“Share”
Named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2015 by Filmmaker magazine, Pippa Bianco‘s directorial debut, “Share,” comes to the screen under the aegis of A24, which always pops up film media’s antennae. The drama centers on a sixteen-year-old girl who must try to figure out what happened to her— and how to navigate the escalating fallout—after discovering a disturbing video from a night she doesn’t remember. Half-dressed and semiconscious, the clips have gone viral and the young girl has to instantly figure out how to navigate this personal crisis. Frankly, it sounds like a modern horror movie for young girls and that’s intriguing enough. The drama features what is touted as a breakthrough performance by newcomer Rhianne Barreto with the supporting cast of Charlie Plummer, Poorna Jagannathan, J. C. MacKenzie, Nick Galitzine and Lovie Simone. This is another one, where you read the controversial logline, know it’s coming from A24 and you lock it into your must-see list.
“Wounds”
This one could be the easiest sells of Sundance. It’s directed by Babak Anvari, the acclaimed filmmaker behind the 2016 Iranian horror film “Under The Shadow.” That would probably be enough in of itself, but with the buzz of Anvari’s previous film, he was able to net Dakota Johnson, Armie Hammer, and Zazie Beetz as his stars. A dark psychological horror set in the Midnight section, “Wounds” centers on disturbing and mysterious things that begin to happen to a bartender in New Orleans after he picks up a phone left behind at his bar. Sorry buyers, Annapurna Pictures is already all over this one (the studio co-produced) and its reportedly already set for a March 29 release.
#Wounds First Look: #DakotaJohnson & #ArmieHammer Star In Babak Anvar’s New #Sundance-Bound Horror https://t.co/Oc8WzXRIZk
— The Playlist ???? (@ThePlaylist) December 21, 2018
“The Report”
Remember in “Vice,” where some of the fallout of Dick Cheney’s Vice Presidency is the approval of “enhanced interrogation techniques”—proven to be brutal, immoral, and ineffective—that the CIA adopted after 9/11? “The Report” is essentially an aftermath cousin film of that thread of the Cheney story and centers on a Senate staffer assigned the task of leading an investigation into the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. Of course, it comes with big pedigree too, as it’s the directorial effort of notable Hollywood screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, often known as Steven Soderbergh‘s go-to-writer and understood to be one of the highest-paid fix-it writers in the business, his surgical screenwriting skills are legendary (“Contagion,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Side Effects,” “The Informant!“). His cast is stellar and top-notch too. Adam Driver stars alongside Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Ted Levine, Maura Tierney, and Michael C. Hall and Burns is one of the few people in Hollywood that can take a project like this and turn it into a modern day “All The President’s Men“-like thriller.
“The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind”
You do not need to say more than the directorial debut of renowned actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and that should be enough to sell “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.” Based on William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer‘s book, ‘Wind’ centers on a boy in Malawi who helps his village by building a wind turbine after reading about them in a library book. Ejiofor co-stars, but it is young newcomer Maxwell Simba (who has no real credits to speak of) that has to carry the film and clearly people already believe he does. Netflix has already scooped up the film and it is set to hit the streaming service sometime in March. Lily Banda, Noma Dumezweni, Aïssa Maïga, and Joseph Marcell co-star.
Sundance First Looks: Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Directorial Debut, Scott Z. Burns’ ‘The Report’ & Many More https://t.co/6qKVfYLOX0 pic.twitter.com/rEJiz3JY49
— The Playlist ???? (@ThePlaylist) November 28, 2018
“Velvet Buzzsaw”
Another easy sell: from the team that brought you “Nightcrawler.” Yep, after the uneven “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” writer/director Dan Gilroy looks for redemption and brings along Jake Gyllenhaal and his wife and legendary actress Rene Russo along for the ride again. This one, “Velvet Buzzsaw” looks at the cutthroat world of art, but through a stranger genre lens; when a series of paintings by an unknown artist is discovered, a supernatural force enacts revenge on those who have allowed their greed to get in the way of art. Renowned cinematographer Robert Elswit is behind the camera again and the movie co-star John Malkovich, Daveed Diggs, and Natalia Dyer. You won’t have to wait long to see this one? Netflix will unveil the movie on their service February 1, just one week after its Sundance world premiere.