LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING This celebration of Little Richard reveals the Black queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, finally exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music. Through archival and performance footage, the revolutionary icon’s life unspools with all of its switchbacks and contradictions.
Director/Producer: Lisa Cortés
Producers: Robert Friedman, Liz Yale Marsh, Caryn Capotosto
Festival Section: US Documentary Competition
More Info: Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
About: The story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power, in Lowndes County, Alabama.
JOONAM Spurred by a provocative family memory and a lifetime of separation from the country her mother left behind, a young filmmaker delves into her mother and grandmother’s complicated pasts and her own fractured Iranian identity.
Director/Producer: Sierra Urich
Producer: Keith Wilson
Festival Section: US Documentary Competition
More Info: Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
GOING VARSITY IN MARIACHI In the competitive world of high school mariachi, the musicians from the South Texas borderlands reign supreme. Under the guidance of coach Abel Acuña, the teenage captains of Edinburg North High School’s acclaimed team must turn a shoestring budget and diverse crew of inexperienced musicians into state champions.
Directors: Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn
Producers: James Lawler, Luis A Miranda Jr, Julia Pontecorvo
Festival Section: US Documentary Competition
More Info: Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of legendary poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy.
Directors/Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
Producer: Tommy Oliver
Festival Section: US Documentary Competition
More Info: Check out the Sundance website for more details, including screening info, by clicking on the film title above.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | Photo by Iris Brosch
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE Shere Hite’s 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings rocked the American establishment and presaged current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy. So how did Shere Hite disappear?