The feature-length lineup for the first night: director Dee Rees' urban teen drama PARIAH, whose executive producers include Spike Lee; Susanne Rostock's SING YOUR SONG, a documentary about singer and activist Harry Belafonte; John Michael McDonagh's Irish crime romp THE GUARD with Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle; and PROJECT NIM, a documentary about a chimpanzee raised like a human child that was directed by James Marsh, whose 2008 film MAN ON WIRE premiered at Sundance and went on to win the documentary Academy Award.
This is expected to be a strong year for Sundance, what with the strong showing of American indie films and quality international titles in the current awards season. In reviewing last year's crop, the Festival was instrumental in launching the international careers of such films as WINTER'S BONE (which won the Grand Prize and now is set to be an Oscar contender), the zeitgeist comedy THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (which might win Annette Bening her first Oscar), BLUE VALENTINE (with its sure to be nominated stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams), Nicole Holofcener's acerbic New York comedy PLEASE GIVE, the Australian gangster epic ANIMAL KINGDOM (that may snag an award for its momma grizzly Jacki Weaver), the Duplass Brothers comedy hit CYRUS, the Robert Duvall-starrer GET LOW, the Tilda Swinton swooner I AM LOVE, Rodrigo Garcia's superb ensemble drama MOTHER AND CHILD and the Gaspar Noe fantasmagoria INTO THE VOID.
Documentary films, considered the strongest section in the Festival, were also assisted in their rise this year by their appearance at last year's event. Among these celebrated titles (which will probably include this year's Oscar winner) are JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT: THE RADIANT CHILD, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, THE OATH, RESTREPO, THE TILLMAN STORY, WAITING FOR SUPERMAN, A FILM UNFINISHED, LAST TRAIN HOME, WASTE LAND, COUNTDOWN TO ZERO, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and the mockumentary CATFISH.
What films will emerge this year....stay tuned.
Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Circuit Editor