next month Sundance Film Festival It will see a return to personal performances for the first time with new films featuring Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The Utah-based festival has been online-only since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and while this year was scheduled to be a physical-digital hybrid, the appearance of the Omicron variant meant it was canceled at the last minute. There will still be a digital component to the 2023 edition, but a significant number of the films will only be available to watch on the ground.
Lady Macbeth director William Oldroyd will unveil his much-anticipated follow-up, the psychological thriller Elaine. Set in the 1960s, the film stars Thomasin Mackenzie as a secretary who develops a friendship with a glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works, played by American actress Anne Hathaway. But things take a dark turn when a secret is revealed. It is based on the highly acclaimed book by Ottessa Meshfeig, which was nominated for the Man Booker Prize.
Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor He’ll also head to the mountains with the sci-fi comedy The Pod Generation, which sees him and Emilia Clarke star as a couple who use technology to create a family with an artificial womb.
Nicole Holofcener, whose 2006 festival Friends With Money opened that year, will return with You Hurt My Feelings, a comedy remake with Enough Said’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The Veep star will play a novelist whose life is thrown into disarray when she hears her husband criticize her writing.
Also shown will be the film adaptation of Kristen Rubinian’s viral short story “Kat Pearson”, starring Emilia Jones from Koda and Nicholas Brown from the series Succession. “They kind of turned it into a thriller,” Jones said. an interview last year. Brandon Cronenberg will also return to the festival after 2020’s Possessor with horror resort Infinity Pool starring Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Guth. Thoroughbreds director Cory Finley will premiere his new movie Landscape With Invisible Hand starring Tiffany Haddish about a future where aliens take over the world’s economy.
Films in contention include Bodybuilding Dreams Journal starring Jonathan Majors, Sometimes I Think of Death starring Daisy Ridley as a suicidal agent in The Office and the relationship thriller Fair Play helmed by Phoebe Dynevor from Bridgerton.
The festival will also see a wide range of key documentaries premiere. Victim/Suspect focuses on women who make allegations of sexual assault but are abused and misrepresented by the system, Food and Country is about a broken diet in the United States and Plan C centers on a grassroots organization that aims to help women access abortion pills. There will also be documentaries focusing on characters like Little Richard, Michael J. Fox, Judy Blume and Brooke Shields.
This year will see the premiere of 101 films, 53% of which are directed by one or more female filmmakers and 45% by filmmakers of color.
“Maintaining an essential place for artists to express themselves, to take risks, and for the preservation and enjoyment of imaginative stories,” said Robert Redford, Founder and President of the Sundance Institute. The festival continues to reinforce these values and connections through independent storytelling. We are honored to share the compelling selection of works at this year’s festival from distinct perspectives and unique voices.”
The Sundance Film Festival will take place January 19-29.
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