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Sundance Film Festival · 2016

Sundance Film Festival 2016

US Dramatic Competition

The festival says: "Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films, the Dramatic Competition offers festivalgoers a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film."

Programme

16 films · 5 reviews

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As You Are

The telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte; Writer: Madison Harrison, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte; Stars: Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg, John Scurti, Scott Cohen, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andrew Polk, Annemarie Lawless, John Romeo, Billy Thomas Myott)

World premiere

Audrie & Daisy

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.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk)

World premiere

The Birth Of A Nation

Review preview for The Birth Of A Nation

Parker's reductive approach, more concerned with creating a hero than depicting a man, means it never achieves the impact that it ought to.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
The story of Nat Turner's slave uprising.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Nate Parker; Writer: Jean McGianni Celestin, Nate Parker; Stars: Armie Hammer, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union, Aja Naomi King, Penelope Ann Miller, Aunjanue Ellis, Mark Boone Junior, Nate Parker, Colman Domingo, Roger Guenveur Smith, Griffin Freeman, Jeryl Prescott, Steve Coulter, Katie Garfield, Cullen Moss)

Full review

World premiere

Christine

Review preview for Christine

Craig Shilowich's careful scripting avoids all the usual mental illness cliches and hystrionics to help us sympathise with her even in her most unpleasant moments.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
True story of a driven but troubled TV news reporter.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Antonio Campos; Writer: Craig Shilowich; Stars: Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, Maria Dizzia, J. Smith-Cameron, Kim Shaw, Timothy Simons, Tracy Letts, Rachel Hendrix, John Cullum, Morgan Spector, Susan Pourfar, Kimberley Drummond, Ritchie Montgomery, Jayson Warner Smith, Masey McLain)

Full review See: Saunder Jurriaans and Danny Bensi talk about Christine, The Fits, Frank & Lola

World premiere

Equity

A female investment banker, fighting to get a promotion at her competitive Wall Street firm, leads a controversial tech IPO in the post-financial-crisis world, where regulations are tight but pressure to bring in big money remains high.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Meera Menon; Writer: Amy Fox; Stars: Anna Gunn, James Purefoy, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner, Craig Bierko, Margaret Colin, Nate Corddry, Nick Gehlfuss, Carrie Preston, Samuel Roukin, Tracie Thoms, Lee Tergesen, Sophie von Haselberg, James Naughton, Roe Hartrampf)

World premiere

The Free World

Review preview for The Free World

While his narrative is over-written, Lew has an unfussy and measured directing style that offers promise.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
An ex-con risks his new-found freedom to help a woman he has just met.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Jason Lew; Writer: Jason Lew; Stars: Boyd Holbrook, Elisabeth Moss, Sue-Lynn Ansari, Waleed Zuaiter, Darren Pettie, James Moses Black, Nazeema Bartek, Vivian Fleming-Alvarez, Jean Claude Leuyer, Tony Beard, Kirk Robertson, Seth Gabel)

Full review

World premiere

The Intervention

A weekend getaway for four couples takes a sharp turn when one of the couples discovers the entire trip was orchestrated to host an intervention on their marriage.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Clea DuVall; Writer: Clea DuVall; Stars: Cobie Smulders, Alia Shawkat, Melanie Lynskey, Natasha Lyonne, Jason Ritter, Clea DuVall, Ben Schwartz, Vincent Piazza, Kira Pozehl, Melissa Lloyd-Wade, David Bernon, Sam Slater, Krista Mack, Merrik Foune)

World premiere

Joshy

Josh treats what would have been his bachelor party as an opportunity to reconnect with his friends.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Jeff Baena; Writer: Jeff Baena; Stars: Thomas Middleditch, Adam Pally, Alex Ross Perry, Nick Kroll, Brett Gelman, Jenny Slate, Lauren Graham, Aubrey Plaza, Joe Swanberg, Kris Swanberg, Alison Brie, Paul Weitz, Brian Patrick Farrell, Jake Johnson, Frankie Shaw)

