Skip to main content

Sundance Film Festival · 2011

Sundance Film Festival 2011

Premieres

To showcase the diversity of contemporary independent cinema, the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section offers the latest work from American and international directors as well as world premieres of highly anticipated films. Each is a world premiere.

Programme

14 films · 6 reviews

Jump to a film

Cedar Rapids

A wholesome and naive small-town Wisconsin man travels to big city Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at a regional insurance conference.

(Year: 2011; Director: Miguel Arteta; Writer: Phil Johnston; Stars: Ed Helms, John C Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Alia Shawkat, Sigourney Weaver)

World Premiere

The Convincer

An insurance salesman, caught in a caper involving a rare musical instrument, sets off a series of dramatic consequences.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Jill Sprecher; Writer: Jill Sprecher, Karen Sprecher; Stars: Billy Crudup, Lea Thompson, Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, Bob Balaban, David Harbour, Michelle Arthur, Michelle Hutchison, Sue Scott, Chris Carlson, Alec George, Max Hauser, Ben Mark, Jeremy Murray, Jason P. Schumacher)

World Premiere

The Details

When hungry raccoons discover worms living under the sod in a young couple’s backyard, the pest problem sets off a wild and absurd chain reaction of domestic tension, infidelity, organ donation and murder by way of bow and arrow.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Jacob Aaron Estes; Writer: Jacob Aaron Estes; Stars: Elizabeth Banks, Tobey Maguire, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Kerry Washington, Sam Trammell, Dennis Haysbert, Gary Schwartz, Shanga Parker, Cathy Vu, Sarah Best, Marlette Buchanan, Martin Andris, Melissa Mainzer, Jesse James Pattison)

World Premiere

The Devil's Double

Review preview for The Devil's Double

Lee Tamahori opts to swim in the shallow waters of gaudy exploitation rather than explore some of the deeper issues of the politics of power.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
The story of Uday Hussein, as seen through the eyes of his body double.

(Country: Belgium, Netherlands; Year: 2010; Director: Lee Tamahori; Writer: Michael Thomas; Stars: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Raad Rawi, Mem Ferda, Dar Salim, Khalid Laith, Pano Masti, Nasser Memarzia, Philip Quast, Selva Rasalingam, Mark Mifsud, Mimoun Oaïssa, Stewart Scudamore, Jamie Harding, Akin Gazi) , Official site

Full review

World Premiere

I Melt With You

Four friends gather every year to celebrate their friendship. This year they are unexpectedly forced to confront a forgotten promise they made 25 years earlier. As they examine choices they've made, they realise that what they said they would do with their lives and what they have done are entirely different.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2011; Director: Mark Pellington; Writer: Glenn Porter, based on the story by Glenn Porter and Mark Pellington; Stars: Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay, Carla Gugino)

World Premiere

Life In A Day

Review preview for Life In A Day

The cinematic equivalent of coffee table literature.

David Graham · 1.5 out of 5
Clips of real life from all around the world as experienced on the 24th of July 2010.

(Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Kevin Macdonald; Stars: Cindy Baer, Moica, David Jacques, Caryn Waechter, Drake Shannon) , Official site

Full review See: Life In A Day interview with director Kevin Macdonald , Sundance 2011: Red State, Perfect Sense, Life In A Day and a drama of my own making.

World Premiere

Margin Call

Review preview for Margin Call

Chandor makes good use of his acting assets and there's no doubt that he knows how to direct, but ultimately, the dullness of the script is just a little too toxic.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
A day in the life of a investment firm's meltdown.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: JC Chandor; Writer: JC Chandor; Stars: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aasif Mandvi, Grace Gummer, Ashley Williams, Susan Blackwell, Al Sapienza, Maria Dizzia) , Official site

