Following the announcement of its Midnight horror-themed section, the Sundance film festival has unveiled the lineup for its competitions, in both dramatic and documentary formats, as well as its non-competitive Next selection, of promising experimental work. Some 65 films have got the nod from the programmers of the influential festival, which is designed to showcase independent and unconventional film-making.
The US dramatic competition has settled on 16 films, with the most attention-grabbing projects including The Birth of a Nation, an ironically titled account of the early-19th century slave rebellion led by Nat Turner; Goat, a fraternity-pledge drama featuring musician Nick Jonas; and Southside With You, a chronicle of Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date in 1980s Chicago. Familiar Sundance faces will be on show in other films: Ellen Page plays the lead in Tallulah, about a woman who passes off another’s child as her own; Jena Malone features in Lovesong, from For Ellen director So Yong Kim; and Rebecca Hall stars in Christine, about the TV reporter Christine Chubbuck, who killed herself on air in 1974.
Chubbuck is also the subject of a film in the US documentary strand: Kate Plays Christine, directed by Robert Greene, in which actor Kate Lynn Sheil prepares to take on a role as Chubbuck. Other major names in the 16 films in this strand include Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (The Hamster Factor) with The Bad Kids, a study of an unconventional school in the Mojave desert; Josh “Gasland” Fox with How to Let Go of the World, an examination of the effects of climate change, and Jeff Feuerzeig (The Devil and Daniel Johnston) who returns with a profile of mystery author JT LeRoy.
The World sections will feature 12 films each, with the Ireland-based director Rebecca Daly’s Mammal selected for the dramatic competition, alongside India’s Brahman Naman (about a quiz team from Bangalore university) and Israel’s Sand Storm, focusing on a Bedouin mother and daughter whose lives are upended when another wife arrives.
Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi leads the World documentary competition with A Flag Without a Country, chronicling the lives of Kurds attempting to survive harsh conditions. Also selected is The Lovers and the Despot, a UK-produced account of film director Shin Sang-ok and his movie star ex-wife Choi Eun-hee, who were kidnapped by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il; Plaza de la Soledad, directed by photojournalist Maya Goded, about Mexico City’s long-established prostitute community, and Sky Ladder, from British director Kevin Macdonald, a profile of celebrated Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang.
The Next programme, designed to showcase innovative and “forward-thinking” films, has pulled together 10 selections, all US-produced. These include First Girl I Loved, about a girl-girl-boy love triangle at high school; Dark Night, a study of a cinema shooting in suburban America; and The Fits, about a mysterious fainting attack that affects a midwest dance team.
• The Sundance film festival runs from 21-31 January in Park City, Utah.
Full lineup of Sundance competitions and Next
US dramatic competition
As You Are
The Birth of a Nation
Christine
Equity
The Free World
Goat
Intervention
Joshy
Lovesong
Morris from America
Other People
Southside with You
Spa Night
Swiss Army Man
Tallulah
White Girl
US documentary competition
Audrie & Daisy
Author: The JT LeRoy Story
The Bad Kids
Gleason
Holy Hell
How to Let Go of the World (and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change)
Jim
Kate Plays Christine
Kiki
Life, Animated
Newtown
NUTS!
Suited
Trapped
Uncle Howard
Weiner
World cinema dramatic competition
Belgica
Between Sea and Land
Brahman Naman
A Good Wife
Halal Love
The Lure
Male Joy, Female Love
Mammal
Mi Amiga del Parque
Much Ado About Nothing
Sand Storm
Wild
World cinema documentary competition
All These Sleepless Nights
A Flag Without a Country
Hooligan Sparrow
The Land of the Enlightened
The Lovers and the Despot
Plaza de la Soledad
The Settlers
Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang
Sonita
We Are X
When Two Worlds Collide
Next
The 4TH
Dark Night
The Eyes of My Mother
First Girl I Loved
The Fits
How to Tell You’re a Douchebag
Jacqueline (Argentine)
The Land
Operation Avalanche
Sleight
