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Sundance Film Festival · 2015

Sundance Film Festival 2015

US Documentary Competition

View the US Documentary Competition Gallery.

Programme

16 films · 10 reviews

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3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets

Review preview for 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets

Silver exposes is an underlying, deep-seated prejudice rather than some sort of murderous instinct.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Documentary about the trial of Michael Dunn, who shot an unarmed teenager and claimed a 'stand your ground' defence.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Marc Silver)

Full review

World premiere.

Being Evel

Review preview for Being Evel

This is very much a warts and all portrait, but in the process it brings us much closer to its subject, feeds a depth of appreciation many fans of those stunt shows will not have felt before.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An candid portrait of American icon Robert "Evel" Knievel and his legacy.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Daniel Junge; Writer: Davis Coombe, Daniel Junge; Stars: George Hamilton, Johnny Knoxville)

Full review

World premiere.

Best Of Enemies

Review preview for Best Of Enemies

Neville and Gordon wisely embed the verbal duels into the surroundings.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F Buckley Jr, and their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville; Writer: Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville; Stars: Dick Cavett, Gore Vidal, William F. Buckley Jr., Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchens, Matt Tyrnauer, Brooke Gladstone, Ginia Bellafante, Sam Tanenhaus)

Full review See: Robert Gordon in conversation on Best Of Enemies , Morgan Neville in conversation on Best Of Enemies

World premiere.

Call Me Lucky

Barry Crimmins was a volatile but brilliant bar comic who became an honored peace activist and influential political satirist. Famous comedians and others build a picture of a man who underwent an incredible transformation.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Bobcat Goldthwait; Stars: Barry Crimmins)

World premiere.

Cartel Land

Review preview for Cartel Land

One person's armed vigilante is another person's guardian angel and the border between these two ideas is wafer thin and easily crossed as Matthew Heineman's beautifully shot and probing documentary shows.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Vigilantes on both sides of the Mexican Border with the US take on the drug cartels.

(Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2015; Director: Matthew Heineman)

Full review

World premiere.

City Of Gold

Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Gold casts his light upon a vibrant and growing cultural movement in which he plays the dual roles of high-low priest and culinary geographer of his beloved Los Angeles.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Laura Gabbert; Writer: Laura Gabbert)

World premiere.

Finders Keepers

Review preview for Finders Keepers

The film is a hodge-podge of archive clips and interview material but it just about gels and a host of smaller scale family stories round it out nicely.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A documentary about the conflict that ensued after one man unwittingly purchased another man's amputated leg in an auction.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Bryan Carberry, J Clay Tweel; Stars: Shannon Whisnant, John Wood)

Full review

World premiere.

Hot Girls Wanted

A look at the realities inside the world of the amateur porn industry and the steady stream of 18- and 19-year-old girls entering into it.

(Year: 2015; Director: Jill Bauer, Ronna Gradus)

World premiere.

How To Dance Ohio

In Columbus, Ohio, a group of teenagers and young adults on the autism spectrum prepare for an iconic American rite of passage — a spring formal. They spend 12 weeks practicing their social skills at a local nightclub in preparation for the dance.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Alexandra Shiva)

World premiere.

Larry Kramer In Love And Anger

Author, activist, and playwright Larry Kramer is one of the most important and controversial figures in contemporary gay America, a political firebrand who gave voice to the outrage and grief that inspired gay men and lesbians to fight for their lives. At 78, this complicated man still commands our attention.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Jean Carlomusto)

World premiere.

Meru

Review preview for Meru

Both Chin and Ozturk have professional filmmaking experience but even so, what they manage to capture is remarkable given the conditions.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary about the ascent of an unconquered mountain.

(Country: US, India; Year: 2014; Director: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; Stars: Jon Krakauer, Renan Ozturk, Jimmy Chin, Conrad Anker, Grace Chin, Jennifer Lowe-Anker, Amee Hinkley)

Full review See: Jimmy Chin in conversation about Meru , Conversation with Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi about Meru

World premiere.

Racing Extinction

Review preview for Racing Extinction

It's as if we're being asked, once again, to believe that rock n' roll will really save the world.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Documentary charts the problems of mass extinction.

(Country: US, UK, Mexico, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia; Year: 2015; Director: Louie Psihoyos; Writer: Mark Monroe; Stars: Elon Musk)

Full review

World premiere.

(T)error

Review preview for (T)error

What unfolds is a comedy of (t)errors with a central character who shifts very quickly between dubious but likeable guy, buffoon and sociopath.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe)

Full review

World premiere.

Welcome To Leith

Review preview for Welcome To Leith

Unsettling, probing and smart, they may only be looking at a town of 24 but this film has implications for people across the world.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A white supremacist attempts to take over a small town in North Dakota.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker; Writer: Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker)

Full review

World premiere.

Western

For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, Texas, from Piedras Negras, Mexico, was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life. Western portrays timeless American figures in the grip of unforgiving change.

(Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross)

World premiere.

The Wolfpack

Review preview for The Wolfpack

There is a sense of the freshness of freedom but this a film that mainly deals in big emotions as though worried about getting down to specifics.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Story of a band of brothers who grew up in social isolation.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Crystal Moselle; Stars: Bhagavan Angulo, Govinda Angulo, Jagadisa Angulo, Narayana Angulo, Krsna Angulo, Mukunda Angulo)

Full review See: Keeping score: Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurrians talk about Last Days In The Desert, Enemy and Wolfpack , Article about films and copycat violence.

World premiere.