Full review

World Premiere

The Music Never Stopped

A father struggles to bond with his estranged son who suffers a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. He learns to embrace his son’s choices and to try to connect with him through the power of music.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Jim Kohlberg; Writer: Gwyn Lurie, Gary Marks, based on the book by Oliver Sacks; Stars: Julia Ormond, JK Simmons, Mía Maestro, Lou Taylor Pucci, Tammy Blanchard, Cara Seymour, Scott Adsit, Michael Belveduto, Anthony Del Negro, Kelly AuCoin, Joe Urban, Peggy Gormley, Alex Ziwak, Rich Campbell, Erica Fae)

See: Sundance 2011: Capsule reviews of Tyrannosaur, Project Nim, Submarine, Kaboom, The Music Never Stopped

World Premiere. Salt Lake City Gala Film

My Idiot Brother

After serving time for selling pot, Ned successively moves in with each of his three sisters as he tries to get back on his feet. His best intentions quickly bring the family to the cusp of chaos and ultimately the brink of clarity.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Jesse Peretz; Writer: Evgenia Peretz, David Schisgall; Stars: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer)

World Premiere

Perfect Sense

Review preview for Perfect Sense

There's an awareness here that's missing from many such tales, a more astute take on how disability and society interact.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A chef and an epidemiologist fall in love, just as the world is falling apart.

(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: David Mackenzie; Writer: Kim Fupz Aakeson; Stars: Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Connie Nielsen, Ewen Bremner, Stephen Dillane, Denis Lawson, Alastair Mackenzie, James Watson, Caroline Paterson, Shabana Akhtar Bakhsh, Liz Strange, Richard Mack, Malcolm Shields, Adam Smith)

Full review See: Sundance 2011: Red State, Perfect Sense, Life In A Day and a drama of my own making.

World Premiere

Red State

Review preview for Red State

Billed increasingly as a horror movie, the shifting sands of its tone means it sits uneasily in any category, as Smith flirts with comedy, action and horror without carrying off any of them particularly convincingly.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A group of teens encounter extreme fundamentalism in Middle America.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Kevin Smith; Writer: Kevin Smith; Stars: Michael Parks, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, John Goodman, Melissa Leo) , Official site

Full review See: Sundance 2011: Red State, Perfect Sense, Life In A Day and a drama of my own making.

World Premiere

Salvation Boulevard

An evangelical preacher who has captivated a city with his charm frames an ex-hippie for a crime.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: George Ratliff; Writer: Douglas Stone, George Ratliff, based on the novel by Larry Beinhart; Stars: Marisa Tomei, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Pierce Brosnan, Isabelle Fuhrman, Greg Kinnear, Howard Hesseman, Jim Gaffigan, Yul Vazquez, Ele Bardha, Steven Hauptman, Cindy Chu, Pamela Shaw, Randy Ryan, Christine Kelly)

World Premiere

The Son Of No One

Two men in post-9/11 New York are forced to relive two murders they committed as young boys. Their lives start to unravel due to the threat of the revelation.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Dito Montiel; Writer: Dito Montiel; Stars: Channing Tatum, Al Pacino, Juliette Binoche, Ray Liotta, Katie Holmes, Brian Gilbert, Jake Cherry, Sean Cregan, Simone Joy Jones, Tracy Morgan, James Ransone, Roger Guenveur Smith, Ursula Parker, Craig Walker, Lemon)

World Premiere. Closing Night Film

Win Win

Review preview for Win Win

Everything about McCarthy's film feels easygoing and economical. His scripting is sharp and laugh-out-loud funny, with relationships and family dynamics establilshed quickly in an unfussy fashion.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A small-town solicitor finds a way to make ends meet by becoming the guardian of an Alzheimer's sufferer, but trouble brews when his grandson arrives...

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Thomas McCarthy; Writer: Thomas McCarthy, based on a story by Thomas McCarthy and Joe Tiboni; Stars: Paul Giamatti, Alex Shaffer, Jeffrey Tambor, Amy Ryan, Melanie Lynskey, Bobby Cannavale, Burt Young,) , Official site

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival Diary Day 2: The Ledge and Win Win

World Premiere