In the pre-holiday run-up to the Sundance Film Festival’s landmark 40th edition — which will take place in hybrid form, both online and IRL in Park City, Utah, from January 18 to 28 — anyone seeking continuing evidence of the fest’s broad impact as both a launching pad for emerging talent and a legacy showcase for indie fare need look no further than this year’s Premieres section entry Freaky Tales. Set in ’80s-era Oakland, California and featuring an ensemble cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Normani Kordel, and Ben Mendelsohn, the film’s logline promises four interconnecting plot strands: “Teen punks defend their turf against Nazi skinheads, a rap duo battles for hip-hop immortality, a weary henchman gets a shot at redemption, and an NBA All-Star settles the score. Basically another day in the Bay.â€
Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, however, Freaky Tales also stands as a kind of snake-eating-its-own-tail inversion to the by now well-established Sundance-to-Hollywood success continuum. The filmmaking duo famously debuted a short film at the 2004 edition of the fest and were subsequently invited back to attend the Sundance Writer’s Lab where they honed and broadened the material. Then Boden and Fleck returned in 2006 to premiere a feature-length version of that film, Half Nelson, which landed studio distribution and earned its breakout star, Ryan Gosling, his first Oscar nomination. The upshot? The directors parlayed their Sundance renown into a gig directing one of the biggest blockbusters of all time: 2019’s Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Captain Marvel, which grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide.
At next month’s Sundance edition, Fleck and Boden will premiere Freaky Tales alongside new features from fellow festival alum Steven Soderbergh (returning with the suburban family horror-thriller Presence), Darren Aronofsky (who serves as producer on the David Schwimmer–starring druggy dramedy Little Death), and a tenth festival entry from the Zellner brothers (the defiantly oddball filmmaking siblings responsible for such titles as Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter and Damsel, back now with Sasquatch Sunset, which reportedly features Jesse Eisenberg as Bigfoot). “Freaky Tales is a return to their indie roots,†Sundance director of programming Kim Yutani says of Boden and Fleck. “We’re so impressed with the work they’re doing.â€
“Of the filmmakers who are coming back,†adds chief executive Joana Vicente, “it feels like we are seeing something new from them that is as original as their first films were at Sundance. I think we have an incredibly bold, exciting slate.â€
Whittled down from a record 17,000 entries from 150 countries, that slate of 82 films, eight episodic titles and one AI-based interactive “experience†has been carefully curated in the service of maintaining Sundance’s reputation as North America’s preeminent showcase for independent film. But as recently installed festival director and head of public programming Eugene Hernandez describes it, the trick was to “try to find the right program that represents the year in discovery.†In not so many words: to continue spotlighting fresh talent and cinematic gems in the rough to maintain the je ne sais quoi vitality that has sent Canada Goose-clad production executives schlepping up to a tiny ski hamlet at the base of the Wasatch Mountains for the last four decades. “That’s the backbone of what Sundance is built on,†Yutani says. “Who is the name we don’t know yet? What is the brand new film by somebody who has yet to be discovered? We have this opportunity to share their work with audiences, with the industry, and with wider potential for this film and the filmmaker.†A staggering 40 percent of Sundance ’24’s scheduled entries come courtesy of first-time filmmakers. “That’s just one of the pleasures of this job,†Yutani adds. “And yes, we have Kristen Stewart in our lineup.â€
Stewart exploded into Sundance consciousness as a 15-year-old in 2004 with three features in which she co-starred, and has returned over the years with low-budget passion projects such as Welcome to the Rileys, The Runaways, Camp X-Ray, and Certain Women, and premiered her own directorial debut short Come Swim at the 2017 Sundance. She indeed is back and starring in two 2024 entries: the A24-produced and distributed romantic-thriller Love Lies Bleeding (Stewart reportedly plays a gym employee who falls in love with a bodybuilder) and Love Me co-starring Steven Yeun and written and directed by first-time feature helmers Sam and Andy Zuchero (its cryptic logline: “Long after humanity’s extinction, a buoy and a satellite meet online and fall in loveâ€).
I ask if Love Me is an animated film or full of CGI and fail to get a straight answer. “Only we know the answer to that,†Yutani deadpans.
“The less you know about that film going in …†Hernandez begins before trailing off. “Sam and Andy play with your expectations and take you places that you probably can’t imagine. To Kim’s point, it’s really about that sense of discovery. Of finding a really adventurous, bold way to take an audience on a journey.â€
While the festival brain trust remains reluctant to pick favorites among the coming festival lineup, Vicente voices particular admiration for Didi, a coming-of-age drama from first-time feature director Sean Wang (who received a fellowship to Sundance’s Ignite program, which “identifies and supports new voices and talentâ€). She also singles out actor turned director Kobi Libii’s The American Society of Magical Negroes and its breakthrough performance by star Justice Smith. Programmers describe the U.S. Documentary Competition section entry Daughters — which follows four girls as they prepare for a special Daddy-Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers as part of a unique parenting program in a Washington, D.C., jail — as quite the tearjerker. “This is a real audience film,†Yutani says. “I think people are going to connect with it. And yeah, it’s a three-hanky.â€
Continuing a digital evolution that began as a matter of necessity with the COVID-era online-only festival edition in 2021 and pivoted to become Sundance’s first truly hybrid iteration last year, the fest has continued tweaking its streaming formula in a bid to allow the public to participate in many things Sundance without the hassle and expense of traveling to Park City. Starting Wednesday January 24, digital screenings will kick off for press and industry festivalgoers and from January 25 to 28 for general-public digital badge-holders. “There’s limited capacity,†Vicente points out. “We really treat it as a venue. It’s a digital venue so we encourage people to buy their digital package if they want to participate.â€
Sundance has long been distinguished from the festival herd by its systemic pro-social outreach and proudly inclusive programming bent — not to mention for showcasing no small number of films focused around protagonists on cross-country journeys of self-discovery over the years (the Best Picture–winning Little Miss Sunshine, 2004’s The Motorcycle Diaries, Catfish, and the mumblecore classic The Puffy Chair, among so many others). Those factors find a kind of dynamic confluence in the ’24 Premieres section documentary Will & Harper, which follows Will Ferrell as he discovers his close friend of 30 years is coming out as a trans woman. The two embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage in their relationship, creating an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and America in the process.
“I expect this film to really break out during the festival,†Yutani says. “This was one of the surprises of this season not because you have a great time watching this story of friendship unfold in front of your eyes — but because it is so moving. We did a lot of laughing and crying this programming season and this is one of the films that has both.â€