It’s barely even day one of the Sundance Film Festival, and we’re already elbows deep in coverage, and the next week will only get crazier. But what makes it all worth it? Discovery. The real pleasure of any festival is being the first, not to see some star-studded movie that already has distribution, but a gem you didn’t know much about that turns out to be a real surprise. While we’ll have to see if it fits into our schedule, "Partisan" looks promising, and this teaser trailer says a lot in its brief run time.
Directed by Ariel Kleinman, and starring Vincent Cassel and Jeremy Chabriel, the film tells the story of a young boy coming of age and trying to find his own voice in a world where the rules are not his own. Here’s the official synopsis:
The charismatic Gregori (Vincent Cassel) saunters into a hospital maternity ward and charms new mother Susanna. Eleven years later, she and her son Alexander live in Gregori’s closed community, sheltering vulnerable women and their brood in a haven isolated from the outside world. Alexander is Gregori’s prize pupil, eldest son, and star employee in the cottage industry—in which the kids are trained to run dangerous errands to provide for the group—but Gregori feels threatened by the boy’s inquisitive nature, struck by the fear that his child might not love him anymore. Meanwhile, Alexander begins to think for himself.
"Partisan" has its first screening in Park City on Sunday. Watch below.
Browse through all our coverage of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival by clicking here.