Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Sundance >> 2016 >> US Documentary Competition
The festival says: "Sixteen world-premiere American documentaries that illuminate the ideas, people, and events that shape the present day."
View other Sundance Film Festival Films by strand: Documentary Premieres, Midnight, New Frontier, Next, Premieres, Spotlight, Sundance Kids, Sundance London - Main Features, Sundance London - Road to Stardom, US Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition
How To Let Go Of The World (And Love All The Things Climate Can't Change) and Weiner
Author: The JT LeRoy Story
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Jeff Feuerzeig; Stars: Laura Albert, Bruce Benderson, Dennis Cooper, Panio Gianopoulos, Winona Ryder, Ira Silverberg)
The story behind the literary 'hoax' of JT LeRoy.
World premiere
Audrie & Daisy
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk)
World premiere
After two high school girls in different towns are sexually assaulted by boys they consider friends, online bullying leads each girl to attempt suicide. Tragically, one dies. Assault in the social media age is explored from the perspectives of the girls and boys involved, as well as their torn-apart communities.
The Bad Kids
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Keith Fulton, Lou Pepe)
World premiere
At a remote Mojave Desert high school, extraordinary educators believe that empathy and life skills, more than academics, give at-risk students command of their own futures. This coming-of-age story watches education combat the crippling effects of poverty in the lives of these so-called 'bad kids'.
Gleason
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Clay Tweel)
World premiere
At the age of 34, Steve Gleason, former NFL defensive back and New Orleans hero, was diagnosed with motor neuron disease. Doctors gave him two to five years to live. So that is what Steve chose to do: Live — both for his wife and newborn son and to help others with this disease.
Holy Hell
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Undisclosed)
World premiere
Just out of college, a young filmmaker joins a loving, secretive, and spiritual community led by a charismatic teacher in 1980s West Hollywood. Twenty years later, the group is shockingly torn apart. Told through two decades of the filmmaker’s archival materials, this is their story.
Kate Plays Christine and Life, Animated
How To Let Go Of The World (And Love All The Things Climate Can't Change)
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Josh Fox; Writer: Josh Fox; Stars: Lester Brown, Ella Chou, Tim DeChristopher, Wu Di, Aria Doe, Josh Fox, Eriberto Gualinga, Franco Tulio Viteri Gualinga, Nina Gualinga, Ming Huang, Ausberto Mahua Jaba, Bri Jackson, Van Jones, Huayna Kapac, Elizabeth Kolbert)
Climate change documentary.
World premiere
Jim
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Brian Oakes)
World premiere
The public execution of American conflict journalist James Foley captured the world’s attention, but he was more than just a man in an orange jumpsuit. Seen through the lens of his close childhood friend, Jim moves from adrenaline-fueled front lines and devastated neighborhoods of Syria into the hands of ISIS.
Kate Plays Christine
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Robert Greene; Writer: Robert Greene; Stars: Kate Lyn Shiel)
An actress prepares to play Christine Chubbuck, who died by suicide live on air in 1974.
World premiere
Kiki
(Country: US, Sweden; Year: 2016; Director: Sara Jordenö)
World premiere
An insight into a safe space created and governed by LGBTQ youths of colour, who are demanding happiness and political power. The film is a coming-of-age story about agency, resilience, and the transformative art form of voguing.
Life, Animated
(Country: US, France; Year: 2015; Director: Roger Ross Williams; Writer: Ron Suskind)
The story of an autistic man who was able to reconnect with his family via Disney films.
World premiere
Author: The JT LeRoy Story and Nuts!
Newtown
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Kim A Snyder)
World premiere
After joining the ranks of a growing club no one wants to belong to, the people of Newtown, Connecticut, weave an intimate story of resilience. This film traces the aftermath of the worst mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history as the traumatized community finds a new sense of purpose
Nuts!
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Penny Lane; Writer: Thom Stylinski)
World premiere
The mostly true story of Dr John Romulus Brinkley, an eccentric genius who built an empire with his goat-testicle impotence cure and a million-watt radio station. Animated reenactments, interviews, archival footage, and one seriously unreliable narrator trace his rise from poverty to celebrity and influence in 1920s America.
Suited
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Jason Benjamin)
World premiere
Bindle & Keep, a Brooklyn tailoring company, makes custom suits for a growing legion of gender-nonconforming clients.
Trapped
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Dawn Porter)
World premiere
American abortion clinics are in a fight for survival. Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws are increasingly being passed by states that maintain they ensure women’s safety and health, but as clinics continue to shut their doors, opponents believe the real purpose of these laws is to outlaw abortion.
Uncle Howard
(Country: UK, US, France, Germany, Czech Republic; Year: 2016; Director: Aaron Brookner; Writer: Aaron Brookner; Stars: Madonna, Jim Jarmusch, Andy Warhol, Sara Driver, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Howard Brookner, John Giorno, James Grauerholz, Patti Smith)
World premiere
Howard Brookner's first film, Burroughs: The Movie, captured the cultural revolution of downtown New York City in the early '80s. Twenty-five years after his promising career was cut short by AIDS, his nephew sets out to discover Howard's never-before-seen films to create a cinematic elegy about his childhood idol.
Jim and Kiki
Weiner
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg; Writer: Eli B Despres, Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg)
Documentary about mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner.
World premiere
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
Eye For Film continues to support festivals both locally and across the world. At the moment, we're covering:
French Film Festival
The UK's longest running celebration of Francophone cinema
Leeds International Film Festival
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
International showcase
Cannes Film Festival
Archive of festival coverage.
Sundance Film Festival
Daily diary and reviews from 2005-2018.
Berlin Film Festival
Coverage of the lynchpin German festival.
Search Movie Database
Browse our full archive
Browse our short film archive
Browse our media archive
