Anais Gutierrez
As January arrives we know it’s time for the Sundance Film Festival!!
The festival, that started in 1978, is a showroom for new American and international independent filmmakers. From documentary films to feature films, movies compete in this renowned festival and we simply enjoy them all.
This year’s festival brings topics such as love, family, work, music, and life. The festival serves as a platform for social issues, and this year the big issue is racism, with titles such as The Force, Time: The Kalief Browder Story and The Big Sick portraying the many dimensions of it.
15. Wilson.
Daniel Cloves’ adapts his 2010 graphic novel “Wilson” for the screen, under the direction of Craig Johnson. The movie tells the story of a quite dysfunctional and different family. After learning they’re in fact a family, the father, the mother, and the daughter come together. And so it begins their journey to each other. Starring Woody Harrelson as the eccentric father, Laura Dern as the rebel mother, and Isabella Amara as the lost and found daughter. Cloves and Johnson bring a comedy drama that celebrates family in all its dynamics and shapes to look forward to.
Take a look at the trailer!
14. Time: The Kalief Browder Story.
Produced by Jay-Z and the Weinstein Company, the six-part docuseries tells the tragic story of Kalief Browder. Capturing the life of the 16-year-old boy who spent three years in jail as a victim of the system that’s supposed to protect us. Kalief was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack, and sent to Rikers Island for three years without ever being convicted of a crime. By the time his innocence was proved and he was released from prison, he already had missed out his childhood. Finally, he committed suicide.
Here’s the trailer.
13. 78/52
Hitchcock’s fans will get really excited about this one. Hitchcock’s Psycho most legendary and famous scene is getting a documentary. Director Alexandre O. Philippe goes through the three minutes scenes shot by shot in his new movie. The scene is broke down in its whole 78 individual shot set-ups and 52 edits. Philippe also takes the chance to examine the sociological context surrounding the scene.
12. Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World.
This one will change your music appreciation for good. Directors Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana bring a documentary that changes the music game, as well as Native Americans’ appreciation. The documentary explores how various indigenous musicians influenced the popular music we know today. From jazz, blues, folk, hip-hop, and rock, they were all under a major Native American influence. The directors focus on artists such as Charlie Patton, Link Wray, and Robbie Robertson to highlight this influence.
11. Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and Trials of a Free Press.
Brian Knappenberger brings back Hogan and Gawker trials to expose a bigger truth, how big money can silence and control media. After making public a sex tape of the former wrestler, the two parts went to trial over privacy, which exposed the money game taking over media. Telling the story behind the story Knappenberger examines the risks and duties of the free press in the digital age.
10. Manifesto.
Julian Rosefeldt’s movie brings a collection of short films that are an ode to art itself. The movie shows different characters reciting famous artistic statements dated from centuries and decades ago. To make it even more interesting and beautiful, all the characters are played by Cate Blanchett, who features a whole range of roles from a homeless vagabond to a news broadcaster. Worth watching!
Here’s a teaser to get you more excited about it!
9. Machines.
Rahul Jain brings a testimony of industrial labor that is both horrifying and hypnotic. Showing images of workers in endless hours of labor, Rahul knows how to make someone get in other people’s shoes. The documentary submerges in the industrial labor world with plenty images of the surroundings, the work, and workers. Occasional testimonies make their part to complete the scene.
Check it out!
8. An Inconvenient Sequel.
Al Gore knows it’s all about timing by bringing the second part of his climate change 2006 Oscar winning doc just now. Gore continues on his quest to spread some knowledge, and mostly awareness and faith, about what we’ve done to our magnificent home. More importantly what we can do to change our incoming catastrophe.
7. The Hero.
What’s left for stars once they begin aging? Brett Haley beautifully answers that question. The director brings an interesting study of an aging movie star, Sam Elliot. The once really busy actor spends his time getting high and thinking about the glory days. But then, fate smiles and he’s on a project again. This drama is bound to make us think about our life’s purposes and our paths in this life.
6. Give Me Future.
Music video’s director Austin Peters documented the huge concert Major Lazer threw in Havana back in 2015. Now, he shows us his work, not only million people dancing and youth trying to live a life in the sanctioned country. But also the hunger for future and change.
5. A Ghost Story.
David Lowery really knows how to give his time a good use. The writer, director, and editor secretly made this horror movie. Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara played the part of a couple separated by the husband’s sudden death. The husband now watches over his lover who’s mourning him. Scary and beautiful at the same time, can’t wait to watch it!
4. The Force.
In a social context highlighted by racial crimes and a tense general situation, Peter Nicks brings a documentary that reflects on the issue.The director documents the efforts of the Oakland Police Department to improve relations with the community. Showing the force’s perspective, the director presents everything from press conferences to officers dealing with Black Live Movement asking for accountability on what happened and shows us a different side of the story.
3. The Discovery.
Charlie McDowell returns with a thriller about a much intriguing issue: the afterlife. Huge names take part in the story were a scientist, Robert Redford, discovers that there’s indeed an afterlife. Jason Segel and Rooney Mara also feature in the movie, as the scientist’s son and a mysterious woman who dies to talk to the doctor. Sounds like mindblowing!
2. Call Me By Your Name.
Luca Guadagnino comes with this beautiful story about coming of age. A sudden and powerful romance blossoms between a teenager and a summer guest. Nothing like a good story about summer love and coming of age in the beautiful Italian Riviera.
1. The Big Sick.
Michael Showalter directed the on and off the screen real couple story about interracial love. Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon wrote the story that portrays the struggles and triumphs of interracial relationships. Playing fictionalized characters but based on life experiences, Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani bring this beautiful story of love.
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