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21 Sundance Film Festival Movies To Keep Your Eye On

By: Haley Bosselman By: Haley Bosselman | January 12, 2023 | Feature Movies

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The end of the year brings an onslaught of blockbusters and award-contenders to the theaters (and streaming!). To remedy, the new year kicks off with one of the most acclaimed film festivals of the year: Sundance.

Indie darlings, cult-favorite directors and trying newcomers are getting ready to take over Park City, Utah for the festival, which runs Jan. 19 to 29. And while the rest of us will have to wait a bit to watch the movies that will emerge as the festival’s best and buzziest, we can at least start our future watch list in the meantime.

See below for the movies to keep your eye on from the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

AUM: The Cult at the End of the World

Director: Ben Braun, Chiaki Yanagimoto

Why you’ll want to watch: See how a Tokyo yoga school evolved into a doomsday cult.

Bad Press

Director: Rebecca Landsberyy-Baker and Joe Beeler

Why you’ll want to watch: Gain an inside understanding of a Native community fighting for transparency from the government and the importance of the First Amendment.

Cassandro

Director: Roger Ross Williams

Who’s In It: Gael García Bernal, Roberta Colindrez, Perla de La Rosa, Joaquín Cosío, Raúl Castillo

Why you’ll want to watch: A Gael García Bernal performance is always worth watching. See him take on the role of the real life flamboyant luchador Cassandro.

Cat Person

Director: Susanna Fogel

Who’s In It: Emilia Jones, Nicholas Braun, Isabella Rossellini

Why you’ll want to watch: The New Yorker short story the movie is based on set the internet on fire in 2017.

Deep Rising

Director: Matthew Rytz

Why you’ll want to watch: Jason Momoa is the narrator, but you’ll also learn why our world intertwines with the deep ocean.

Eileen

Director: William Oldyrod

Who’s In It: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, owen Teague

Why you’ll want to watch: Be just as enticed as Eileen (McKenzie) by the allure of Rebecca, her new prison coworker that entangles her in a life-altering crime.

Fairyland

Director: Andrew Durham

Who’s In It: Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy, Geena Davis, Cody Fern, Adam Lambert, Maria Bakalova

Why you’ll want to watch: With Sofia Coppola as a producer, it’s likely this will be a memorable coming-of-age movie for 2023.

Infinity Pool

Director: Brandon Cronenberg

Who’s In It: Mia Goth, Alexander Skarsgård, Cleopatra Coleman

Why you’ll want to watch: Mia Goth continues to prove her reign over horror.

Judy Blume Forever

Director: Davina Pardo, Leah Wolchok

Why you’ll want to watch: Understand the author who helped us grow up.

Landscape With Invisible Hand

Director: Cory Finley

Who’s In It: This director brought you Thoroughbreds and the Emmy-winning Bad Education. Also, this features a world with super smart aliens.

Why you’ll want to watch: Tiffany Haddish, Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers, Josh Hamilton, Michael Gandolfini, William Jackson Harper

Little Richard: I Am Everything

Director: Lisa Cortés

Why you’ll want to watch: The director behind Precious and All In: The Fight For Democracy takes on the whitewashed history of rock ‘n’ roll and the complex, industry-changing life of Little Richard.

Murder in Big Horn

Director: Razelle Benally, Matthew Galkin

Why you’ll want to watch: The epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) has been ongoing for two centuries, but has not seen enough assistance or attention from powers at large. With this documentary, Benally and Galkin hone in on the disappearance of dozens of young Indigenous women and girls from the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Nations in Montana’s Big Horn County.

Past Lives

Director: Celine Song

Who’s In It: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo

Why you’ll want to watch: An A24 love story for the modern age.

Plan C

Director: Tracy Droz Tragos

Why you’ll want to watch: Remind yourself that the fight for bodily autonomy is ongoing.

The Pod Generation

Director: Sophia Barthes

Who’s In It: Emilia Clarke, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rosalie Craig, Vinette Robinson, Jean-Marc Barr

Why you’ll want to watch: You’ll laugh and stress over the possible future of pregnancy.

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields

Director: Lana Wilson

Why you’ll want to watch: From the director of Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana, Brooke Shields reflects on her place in celebrity and womanhood.

Radical

Director: Christopher Zalla

Who’s In It: Eugenio Derbez

Why you’ll want to watch: Be inspired by the power of education.

Run Rabbit Run

Director: Daina Reid

Who’s In It: Sarah Snook, Lily Latorre, Damon Herriman, Greta Scacchi

Why you’ll want to watch: Sarah Snook. Also, a mysterious surprise bunny arrives as a birthday gift that marks the spiraling of this movie’s star.

Stephen Curry: Underrated

Director: Peter Nicks

Why you’ll want to watch: Superstar athletes: they’re just like us (human) with a touch of mega talent and consuming competitiveness. It all makes for great viewing.

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Director: Davis Guggenheim

Why you’ll want to watch: Guggenheim’s past credits as director and executive producer include AN Inconvenient Truth, He Named Me Malala, Summer of Soul and Boys State. With a documentary wizard at the helm, you’ll gain an insightful look at Michael J. Fox’s life.

Theater Camp

Director: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman

Who’s In It: Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, Ayo Edibiri, Amy Sedaris, Caroline Aaron, Nathan Lee Graham, Owen Thiele, Alan Kim

Why you’ll want to watch: You already know Molly Gordon from her roles in Good Boys, Ramy and Booksmart. Back by a stellar cast, you’ll laugh out loud as this scrappy upstate New York summer camp for theater kids tried to stay afloat.

See also: Where To Watch Every Golden Globe-Nominated Film And TV Show



Tags: sundance film festival web-og haley-bosselman Apple News

Photography by: Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video