusman, Brad William Henke
Country: U.S.A., United Kingdom
Disturbing and mysterious things begin to happen to a bartender in New Orleans after he picks up a phone left behind at his bar.
GREENER GRASS
World Premiere
Directors and screenwriters: Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe
Producer: Natalie Metzger
Cast: Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe, Beck Bennett, Neil Casey, Mary Holland, D’Arcy Carden
Country: U.S.A.
A deliciously twisted comedy set in a demented, timeless suburbia where every adult wears braces on their straight teeth, couples coordinate meticulously pressed outfits, and coveted family members are swapped in more ways than one in this competition for acceptance.
LITTLE MONSTERS
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Abe Forsythe
Producers: Jodi Matterson, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, Keith Calder, Jessica Calder
Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Alexander England, Josh Gad
Country: Australia
A film dedicated to all the kindergarten teachers who motivate children to learn, instill them with confidence and stop them from being devoured by zombies.
MEMORY – THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN
World Premiere, Day One
Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
Screenwriter: Alexandre O. Philippe, Producer: Kerry Deignan Roy
Country: U.S.A.
The untold origin story behind Ridley Scott’s Alien – rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies, underground comics, the art of Francis Bacon, and the dark visions of Dan O’Bannon and H.R. Giger. A contemplation on the symbiotic collaborative process of moviemaking, the power of myth, and our collective unconscious.
MOPE
World Premiere
Director: Lucas Heyne
Screenwriters: Lucas Heyne, Zack Newkirk
Producers: Kelly Hayes, Brian Cooper, Kern Saxton, Danny Roth
Cast: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Kelly Sry, Brian Huskey, Max Adler, David Arquette, Tonya Cornelisse
Country: U.S.A.
The tragic true story of best friends Steve Driver and Tom Dong, two low end porn actors who sought fame but gained infamy.
SWEETHEART
World Premiere
Director: JD Dillard
Screenwriters: JD Dillard, Alex Theurer, Alex Hyner
Producers: Jason Blum, JD Dillard, Alex Theurer, Alex Hyner, Bill Karesh
Cast: Kiersey Clemons, Emory Cohen, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Andrew Crawford
Country: U.S.A.
Jenn has washed ashore a small tropical island and it doesn’t take her long to realize she’s completely alone. She must spend her days not only surviving the elements, but must also fend off the malevolent force that comes out each night.
THE HOLE IN THE GROUND
World Premiere
Director: Lee Cronin
Screenwriters: Lee Cronin, Stephen Shields
Producers: John Keville, Conor Barry
Cast: Seána Kerslake, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall, James Quinn Markey
Country: Ireland
One night, Sarah’s young son disappears into the woods behind their rural home. When he returns, he looks the same, but his behavior grows increasingly disturbing. Soon, Sarah realizes that the boy who returned may not be her son at all…
THE LODGE
World Premiere
Director: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Screenwriters: Sergio Casci, Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Producers: Simon Oakes, Aliza James, Aaron Ryder
Cast: Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh, Alicia Silverstone, Richard Armitage
Country: U.S.A., United Kingdom
In this psychologically chilling slow burn, a young woman and her reticent new stepchildren find themselves isolated in the family’s remote winter cabin, locked away to dredge up the mysteries of her dark past and the losses that seem to haunt them all.
SPOTLIGHT
ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN EPOCH
International Premiere
Director: Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Edward Burtynsky
Screenwriter: Jennifer Baichwal
Producer: Nicholas de Pencier
Narrated by: Alicia Vikander
Country: Canada
From concrete seawalls in China that cover 60% of the mainland coast to the biggest terrestrial machines ever built in Germany, to psychedelic potash mines in Russia’s Ural Mountains, to conservation sanctuaries in Kenya, the filmmakers have traversed the globe to document the evidence and experience of human planetary domination.
BIRDS OF PASSAGE
Utah Premiere
Directors: Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra
Screenwriters: Maria Camila Arias, Jacques Toulemonde
Producers: Katrin Pors, Cristina Gallego
Cast: Carmina Martinez, Jose Acosta, Natalia Reyes
Country: Colombia
In 1970s Colombia, Rapayet is a man torn between the desire to be powerful and his duty to uphold his culture’s values. His indigenous tribe, the Wayúu, ignores ancient omens and enters the drug trafficking business — where honor is the highest currency and debts are paid with blood.
MAIDEN
World Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Alex Holmes
Producers: Victoria Gregory, Alex Holmes
Country: United Kingdom
The incredible, against-all-odds story of sailor Tracy Edwards, who skippered the first all-female international crew in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.
THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM
Utah Premiere
Director: John Chester
Screenwriters: Mark Monroe, John Chester
Producers: Sandra Keats, John Chester
Country: U.S.A.
Two dreamers and a dog embark on an odyssey to bring harmony to their lives and the land. As their plan to create perfect harmony takes a series of wild turns, they will have to reach a far greater understanding of the intricacies and wisdom of nature, and life itself.
THE MOUNTAIN
U.S. Premiere
Director: Rick Alverson
Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Colm O’Leary, Dustin Defa
Producers: Ryan Zacarias, Sara Murphy, Eddy Moretti, Alison Carter
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Tye Sheridan, Udo Kier, Denis Lavant, Hannah Gross
Country: U.S.A.
1950s America. Since his mother‘s confinement to an institution, Andy has lived in the shadow of his stoic father. A family acquaintance, Dr. Wallace Fiennes, employs the introverted young man as a photographer to document an asylum tour advocating for his increasingly controversial lobotomy procedure.
