Sundance unveils film slate
Annette Bening plays Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Zac Efron takes on Ted Bundy, Awkwafina dives into a dramatic role and Harvey Weinstein gets a documentary spotlight in films that will première at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in January.
The Sundance Institute revealed this week 111 feature films, culled from 4,018 submissions, set to screen at the annual festival this January in Park City, Utah.
Films that debuted earlier this year at Sundance include awards buzzworthy documentaries such as RBG, Three Identical Strangers and Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and narrative films such as Wildlife, Private Life, Eighth Grade and Sorry to Bother You.
Festival programmers promise a similar breadth of original viewpoints, authenticity in storytelling, new talents, a particularly robust world cinema section and films that might show actors in a new light.
The Farewell, from director Lulu Wang, is just one of those.
It features this summer’s comedy breakout Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s 8) in a dramatic turn as a Chinese-American woman who returns to China to stay with her terminally ill grandmother.
“I think it’s a great showcase for her,” said Kim Yutani, Sundance’s new director of programming.
Festival director John Cooper notes that Honey Boy, written by and starring Shia LaBeouf, is also one that might surprise audiences. Lucas Hedges plays a younger version of LaBeouf in this story about a child TV star and his father.
“He’s stepping out into a place that I would say is very raw and real for him,” said Cooper.
A few actors are taking on real life people, such as Bening as Feinstein in The Report, from director and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns.
It focuses on the Senate’s study into the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program and co-stars Adam Driver and Jon Hamm.
“It’s kind of one of those Meryl Streep star turns where she gets all the nuance of her,” said Cooper.
Efron is playing Bundy in the Joe Berlinger film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which takes on the infamous criminal from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, while Lupita Nyong ’o takes a surprising turn in the “midnight” movie Little Monsters, from Abe Forsythe, in which she plays a kindergarten teacher who has to protect her students from zombies.
As usual, the festival’s documentary selection boasts films about every kind of subject.
There are films about famous figures: Weinstein (in Untouchable, from director Ursula Macfarlane); Miles Davis (Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool); the iconic designer Halston; newscaster Mike Wallace (Mike Wallace Is Here); Toni Morrison (Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am); David Crosby (David Crosby: Remember My Name); lawyer Roy Cohn ( Where’s My Roy Cohn); Dr. Ruth; Stieg Larsson; Leonard Cohen (Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love); and the late actor Anton Yelchin (Love, Antosha).
Among the other documentaries Apollo 11 will explore the first trip to the moon the nation’s mentally ill (Bedlam) and the ascent of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Knock Down the House).
This year’s lineup includes 45 first-time filmmakers. Overall, 40 per cent of the films selected were directed by women, 36 per cent by a filmmaker of colour and 13 per cent by a filmmaker who identifies as LGBTQ. The diverse lineup, Cooper said, is a “natural outcome” of looking for interesting stories that show the world we live in.
“Society relies on storytellers. The choices they make, and the risks they take, define our collective experience,” said Robert Redford, Sundance Institute president and founder, in a statement.
“This year’s festival is full of storytellers who offer challenges, questions and entertainment. In telling their stories, they make difficult decisions in the pursuit of truth and art; culture reaps the reward.”
The Sundance Film Festival runs from Jan. 24 to Feb. 3.