Sundance Film Festival
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Sundance 2023: A Still Small Voice, La Pecera, Against the Tide
Midnight Family, Luke Lorentzen’s debut feature, was adeptly shot in widescreen by the director/cinematographer/editor, as is follow-up A Still Small Voice, which represents the inverse of its predecessor in several ways. The Midnight Family were a clan of private ambulance drivers in Mexico City, filling in a public healthcare gap for profit, albeit not much of one—chasing patients for payment, eating junk food because that’s all they can afford to fuel shifts on the nocturnal streets of Mexico City, which are obviously more likely to produce memorable images than a hospital’s perpetual faux-daylight. And while Lorentzen’s main subject, Mati Engel, certainly experiences […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 23, 2023 -
Sundance 2023: Cat Person
To recap recent internet history: Kristen Roupenian’s short story “Cat Person” is about a first date between younger undergrad Margot and older man Robert that ends with them having bad sex. After, she—via a friend’s intervention—texts him that she’s not interested and, to her pleasant surprise, he leaves her alone. Later, after seeing Margot in a bar, he (presumably drunk-)texts her and the story ends with her being called a “whore.” Rouopenian presents two initially equally but differently flawed characters—Margot’s vanity is gratified by Robert’s desire for her, he’s a little pathetic—but their ethical imbalances are ultimately resolved in a […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 22, 2023 -
Sundance 2023: Fremont, Gush
After three full features and one walk-out on my first full IRL day of Sundance 2023, I closed with the day’s best, Babak Jalali’s Fremont. Donya (Anaita Wali Zada, a debuting nonprofessional Afghan refugee playing one) lives in the titular city but commutes to San Francisco to work at a fortune cookie factory. She can’t sleep at nights and, after eight months of unsuccessfully trying to get a psychiatrist appointment, finagles a slot with Dr. Anthony (Gregg Turkington). Their one-on-ones are representative of the film as a whole; even on the semi-populated factory floor, Fremont largely unfolds as a series of […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 21, 2023 -
23 Films We’re Anticipating at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is always the American independent scene’s bellwether. The festival’s curatorial decisions vault a select group of films — this year, 99 features out of 4,061 submitted — to the top tier of pictures receiving attention from distributors, critics, curators from other festivals and, through copious media coverage, audiences. And while longtime festival veterans — I’ve been attending since 1993 — are accustomed to the usual first-half rhythms (“the festival seems slow”; “the documentaries are stronger”; “did you hear Company X bought film Y for $Z million dollars!”), Sundance’s return to in-person combined with its first true hybrid […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 19, 2023 -
Sundance Announces “Beyond Film” Conversation Lineup for the 2023 Festival
The Sundance Institute announces today the lineup for the Beyond Film conversations at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, which will all be open to the public. The slate is comprised of three separate series—Power of Story, Cinema Café and The Big Conversation—and will feature filmmaker panels, audience discourses and broader artistic conversations. Beyond Film will be hosted in-person at the festival from January 19-23, with several conversations accessible virtually for nationwide audiences through the Festival’s online platform beginning on January 24. Also announced today are conversations hosted by Sundance Collab and several of the Festival’s partners, which are similarly available […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 6, 2023 -
Sundance Film Festival Announces 2023 Short Film and Indie Episodic Lineup
Today, the nonprofit Sundance Institute announces the lineup for the Short Films and Indie Episodic programs ahead of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. This comes shortly after the feature lineup announcement, which we covered last week. Notably, Sundance will resume in-person attendence in 2023, with screenings being held in Park City, Salt Lake City and the Sundance Resort for the entirety of the Festival, which runs from January 19-29. A selection of films, including all short and episodic works, will be available to stream from January 24-29 through the Festival’s online platform. “Short films and episodic projects are an integral […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Dec 13, 2022 -
Sundance Film Festival Announces 2023 Feature Film Lineup
Today, the Sundance Institute announces the comprehensive feature film lineup for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. For the first time since 2020, the Festival will reconvene in-person, with screenings taking place in Park City, Salt Lake City and the Sundance Resort from January 19-20. An online streaming window will be available for viewers across the country from January 24-29. Of the 99 feature films announced today, 94% are world premieres. “We’re so excited to be coming back in person,” Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO, told Filmmaker via phone call. “Last year was quite devastating with having to pivot late in […]
by Natalia Keogan on Dec 7, 2022 -
Eugene Hernandez Joins Sundance Institute as Festival Director and Head of Public Programming
Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente announced today that Eugene Hernandez will join the nonprofit as the new Festival Director and head of public programming of the Sundance Film Festival. His first festival leading as Director will be in 2024, while the forthcoming 2023 edition will be led by Vicente in collaboration with Director of Programming Kim Yutani and the Institute’s broader leadership team. Hernandez is the fourth Festival Director in the Sundance Film Festival’s history, succeeding Tabitha Jackson, who served for two years. He will join the Institute’s core leadership team beginning in November, reporting to Vicente and being based […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Sep 7, 2022 -
The Sundance Institute Announces 2023 Sundance Film Festival Updates
The non-profit Sundance Institute has shared preliminary updates for the 2023 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, which will take place January 19-29. Most notably, the festival will pivot back to being a largely in-person festival, with screenings kicking off in Utah on January 19 in Park City, Salt Lake City and the Sundance Resort. Sundance will then introduce on-demand film streaming via its festival platform on January 24 for all of the competition titles (U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Cinema Dramatic, World Cinema Documentary, and NEXT) as well as episodic and short film titles. Also kicking off on the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 30, 2022 -
Tabitha Jackson Steps Down from Role as Sundance Film Festival Director
Tabitha Jackson, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming, will be stepping down from the role following this month’s Sundance Film Festival London, the Sundance Institute announced today. Jackson ran Sundance’s Documentary Film Program from 2013 until taking over the festival leadership role in 2020. Her two years as Festival Director coincided with the pandemic, during which she led the festival’s pivot to a successful virtual model that saw increased audiences as well as a Satellite Screen program that extended programming to arthouses around the country. In her previous Sundance role as head of the Documentary Film Program, Jackson, a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 7, 2022
