At a time when blockbusters dominate our cinemas, and not bad ones at that, the 2013 Sundance Film Festival needed to pull a rabbit out of the hat to grab our attention with their initial announcements yesterday. Sex as we know it, sells, and perhaps picking up where last year's audience winner The Sessions left off, the festival will provide a strong focus on films that explore human sexuality, often with a sense of humour.
In his announcements Sundance director John Cooper specifically pointed to selections in the U.S. Dramatic Competition (A) where incredibly 8 of the 16 films this year are directed by women, and to the micro-budget Next section (It Felt Like Love, Milkshake and Pit Stop).
As always, the Dramatic Competition marks the return of directors who previously made their mark in Sundance. Cherien Dabis, who directed the unforgettable Amreeka, will compete with May in the Summer, which again stars Hiam Abbass (and this time Dabis herself); while Lynn Shelton, fresh from her success with Your Sister's Sister, reteams with Rosemarie DeWitt for Touchy Feely.
There are no Australian films in the program as yet, though an announcement will be made on Monday. Frances O'Connor, however, is among the cast of Dramatic Competition entry, Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes, directed and written by Francesca Gregorini and starring Jessica Biel and the gorgeous 20 year-old newcomer Kaya Scodelario, best known from television's Skins.
New Zealand also has a film in the section, Shopping, directed and written by Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland, while Bret McKenzie, currently on our screens in Two Little Boys, appears in the U.S.-U.K. co-production Austenland.
Personally, I can't wait to see the documentary Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer, directed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin. Wajma (An Afghan Love Story), which is part of the World Cinema Dramatic competition, should prove to be just as enlightening as Haifaa Al-Mansour's Wadjda, the first Saudi Arabian film to be directed by a woman, was in Venice.
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.
Afternoon Delight
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Jill Soloway
Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch
In this sexy, dark comedy, a lost L.A. housewife puts her idyllic hipster life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny.
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: David Lowery
Cast: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, Keith Carradine
The tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met.
Austenland
U.S.A. / United Kingdom
Director: Jerusha Hess, Screenwriters: Jerusha Hess, Shannon Hale
Cast: Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, Georgia King, James Callis
Thirtysomething, single Jane is obsessed with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice. On a trip to an English resort, her fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman become more real than she ever imagined.
C.O.G.
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Cast: Jonathan Groff, Denis O'Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson, Troian Bellisario
In the first ever film adaptation of David Sedaris' work, a cocky young man travels to Oregon to work on an apple farm. Out of his element, he finds his lifestyle and notions being picked apart by everyone who crosses his path.
Concussion
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Stacie Passon
Cast: Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Johnathan Tchaikovsky, Julie Fain Lawrence, Emily Kinney, Laila Robins
After a blow to the head, Abby decides she can't do it anymore. Her life just can't be only about the house, the kids and the wife. She needs more: she needs to be Eleanor.
Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Francesca Gregorini
Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Jessica Biel, Alfred Molina, Frances O'Connor, Jimmi Simpson, Aneurin Barnard
Emanuel, a troubled girl, becomes preoccupied with her mysterious, new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to her dead mother. In offering to babysit her newborn, Emanuel unwittingly enters a fragile, fictional world, of which she becomes the gatekeeper.
Fruitvale
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Ryan Coogler
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O'Reilly, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray.
The true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008.
In a World...
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Lake Bell
Cast: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed
An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voiceover star. Amidst pride, sexism and family dysfunction, she sets out to change the voice of a generation.
Kill Your Darlings
U.S.A.
Director: John Krokidas, Screenwriters: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHann, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Elizabeth Olsen
An untold story of murder that brought together a young Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs at Columbia University in 1944, providing the spark that led to the birth of an entire generation – their Beat revolution.
The Lifeguard
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Liz W. Garcia
A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager. Cast: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Amy Madigan, David Lambert.
May in the Summer
U.S.A. / Qatar / Jordan
Director and screenwriter: Cherien Dabis
Cast: Cherien Dabis, Hiam Abbass, Bill Pullman, Alia Shawkat, Nadine Malouf, Alexander Siddig
A bride-to-be is forced to reevaluate her life when she reunites with her family in Jordan and finds herself confronted with the aftermath of her parents' divorce.
