Sundance 2019: 20 Films We Can’t Wait to See in Park City

The Sundance Film Festival is starting tomorrow, January 24^th, and promises 11 days of cinematic discovery. The film year doesn’t really start until Sundance starts, premiering some of the movies that will be on year-end lists in 11 months. The 2018 iteration was a particularly strong one, including the premieres of “Sorry to Bother You,” “Blindspotting,” “Eighth Grade,” “Leave No Trace,” “Wildlife,” “Minding the Gap,” “Three Identical Strangers,” “Blaze,” and many more. Looking over the lists of what will play at Sundance over the next week-and-a-half, it’s easy to pick out 20 movies that we’re particularly excited to cover, although we’re just as excited at what will come completely out of nowhere, surprising us with its stellar quality. Come back soon for coverage from Brian Tallerico, Nick Allen, Monica Castillo, Tomris Laffly, and the Ebert Fellows—Niani Scott, Whitney Spencer, and Tiffany Walden, including reviews of all 16 films in the U.S. Dramatic Competition program. Below are twenty stand-outs from various programs that we’re eager to cover, alphabetically, including the official synopsis courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival.

“After the Wedding”

Starring Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Billy Crudup

Written and Directed by Bard Freundlich

Category: Premieres

Isabel (Michelle Williams) has dedicated her life to working with the children in an orphanage in Calcutta. Theresa (Julianne Moore) is the multimillionaire head of a media company who lives with her handsome artist husband (Billy Crudup) and their two adorable twin boys in New York. When word comes to Isabel of a mysterious and generous grant for the financially struggling orphanage, she must travel to New York to meet the benefactor—Theresa—in person. And when Isabel is spontaneously invited to Theresa’s daughter’s wedding, Isabel discovers a connection to Theresa that takes her on an unexpected journey into her own past.

“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, and Lily Banda

Written and Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor

Category: Premieres

Young William Kamkwamba lives with his family in rural Malawi, where he attends school regularly and shows great aptitude for his studies. Yet after land development and poor weather lead to a meager harvest, famine strikes the village, alarming the community and forcing William to drop out of school when his father (Chiwetel Ejiofor) can no longer afford the fees. Determined to find a way out of the life-threatening situation his family is facing, William sneaks into the school library to research—and soon conspires to build a windmill pump to irrigate the land. Caught between his father’s close-minded skepticism and the difficulty of creating a machine out of bicycle parts and scrap materials, William races against the clock to fight for his community’s survival.

“Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”

Starring Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Haley Joel Osment, Kaya Scoledario, John Malkovich, and Jim Parsons

Directed by Joe Berlinger

Written by Michael Werwie

Category: Premieres

1969. Ted (Zac Efron) is crazy-handsome, smart, charismatic, affectionate. And cautious single mother Liz Kloepfer (Lily Collins) ultimately cannot resist his charms. For her, Ted is a match made in heaven, and she soon falls head over heels in love with the dashing young man. A picture of domestic bliss, the happy couple seems to have it all figured out … until, out of nowhere, their perfect life is shattered. Ted is arrested and charged with a series of increasingly grisly murders. Concern soon turns to paranoia—and, as evidence piles up, Liz is forced to consider that the man with whom she shares her life could actually be a psychopath.

“The Farewell”

Starring Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong, and Jiang Yongbo

Written and Directed by Lulu Wang

Category: U.S. Dramatic Competition

After learning their beloved matriarch has terminal lung cancer, a family opts not to tell her about the diagnosis, instead scheduling an impromptu wedding-reunion back in China. Headstrong and emotional writer Billi rebels against her parents’ directive to stay in New York and joins the family as they awkwardly attempt to rekindle old bonds, throw together a wedding that only grandma is actually looking forward to, and surreptitiously say their goodbyes.

“Greener Grass”

Starring Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe, Beck Bennett, Neil Casey, Mary Holland, and D’Arcy Carden

Written and Directed by Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe

Category: Midnight

Jill and Lisa live in their perfect homes in their idyllic suburban community with their happy families. Their days are spent in the grocery store exchanging fashion tips and at birthday parties complimenting their neighbors’ potluck dips. As the women desperately vie for validation, they struggle to maintain pleasantry and normalcy, even when things get weird. And they do get weird. When Jill gifts Lisa her newborn baby in an altruistic gesture, paranoia overwhelms Jill while her fears and anxieties quickly unravel.