World premiere

Lovesong

Neglected by her husband, Sarah embarks on an impromptu road trip with her young daughter and her best friend, Mindy. Along the way, the dynamic between the two friends intensifies before circumstances force them apart. Years later, Sarah attempts to rebuild their intimate connection in the days before Mindy’s wedding.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: So Yong Kim; Writer: Bradley Rust Gray, So Yong Kim; Stars: Jena Malone, Riley Keough, Brooklyn Decker, Ryan Eggold, Rosanna Arquette, Amy Seimetz, Marshall Chapman, Jessie Ok Gray, Sky Ok Gray, Juliet Fitzpatrick, Neal Huff, William Tyler, Justin Tarrents, Rick Duvall, Karen Kaforey)

World premiere

Morris From America

Review preview for Morris From America

It is Hartigan's ability to deal in specifics that mark his films out from the crowd.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A 13-year-old American comes of age in Germany.

(Country: Germany, US; Year: 2016; Director: Chad Hartigan; Writer: Chad Hartigan; Stars: Craig Robinson, Carla Juri, Jakub Gierszal, Eva Löbau, Kai Michael Müller, Lina Keller, Markees Christmas, Levin Henning, Marie Löschhorn, Patrick Güldenberg, Roger Ditter, Florian Von Stockum, Benedikt Crisand, Manuel Hafner, Hugo Manuel)

Full review

World premiere

Other People

A struggling comedy writer, fresh from breaking up with his boyfriend, moves to Sacramento to help his sick mother. Living with his conservative father and younger sisters, David feels like a stranger in his childhood home. As his mother worsens, he tries to convince everyone (including himself) he's "doing okay".

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Chris Kelly; Writer: Chris Kelly; Stars: Jesse Plemons, Bradley Whitford, Molly Shannon, Zach Woods, June Squibb, Retta, Maude Apatow, Kerri Kenney, Paul Dooley, J.J. Totah, Toni French, Madisen Beaty, Kanoa Goo, Karli Karissa, Waymond Lee)

World premiere

Southside With You

A chronicle of the summer afternoon in 1989 when the future president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, wooed his future First Lady on an epic first date across Chicago's South Side.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Richard Tanne; Writer: Richard Tanne; Stars: Tika Sumpter, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Parker Sawyers, Alex Zelenka, Donald Paul, Jerod Haynes, Fred Nance Jr., Preston Tate Jr., Jeremy Michael Pereira, Deanna Reed Foster, Gabrielle Lott-Rogers)

World premiere

Spa Night

A young Korean-American man works to reconcile his obligations to his struggling immigrant family with his burgeoning sexual desires in the underground world of gay hookups at Korean spas in Los Angeles.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Andrew Ahn; Writer: Andrew Ahn; Stars: Joe Seo, Haerry Kim, Youn Ho Cho, Tae Song, Ho Young Chung, Linda Han)

World premiere

Swiss Army Man

Hank, a hopeless man stranded in the wild, discovers a mysterious dead body. Together the two embark on an epic journey to get home. As Hank realises the body is the key to his survival, this once-suicidal man is forced to convince a dead body that life is worth living.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Writer: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Stars: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Timothy Eulich, Richard Gross, Marika Casteel, Aaron Marshall, Antonia Ribero)

World premiere

Tallulah

Review preview for Tallulah

Heder shows no signs of nerves with her first feature, boldly creating a trio of women who are, initially, prickly at best, slowly fleshing them out to reveal each as altogether more complex.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A woman 'kidnaps' a toddler and passes her off as her own.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Sian Heder; Writer: Sian Heder; Stars: Elliot Page, Allison Janney, Zachary Quinto, Uzo Aduba, David Zayas, Tammy Blanchard, John Benjamin Hickey, Fredric Lehne, Evan Jonigkeit, Jasson Finney, Doris McCarthy, Charlotte Ubben, Stacey Thunder, Nimo Gandhi, Jason Tottenham)

Full review

World premiere

White Girl

Summer, New York City: A college student goes to extremes to get her drug dealer boyfriend out of jail.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Elizabeth Wood; Writer: Elizabeth Wood; Stars: Morgan Saylor, Brian 'Sene' Marc, Justin Bartha, Chris Noth, Adrian Martinez, India Menuez, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Ralph Rodriguez, Anthony Ramos, Eden Marryshow, Celia Au, Tamika Sonja Lawrence, Kyanna Simone, Jermel Howard, Stefano Villabona)

World premiere