Mother of George
U.S.A.
Director: Andrew Dosunmu, Screenwriter: Darci Picoult
Cast: Isaach De Bankolé, Danai Gurira, Anthony Okungbowa, Yaya Alafia, Bukky Ajayi.
A story about a woman willing to do anything and risk everything for her marriage.
The Spectacular Now
U.S.A.
Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Cast: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler
Sutter is a high school senior who lives for the moment; Aimee is the introvert he attempts to "save." As their relationship deepens, the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, and "saving" and corrupting become inextricably blurred.
Touchy Feely
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Lynn Shelton
Cast: Rosemarie DeWitt, Allison Janney, Ron Livingston, Scoot McNairy, Ellen Page, Josh Pais
A massage therapist is unable to do her job when stricken with a mysterious and sudden aversion to bodily contact. Meanwhile, her uptight brother's foundering dental practice receives new life when clients seek out his “healing touch.”
Toy's House
U.S.A.
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Screenwriter: Chris Galletta
Cast: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie
Three unhappy teenage boys flee to the wilderness where they build a makeshift house and live off the land as masters of their own destiny. Or at least that's the plan.
Upstream Color
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Shane Carruth
Cast: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins
A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
The world premieres of 16 American documentary films.
99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film
U.S.A.
Directors: Audrey Ewell, Aaron Aites, Lucian Read, Nina Kristic
The Occupy movement erupted in September 2011, propelling economic inequality into the spotlight. In an unprecedented collaboration, filmmakers across America tell its story, digging into big picture issues as organizers, analysts, participants and critics reveal how it happened and why.
After Tiller
U.S.A.
Directors: Martha Shane, Lana Wilson
Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in 2009, only four doctors in the country provide late-term abortions. With unprecedented access, After Tiller goes inside the lives of these physicians working at the center of the storm.
American Promise
U.S.A.
Directors: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
This intimate documentary follows the 12-year journey of two African-American families pursuing the promise of opportunity through the education of their sons.
Blackfish
U.S.A.
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer.Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity.
Blood Brother
U.S.A.
Director: Steve Hoover
Rocky went to India as a disillusioned tourist. When he met a group of children with HIV, he decided to stay. He never could have imagined the obstacles he would face, or the love he would find.
Citizen Koch
U.S.A.
Directors: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin
Wisconsin – birthplace of the Republican Party, government unions, “cheeseheads” and Paul Ryan – becomes a test market in the campaign to buy Democracy, and ground zero in the battle for the future of the GOP.
Cutie and the Boxer
U.S.A.
Director: Zachary Heinzerling
This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role as her overbearing husband's assistant, Noriko finds an identity of her own.
Dirty Wars
U.S.A.
Director: Richard Rowley
Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill chases down the truth behind America's covert wars.
Gideon's Army
U.S.A.
Director: Dawn Porter
Gideon's Army follows three young, committed Public Defenders who are dedicated to working for the people society would rather forget. Long hours, low pay and staggering caseloads are so common that even the most committed often give up.
God Loves Uganda
U.S.A.
Director: Roger Ross Williams
A powerful exploration of the evangelical campaign to infuse African culture with values imported from America's Christian Right. The film follows American and Ugandan religious leaders fighting “sexual immorality” and missionaries trying to convince Ugandans to follow biblical law.
The Good Life
U.S.A.
Directors: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine
Dr. Leslie Gordon and Dr. Scott Berns fight to save their only son from Progeria, a rare and fatal disease for which there is no treatment or cure. In less than a decade, their work has led to significant advances. Inequality for All
U.S.A.
Director: Jacob Kornbluth
In this timely and entertaining documentary, noted economic-policy expert Robert Reich distills the topic of widening income inequality, and addresses the question of what effects this increasing gap has on our economy and our democracy. Manhunt
U.S.A. / United Kingdom
Director: Greg Barker
This espionage tale goes inside the CIA's long conflict against Al Qaeda, as revealed by the remarkable women and men whose secret war against Osama bin Laden started nearly a decade before most of us even knew his name.
Narco Cultura
U.S.A.
Director: Shaul Schwarz
An examination of Mexican drug cartels' influence in pop culture on both sides of the border as experienced by an LA narcocorrido singer dreaming of stardom and a Juarez crime scene investigator on the front line of Mexico's Drug War.
