Next month’s Sundance film festival will showcase premieres of new movies featuring Kristen Stewart, Saoirse Ronan, and Steven Yeun. The festival is celebrating its 40th year.
The list of films and TV shows featured at the festival in Utah showcases a variety of premieres that showcase the importance of independent storytelling. Nearly half of these premieres are from debut directors.
Stewart, who attended the festival in 2016 for Certain Women and in 2018 for Lizzie, will be back with Love Lies Bleeding, a romantic thriller set in the 1980s from director Rose Glass, known for Saint Maud. The Academy Award nominee will portray a gym manager who becomes romantically involved with a bodybuilder, portrayed by Katy O’Brian from The Mandolorian, leading to violent repercussions.
The performer will co-star with Steven Yeun in Love Me, a movie about a unique love story between a satellite and a buoy who connect through the internet after the end of humanity. Stewart stated to Entertainment Weekly in 2021 that “It’s difficult to describe,” regarding the project’s announcement. “I hope I do it justice because the script is incredibly groundbreaking.”
The movie will be included in the primary dramatic competition along with Suncoast, a drama supported by Searchlight and featuring Laura Linney and Woody Harrelson, as well as Exhibiting Forgiveness, which stars André Holland as a painter reuniting with his addicted father, and Between the Temples, a “nervous comedy” starring Jason Schwartzman and Dolly de Leon from Triangle of Sadness. The actor from the Philippines will also attend the festival in Ghostlight, a variation of Romeo and Juliet written by Saint Frances writer Kelly O’Sullivan.
Ronan, who has been nominated for an Oscar four times, is set to make a comeback at the Sundance Film Festival. This follows her previous appearance in 2015 with the romantic drama Brooklyn. She will star in The Outrun, a film based on Amy Liptrot’s memoir, where she portrays a woman returning to her hometown in the Orkney Islands to confront her troubled past. The Guardian’s Will Self has described Liptrot’s story of rehabilitation and recovery as “courageous yet fragile”.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is back as a director for the true-story film, Rob Peace, which follows a young man from Newark who achieves success at Yale but faces a tragic downfall when he returns to his hometown. The film features Jay Will, Camilla Cabello, and Mary J Blige. Ejiofor’s previous directorial work was the 2019 movie, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Steven Soderbergh is set to debut his latest movie, Presence, at the festival. The film, which is a chilling haunted house thriller, features Lucy Liu and Julia Fox in lead roles. While specific information about the plot is currently unknown, it has been revealed that David Koepp, who previously worked with Soderbergh on the pandemic-themed film Kimi, is the writer for Presence.
The annual event, known for showcasing scary movies like Saw, Hereditary, and Get Out in the past, will feature several new releases in the horror genre this year. Among them is I Saw the TV Glow, produced by Emma Stone and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, who previously directed We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. The film follows a group of teenagers whose sense of reality begins to unravel after their beloved TV show is cancelled. Justice Smith, who also stars in the festival’s satirical film The American Society of Magical Negroes, will attend the event. The film centers on a secret organization of Black individuals dedicated to assisting white people.
Some other notable releases are the suspenseful movie A Different Man, featuring Sebastian Stan as a character with neurofibromatosis who fixates on the actor playing him in a play based on his life; the 80s-themed series Freaky Tales from directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, known for Half Nelson, starring Pedro Pascal and Normani; the comedy My Old Ass, produced by Margot Robbie and starring Aubrey Plaza; and Winner, a follow-up to the movie Coda, centered around Reality Winner and featuring Emilia Jones.
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The festival will feature several documentaries, such as Girls State, a continuation of last year’s Sundance prize-winning Boys State, Power by Strong Island director Yance Ford which explores American law enforcement, and Will and Harper, which documents Will Ferrell’s journey with his transgender friend. Other documentaries will showcase Frida Kahlo, Christopher Reeve, the new wave group Devo, and the Amazon Labor Union (ALU).
“Since its inaugural year in 1985, the Sundance Film Festival has strived to create a platform for daring artists who are dedicated to sharing their unique visions with audiences. Founder and president of the Sundance Institute, Robert Redford, stated that the festival remains true to its original purpose. Although it has evolved over time, it stays true to its legacy of showcasing thought-provoking work that sparks important discussions. This tradition will continue with the 2024 program.”
Out of the 82 films that have been announced, 46% of them were directed by one or more female filmmakers and 45% were directed by one or more filmmakers who identify as people of color.
The festival for next year will occur between the dates of January 18th and January 28th.
Source: theguardian.com
