Documentaries will be everywhere
LOS ANGELES — For documentary filmmakers, there’s no place like the Sundance Film Festival.
The mountainside festival which kicks off Thursday in Park City, Utah, has become known for launching nonfiction films to box office successes and awards, and this year is shaping up to be no different. The slate boasts a wide array of films about fallen titans, from Harvey Weinstein to Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes, music legends Miles Davis and David Crosby, two of Michael Jackson’s sexual abuse accusers, the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal, Apollo 11, Mike Wallace, Toni Morrison and Dr. Ruth.
In the past five years, three of the best documentary feature Oscar winners got their start at Sundance — “Icarus,” “O.J.: Made in America” and “20 Feet from Stardom.” And most of this year’s Oscars shortlist premiered and won special honors at last year’s festival (like “Shirkers,” “On Her Shoulders,” “Of Fathers and Sons,” “Dark Money,” “Crime + Punishment” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening”) and some are considered shoo-ins for
a nomination, like “Three Identical Strangers,” “RGB,” “Minding the Gap” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
“Sundance is the greatest launching pad,” said filmmaker Julia Reichert. “I can’t think of another festival that shows fiction and documentaries that puts as much honor, respect and spotlight on the documentary.”
The three-time Oscar nominee returns this year with “American Factory,” looking
at what happened when a Chinese billionaire bought a closed General Motors factory outside of Reichert’s hometown of Dayton, Ohio, and created 2,000 manufacturing jobs in an area still suffering from the plant’s initial closure.
“Most documentary filmmakers aspire to get into Sundance. It’s such a fantastic festival with great potential for distribution and raising the profile of a film. But particularly for films about American politics, it’s really a natural choice,” said Rachel Lears, who directed “Knock Down the House.” It follows four women looking to upset incumbents in a Congressional primary, including firstterm New York Congresswoman Alexandria OcasioCortez, who is expected to be at the festival.
The prolific documentarian Alex Gibney is also back with his latest, “The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley” which looks at the rise and fall of the multibillion-dollar tech health care company Theranos and the psychology of its founder, Elizabeth Holmes.
“(Sundance has) always promoted docs and it’s always promoted them in a way that puts them on the same footing as scripted films,” Gibney said.
One of the most anticipated premieres is “Leaving Neverland,” a 233-minute film from BAFTA-winning director Dan Reed about two of Michael Jackson’s accusers. It will screen only once in Park City, on Jan. 25, before airing on HBO and British public broadcaster Channel 4 in two installments this spring. The Jackson estate has already denounced it as “just another rehash of dated and discredited allegations.” Jackson was acquitted of molestation charges in 2005.