Twenty Feet From Stardom
U.S.A.
Director: Morgan Neville
Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead – until now. (Day One Film)
Valentine Road
U.S.A.
Director: Marta Cunningham
In 2008, eighth-grader Brandon McInerney shot classmate Larry King at point blank range. Unraveling this tragedy from point of impact, the film reveals the heartbreaking circumstances that led to the shocking crime as well as its startling aftermath.
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Twelve films from emerging filmmaking talents offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles.
Circles
Serbia / Germany / France / Croatia / Slovenia
Director: Srdan Golubovic
Screenwriters: Srdjan Koljevic, Melina Pota Koljevic
Cast: Aleksandar Bercek, Leon Lucev, Nebojsa Glogovac, Hristina Popovic, Nikola Rakocevic, Vuk Kostic
Five people are affected by a tragic heroic act. Twenty years later, all of them will confront the past through their own crises. Will they overcome guilt, frustration and their urge for revenge? Will they do the right thing, at all costs? (World Premiere)
Crystal Fairy
Chile
Director and screenwriter: Sebastián Silva
Cast: Michael Cera, Gabby Hoffmann, Juan Andrés Silva, José Miguel Silva, Agustín Silva
Jamie invites a stranger to join a road trip to Chile. The woman's free and esoteric nature clashes with Jamie's acidic, self-absorbed personality as they head into the desert for a Mescaline-fueled psychedelic trip. (World Premiere, Day One Film)
The Future
Chile, Germany, Italy, Spain
Director and screenwriter: Alicia Scherson
Cast: Manuela Martelli, Rutger Hauer, Luigi Ciardo, Nicolas Vaporidis, Alessandro Giallocosta
When their parents die, Bianca starts to smoke and Tomas is still a virgin. The orphans explore the dangerous streets of adulthood until Bianca finds Maciste, a retired Mr. Universe, and enters his dark mansion in search of a future. (World Premiere)
Houston
Germany
Director and screenwriter: Bastian Günther
Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Garret Dillahunt, Wolfram Koch, Jenny Schily, Jason Douglas, Jens Münchow
Clemens Trunschka is a corporate headhunter and an alcoholic. Drinking increasingly isolates him from his life and leads him away from reality. While searching for a CEO candidate in Houston, his addiction submerges him into his own darkness. (World Premiere)
Jiseul
South Korea
Director / screenwriter: Muel O
Cast: Min-chul Sung, Jung-won Yang, Young-soon Oh, Soon-dong Park, Suk-bum Moon, Kyung-sub Jang.
In 1948, as the Korean government ordered the Communists' eviction to Jeju Island, the military invaded a calm and peaceful village. Townsfolk took sanctuary in a cave and debated moving to a higher mountain. (International Premiere)
Lasting
Poland / Spain
Director and screenwriter: Jacek Borcuch
Cast: Jakub Gierszal, Magdalena Berus, Angela Molina
An emotional love story about two Polish students who fall in love with each other while working summer jobs in Spain. An unexpected nightmare interrupts their carefree time in the heavenly landscape and throws their lives into chaos. (World Premiere)
Metro Manila
United Kingdom / Philippines
Director: Sean Ellis, Screenwriters: Sean Ellis, Frank E. Flowers) — Seeking a better life, Oscar and his family move from the poverty-stricken rice fields to the big city of Manila, where they fall victim to various inhabitants whose manipulative ways are a daily part of city survival. Cast: Jake Macapagal, John Arcilla, Althea Vega. (World Premiere)
Shopping
New Zealand
Directors: Mark Albiston, Louis Sutherland
Screenwriters: Louis Sutherland, Mark Albiston
Cast: Kevin Paulo, Julian Dennison, Jacek Koman, Alistair Browning
New Zealand, 1981: Seduced by a charismatic career criminal, teenager Willie must choose where his loyalty lies – with a family of shoplifters or his own blood. (World Premiere)
Soldate Jeannette
Austria
Director: Daniel Hoesl
Cast: Johanna Orsini-Rosenberg, Christina Reichsthaler, Josef Kleindienst, Aurelia Burckhardt, Julia Schranz, Ines Rössl
Fanni has had enough of money and leaves to buy a tent. Anna has had enough of pigs and leaves a needle in the hay. Cars crash and money burns to shape their mutual journey toward a rising liberty. (World Premiere)
There Will Come a Day
Italy, France
Director: Giorgio Diritti
Screenwriters: Giorgio Diritti, Fredo Valla, Tania Pedroni
Cast: Jasmine Trinca, Anne Alvaro, Pia Engleberth
Painful issues push Augusta, a young Italian woman, to doubt the certainties on which she has built her existence. On a small boat in the immensity of the Amazon rain forest, she faces the adventure of searching for herself. (World Premiere)