“Late Night”

Starring Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Paul Walter Hauser, Reid Scott, and Amy Ryan

Directed by Nisha Ganatra

Written by Mindy Kaling

Category: Premieres

Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is a pioneer and legendary host on the late-night talk-show circuit. When she’s accused of being a “woman who hates women,” she puts affirmative action on the to-do list, and—presto!—Molly (Mindy Kaling) is hired as the one woman in Katherine’s all-male writers’ room. But Molly might be too little too late, as the formidable Katherine also faces the reality of low ratings and a network that wants to replace her. Molly, wanting to prove she’s not simply a diversity hire who’s disrupting the comfort of the brotherhood, is determined to help Katherine by revitalizing her show and career—and possibly effect even bigger change at the same time.

“Little Monsters”

Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Alexander England, and Josh Gad

Written and Directed by Abe Forsythe

Category: Midnight

After a rough breakup, directionless Dave (Alexander England) crashes at his sister’s place and spends his days expanding his young nephew’s questionable vocabulary. When an opportunity arises to chaperone an upcoming school excursion alongside the charming and enigmatic teacher, Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o), Dave jumps at the chance to impress her. What he wasn’t anticipating was Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad), an obnoxious children’s television personality who shapes the excursion’s activities. What he was expecting even less was a zombie invasion, which unfolds after an experiment at a nearby military base goes awry. Armed only with the resourcefulness of kindergartners, Dave, Miss Caroline, and Teddy must work together to keep the monsters at bay and carve a way out with their guts intact.

“Native Son”

Starring Ashton Sanders, Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, Kiki Layne, Bill Camp, and Sanaa Lathan

Directed by Rashid Johnson

Written by Suzan-Lori Parks

Category: U.S. Dramatic Competition

Bigger “Big” Thomas, a young African American man, lives with his mother and siblings in Chicago. Half-heartedly involved with a girlfriend, he sports green hair and a punk jacket, smokes weed, and carries a pistol—but rebuffs his buddy’s “easy-money” scheme to knock off a corner store. Full of self-determination, Big accepts a job as the chauffeur for wealthy businessman Will Dalton’s family. Moving into their mansion, he begins driving Dalton’s vehemently progressive daughter, Mary. But his involvement in an accidental death places Big on a collision course with the powerful social forces pitted against him.

“Official Secrets”

Starring Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans, Adam Bakri, and Ralph Fiennes

Directed by Gavin Hood

Written by Sara Bernstein, Gregory Bernstein, & Gavin Hood

Category: Premieres

Based on the book The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War, Official Secrets tells the true story of British secret-service officer Katharine Gun, who during the immediate run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq leaked a top-secret National Security Agency memo. The memo—which exposed an illegal U.S.-U.K. spying operation against members of the United Nations Security Council—proposed blackmailing smaller, undecided member states into voting for war.

“Paddleton”

Starring Mark Duplass, Ray Romano, and Christine Woods

Directed by Alex Lehmann

Written by Alex Lehmann & Mark Duplass

Category: Premieres

An unlikely bromance between two misfit neighbors becomes an unexpectedly emotional journey when one of them is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Suddenly facing their mortality, the two bros (who spend their free time playing a game they made up called Paddleton) decide to go on a trip. Yet their literal journey turns into a metaphorical one as their experiences reveal the true bond of friendship—and what that means between two men who use humor to avoid expressing any real emotion.

“Paradise Hills”

Starring Emma Roberts, Danielle Macdonald, Awkwafina, Eiza Gonzalez, Milla Jovovich, and Jeremy Irvine

Directed by Alice Waddington

Written by Nacho Vigalondo & Brian DeLeeuw

Category: NEXT

When Uma wakes up alone on a strange island called Paradise, she instantly suspects it’s anything but. Helmed by the Duchess (Milla Jovovich), Paradise Hills is a center for emotional healing that at its core serves as a reformatory-style boarding school for privileged young women. Yet behind the rose-covered pathways and fairy-tale decor, Uma and her friends learn something more sinister is at work.

“The Report”

Starring Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Ted Levine, Maura Tierney, and Michael C. Hall

Written and Directed by Scott Z. Burns

Category: Premieres

Senate staffer Daniel Jones is assigned the daunting task of leading an investigation into the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. After analyzing extensive evidence, he learns about the “enhanced interrogation techniques”—proven to be brutal, immoral, and ineffective—that the CIA adopted after 9/11. When Jones and the Senate Intelligence Committee attempt to release the results from his investigation, however, the CIA and White House go to great lengths to prevent the truth from getting out.

