Category Archives: Film Festivals

The Sundance Film Festival’s 33rd edition takes place next month, running January 19-29, with a lineup consisting of 118 features, 68 shorts, 11 installations/performances, and 16 VR experiences. Since the 2011 festival, I’ve profiled the feature documentary programming in advance of the festival, offering background about the exciting new crop of films. The 2017 lineup focus commences tomorrow, beginning with the US Documentary Competition, and will continue film-by-film, section-by-section, until I’ve covered the approximately 50 nonfiction titles, concluding right before the festival begins.

Given my role as Documentary Programming Associate for Sundance, please note that these profiles are not reviews – instead, they simply include select background, noting past Sundance projects where applicable, and reasons why readers should seek the films out, either in Park City during the festival or later in the year at other upcoming festivals and/or ijn release. For a sample, check out last year’s series, which began here.

I’ve also prepared a new Twitter list to give readers a look at the festival through the eyes of the Sundance 2017 films.

Several additional titles have just been announced for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival:

DOCUMENTARY PREMIERES:

BENDING THE ARC
Directors: Kief Davidson & Pedro Kos / USA
This powerful epic is about the extraordinary doctors and activists—including Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, and Ophelia Dahl – whose work 30 years ago to save lives in a rural Haitian village grew into a global battle in the halls of power for the right to health for all. World Premiere

LONG STRANGE TRIP
Director: Amir Bar-Lev / USA
The tale of The Grateful Dead is inspiring, complicated and downright messy. A tribe of contrarians, they made art out of open-ended chaos and inadvertently achieved success on their own terms. Never-before-seen footage and interviews offer this unprecedented and unvarnished look at the life of the Dead. World Premiere

FROM THE COLLECTION:

DESERT HEARTS
Director: Donna Deitch, Screenwriter: Natalie Cooper / USA
Nevada, 1959: Vivian Bell arrives to get a divorce and finds herself increasingly drawn to Cay Rivvers, a self-assured lesbian. The emotions released by their developing intimacy combined with Vivian’s insecurities are played out against a backdrop of rocky landscapes and country and western songs. The Festival will screen a new digitally restored version by the Criterion Collection and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Sundance Institute and Outfest UCLA Legacy Project.

RESERVOIR DOGS
Director and screenwriter: Quentin Tarantino / USA
They were perfect strangers, assembled to pull off the perfect crime. Then their simple robbery explodes into a bloody ambush and the ruthless killers realize one of them is a police informant. But which one? Miramax provided a brand-new 35mm print for this special 25th anniversary screening, which will be followed by an extended Q&A with Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender.

These lineup additions join the Day One Documentary Premieres and New Climate title which was announced last Friday, an as-yet untitled follow-up to AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk.

Earlier lineup announcements include the US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions, plus NEXT; New Frontier; Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Midnight, Spotlight, Kids, and Special Events; and Shorts.

This post is a pointer to the third lineup announcement for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. This year’s selections in the Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Midnight, Spotlight, Kids, and Special Events sections may be found here.

Still to be revealed in further announcements are 2017’s Shorts and From the Collection selections.

Earlier lineup announcements include the US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions, plus NEXT and New Frontier.