Wajma (An Afghan Love Story)
Afghanistan
Director and screenwriter: Barmak Akram
Cast: Wajma Bahar, Mustafa Abdulsatar, Haji Gul, Breshna Bahar
A young man in Kabul seduces a girl. When she tells him she's pregnant, he questions having taken her virginity. Then her father arrives, and a timeless, archaic violence erupts – possibly leading to a crime, and even a sacrifice. (World Premiere)
What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love
Indonesia
Director and screenwriter: Mouly Surya
Mouly Surya's film explores the odds of love and deception among the blind, the deaf and the unlucky sighted people at a high school for the visually impaired. Cast: Nicholas Saputra, Ayushita Nugraha, Karina Salim, Anggun Priambodo, Lupita Jennifer. (World Premiere)
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Twelve documentaries by some of the most courageous and extraordinary filmmakers working today.
Fallen City
China
Director: Qi Zhao
Fallen City spans four years to reveal how three families who survived the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to embark on a journey searching for hope, purpose, identity, and to rebuild their lives in a new China torn between tradition and modernity. (North American Premiere) Fire in the Blood
India
Director: Dylan Mohan Gray
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Western governments and pharmaceutical companies blocked low-cost antiretroviral drugs from reaching AIDS-stricken Africa, causing 10 million or more unnecessary deaths. An improbable group of people decided to fight back. (North American Premiere)
Google and the World Brain
Spain / United Kingdom
Director: Ben Lewis
In the most ambitious project ever conceived on the Internet, Google has been scanning the world's books for 10 years. They said the intention was to build a giant digital library, but that involved scanning millions of copyrighted works. (World Premiere) The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear
Georgia / Germany
Director: Tinatin Gurchiani
A film director casting a 15-23-year-old protagonist visits villages and cities to meet people who answer her call. She follows those who prove to be interesting enough through various dramatic and funny situations. (North American Premiere)
The Moo Man
United Kingdom
Directors: Andy Heathcote, Heike Bachelier
A year in the life of heroic farmer Steve, scene stealing Ida (queen of the herd), and a supporting cast of 55 cows. When Ida falls ill, Steve's optimism is challenged and their whole way of life is at stake. (World Premiere)
Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer
Russian Federation / United Kingdom
Directors: Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorovkin
Three young women face seven years in a Russian prison for a satirical performance in a Moscow cathedral. But who is really on trial: the three young artists or the society they live in? (World Premiere)
A River Changes Course
Cambodia / U.S.A.
Director: Kalyanee Mam
Three young Cambodians struggle to overcome the crushing effects of deforestation, overfishing, and overwhelming debt in this devastatingly beautiful story of a country reeling from the tragedies of war and rushing to keep pace with a rapidly expanding world. (World Premiere)
Salma
United Kingdom / India
Director: Kim Longinotto
When Salma, a young girl in South India, reached puberty, her parents locked her away. Millions of girls all over the world share the same fate. Twenty-five years later, Salma has fought her way back to the outside world. (World Premiere)
The Square (El Midan)
Egypt / U.S.A.
Director: Jehane Noujaim
What does it mean to risk your life for your ideals? How far will five revolutionaries go in defending their beliefs in the fight for their nation? (World Premiere)
The Stuart Hall Project
United Kingdom
Director: John Akomfrah
Antinuclear campaigner, New Left activist and founding father of Cultural Studies, this documentary interweaves 70 years of Stuart Hall's film, radio and television appearances, and material from his private archive to document a memorable life and construct a portrait of Britain's foremost radical intellectual. (World Premiere)
The Summit
Ireland, United Kingdom
Director: Nick Ryan
Twenty-four climbers converged at the last stop before summiting the most dangerous mountain on Earth. Forty-eight hours later, 11 had been killed or simply vanished. Had one, Ger McDonnell, stuck to the climbers' code, he might still be alive. (International Premiere) Who is Dayani Cristal?