“Share”

Starring Rhianne Barreto, Charlie Plummer, Poorna Jagannathan, J.C. MacKenzie, Nick Galitzine, and Lovie Simone

Written and Directed by Pippa Bianco

Category: U.S. Dramatic Competition

After a night of partying, high-school sophomore Mandy discovers that a series of cell-phone videos of her—half-dressed and semiconscious—have gone viral. Struggling to piece together what happened, reeling at how quickly the normalcy of her life has been upended, unsure about her friends’ attempts to usher her back into their normal social routine, and uneasy about her parents’ inclination to take action on her behalf, Mandy has to navigate a landscape littered with others’ good intentions and find a way to heal from a wound she can’t identify.

“The Sunlit Night”

Starring Jenny Slate, Zach Galifianakis, Alex Sharp, Gillian Anderson, and David Paymer

Directed by David Wnendt

Written by Rebecca Dinerstein

Category: Premieres

Summer is off to a terrible start for Frances (Jenny Slate). Her art project fails, her boyfriend unceremoniously kicks her out of his Hamptons home, and, to top it all off, her younger sister reveals she’s engaged just moments before her parents announce their separation. Out of a mixture of panic and frustration, Frances hastily takes an opening for an art residency in Norway and heads off to an isolated island where the sun never sets.

“Them That Follow”

Starring Olivia Colman, Kaitlyn Dever, Alice Englert, Jim Gaffigan, Walton Goggins, and Thomas Mann

Written and Directed by Britt Poulton & Dan Madison Savage

Category: U.S. Dramatic Competition

In the rugged wilderness of Appalachia, the members of an isolated community of Pentecostal snake handlers led by Pastor Lemuel (Walton Goggins) risk their lives to attest themselves before God. Lemuel’s daughter Mara (Alice Englert) prepares for her upcoming wedding to the young believer her father has singled out for her under the watchful eye of Hope (Olivia Colman), while scrambling to hide a secret that has the potential to drive her father’s church to ruin.

“To the Stars”

Starring Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Jordana Spiro, Shea Whigham, Malin Akerman, and Tony Hale

Directed by Martha Stephens

Written by Shannon Bradley-Colleary

In a god-fearing small town in 1960s Oklahoma, bespectacled and reclusive teen Iris endures the booze-induced antics of her mother and daily doses of bullying from her classmates. She finds solace in Maggie, the charismatic and enigmatic new girl at school, who hones in on Iris’s untapped potential and coaxes her out of her shell. When Maggie’s mysterious past can no longer be suppressed, the tiny community is thrown into a state of panic, leaving Maggie to take potentially drastic measures and inciting Iris to stand up for her friend and herself.

“Untouchable”

Directed by Ursula Macfarlane

Category: Documentary Premieres

The inside story of the meteoric rise and monstrous fall of movie titan Harvey Weinstein, Untouchable reveals how Weinstein acquired and deployed his formidable power over the course of decades. Former staffers, college friends, and reporters reflect upon the public perception of Weinstein as a visionary, while detailing his ruthless attempts to preserve his power as scandal threatened to engulf him. In candid, emotional, often-harrowing testimony—with many accusers speaking on camera for the first time—Untouchable exhumes both the method and the collateral damage of Weinstein’s alleged abuse. As the criminal case against him continues, the film questions whether meaningful change in the justice system—and in the film industry—is really possible.

“Velvet Buzzsaw”

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, Zawe Ashton, Tom Sturridge, and Natalia Dyer

Written and Directed by Dan Gilroy

Category: Premieres

In the cutthroat world of fine-art trading and representation, up-and-coming agent Josephina (Zawe Ashton) stumbles across a secret weapon: hundreds of dazzling paintings left behind after an elderly tenant in her building dies. Ignoring the instructions the clandestine artist left to destroy his work, she promptly starts circulating the paintings, which soon attract the attention of the heavy hitters around her—including her boss Rhodora (Rene Russo), art critic (and Josephina’s sometime lover) Morf (Jake Gyllenhaal), and competing collectors, managers, and curators like Bryson (Billy Magnussen) and Gretchen (Toni Collette). Yet as the deceased artist’s portraits gain posthumous acclaim, they also awaken something imperceptible and sinister that threatens to punish those who have profited from his work.