THE NIGHTINGALE
North American Premiere
Director and screenwriter: Jennifer Kent
Producers: Kristina Ceyton, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutenski, Jennifer Kent
Cast: Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood, Ewen Leslie
Country: Australia
1825. Clare, a young Irish convictwoman, chases a British officer through the Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of Aboriginal tracker Billy, who is marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
KIDS
ABE
World Premiere
Director: Fernando Grostein Andrade
Screenwriters: Lameece Issaq, Jacob Kader
Producers: Carlos Eduardo Ciampolini, Noberto Pinheiro Jr., Caio Gullane, Fabiano Gullane
Cast: Noah Schnapp, Seu Jorge Mário da Silva, Mark Margolis, Dagmara Dominczyk, Arian Moayed, Tom Mardirosian
Country: Brazil
The Israeli-Jewish side of his family calls him Avram. The Palestinian-Muslim side Ibrahim. His first-generation American agnostic lawyer parents call him Abraham. But the 12-year-old kid from Brooklyn who loves food and cooking, prefers, well, Abe.
THE ELEPHANT QUEEN
U.S. Premiere
Directors: Victoria Stone, Mark Deeble
Screenwriter: Mark Deeble
Producers: Victoria Stone, Lucinda Englehart
Country: United Kingdom, Kenya
Athena is a mother who will do everything in her power to protect her herd when they are forced to leave their waterhole and embark on an epic journey across the African savannah in a tale of love, loss and coming home.
THE WITCH HUNTERS
U.S. Premiere
Director: Rasko Miljkovic
Screenwriters: Marko Manojlovic, Milos Kreckovic
Producer: Jovana Karaulic
Cast: Mihajlo Milavic, Silma Mahmuti, Jelena Jovanova
Country: Serbia, Macedonia
10-year-old Jovan is often escaping reality to immerse himself into a fantasy world. It all changes when he befriends his new classmate Milica and the adventure to hunt her ‘witch’ stepmother starts.
SPECIAL EVENTS
LEAVING NEVERLAND
World Premiere
Producer and Director: Dan Reed
Country: U.S.A., United Kingdom
At the height of his stardom Michael Jackson began long-running relationships with two boys, aged 7 and 10, and their families. Now in their 30s, they tell the story of how they were sexually abused by Jackson, and how they came to terms with it years later.
POP-UP MAGAZINE
Producers: Anita Badejo, Haley Howle, Derek Fagerstrom, Tina Antolini
Country: U.S.A.
A touring “live magazine” show, created for a stage, a screen, and a live audience. Contributors, including filmmakers, bestselling authors, popular radio and podcast voices, and artists perform vivid, multimedia stories accompanied by illustration, animation, film, photography, and an original live score.
DOCUMENTARY NOW! SEASON 52 PREVIEW
The documentary series returns. Celebrate the art of nonfiction storytelling as the creators of Documentary Now! present two new films: “Waiting for the Artist”, starring Cate Blanchett and Fred Armisen, and “Original Cast Album: Co-op”, starring John Mulaney, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Alex Brightman, Paula Pell, Richard Kind and Taran Killam. Post screenings, they will share their insights into these two episodes from the upcoming season and about the game of paying loving homage to documentary filmmaking.
THIS IS PERSONAL
Director: Amy Berg
Producers: Amy Berg, Paul McGuire, Ruchi Mital, Joy Gorman Wettels
Country: U.S.A.
While the 2016 election catalyzed the Women’s March and a new era of feminist activism, Tamika Mallory and Erika Andiola have been fighting for their communities for decades. Their stories expose the fundamental connection between personal and political and raise the question: what’s intersectionality and can it save the world?
LORENA
Executive Producers: Joshua Rofé, Steven J Berger, Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Thomas Lesinski, Jenna Santoianni
Country: U.S.A.
25 years after the notorious case of John and Lorena Bobbitt, this groundbreaking series re-investigates the story that made international headlines and helped birth a 24-hour news cycle, exploring vital moral issues and the missed opportunity for a national discussion about domestic violence and sexual assault within this American scandal.
NOW APOCALYPSE
Director: Gregg Araki
Executive Producers: Gregg Araki, Gregory Jacobs, Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Avan Jogia, Kelli Berglund, Beau Mirchoff, Roxane Mesquida
Country: U.S.A.
Ulysses and his friends are trying to navigate Los Angeles, as they pursue love, sex and fame. Between dating app adventures, Ulysses grows increasingly troubled as foreboding dreams make him paranoid — or maybe he’s just smoking too much weed.
FROM THE COLLECTION
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
Directors and Screenwriters: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez
Cast: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard
Country: U.S.A.
On October 21, 1994, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams hiked into Maryland’s Black Hills Forest to shoot a documentary on local legend “The Blair Witch.” They were never heard from again. One year later, their footage was found, capturing the terrifying events that led up to their disappearance.
THE HOURS AND TIMES
Director and Screenwriter: Christopher Munch
Cast: David Angus, Ian Hart, Stephanie Pack, Robin McDonald, Sergio Moreno, Unity Grimwood
Country: U.S.A.
In spring 1963, The Beatles were on their meteoric rise to worldwide superstardom. Following a grueling winter of touring, 22-year-old John Lennon vacations in Spain with his brilliant manager, Brian Epstein, often called the “Fifth Beatle.” Their four-day holiday, intimate and charged, became the subject of speculation and mythology.