United Kingdom
Director: Marc Silver
An anonymous body in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a real-life human drama. The search for its identity leads us across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo. (World Premiere, Day One Film)
NEXT <=>
Pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling. Digital technology paired with unfettered creativity proves the films selected in this section will inform a “greater” next wave in American cinema.
Blue Caprice
U.S.A.
Director: Alexandre Moors
Screenwriters: R.F.I Porto, Alexandre Moors
Cast: Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, Tim Blake Nelson, Cassandra Freeman, Leo Fitzpatrick
An abandoned boy is lured to America and drawn into the shadow of a dangerous father figure in this film inspired by the real life events that led to the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks.
Computer Chess
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Andrew Bujalski
Cast: Patrick Riester, Myles Paige, James Curry, Robin Schwartz, Gerald Peary, Wiley Wiggins
An existential comedy about the brilliant men who taught machines to play chess – back when the machines seemed clumsy and we seemed smart.
Escape from Tomorrow
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Randy Moore
A postmodern, surreal voyage into the bowels of "family" entertainment; an epic battle begins when an unemployed, middle-aged father loses his sanity during a close encounter with two teenage girls on holiday. Cast: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez, Annet Mahendru, Danielle Safady, Alison Lees-Taylor.
I Used to Be Darker
U.S.A.
Director: Matthew Porterfield, Screenwriters: Amy Belk, Matthew Porterfield
Cast: Deragh Campbell, Hannah Gross, Kim Taylor, Ned Oldham, Geoff Grace, Nick Petr
A runaway seeks refuge with her aunt and uncle in Baltimore, only to find their marriage ending and her cousin in crisis. In the days that follow, the family struggles to let go while searching for things to sustain them.
It Felt Like Love
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Eliza Hittman
Cast: Gina Piersanti, Giovanna Salimeni, Ronen Rubinstein, Jesse Cordasco, Nick Rosen, Case Prime
On the outskirts of Brooklyn, a 14-year-old girl's sexual quest takes a dangerous turn when she pursues an older guy and tests the boundaries between obsession and love. Milkshake
U.S.A.
Director: David Andalman
Screenwriters: David Andalman, Mariko Munro
Cast: Tyler Ross, Shareeka Epps, Georgia Ford, Eshan Bay, Leo Fitzpatrick, Danny Burstein
In mid-1990's America, we follow the tragic sex life of Jolie Jolson, a wannabe thug (and great-great-grandson of legendary vaudevillian Al Jolson) in suburban DC as he strives to become something he can never be – black.
Newlyweeds
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Shaka King
Cast: Amari Cheatom, Trae Harris, Tone Tank, Colman Domingo, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Adrian Martinez
A Brooklyn repo man and his globetrotting girlfriend forge an unlikely romance. But what should be a match made in stoner heaven turns into a love triangle gone awry in this dark coming-of-age comedy about dependency.
Pit Stop
U.S.A.
Director: Yen Tan
Screenwriters: Yen Tan, David Lowery
Cast: Bill Heck, Marcus DeAnda, Amy Seimetz, John Merriman, Alfredo Maduro, Corby Sullivan
Two working-class gay men in a small Texas town and a love that isn't quite out of reach.
A Teacher
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Hannah Fidell
Cast: Lindsay Burdge, Will Brittain, Jennifer Prediger, Jonny Mars, Julie Phillips, Chris Dubeck
A popular young teacher in a wealthy suburban Texas high school has an affair with one of her students. Her life begins to unravel as the relationship comes to an end.
This is Martin Bonner
U.S.A.
Director and screenwriter: Chad Hartigan
Cast: Paul Eenhoorn, Richmond Arquette, Sam Buchanan, Robert Longstreet, Demetrius Grosse
Martin Bonner has just moved to Reno for a new job in prison rehabilitation. Starting over at age 58, he struggles to adapt until an unlikely friendship with an ex-con blossoms, helping him confront the problems he left behind.
Pictured: Milkshake
