13 Films I Wish I Was Watching At Sundance Right Now

I live exactly 4, 835 miles away from Park City, Utah. So probably wont be able to get to any film screenings at Sundance. But if I was there, then this is what I would go and see...

1. Newtown

Via sundance.org

An automated SMS message from the BBC stopped me going out on Friday December 14th and to sit instead and watch hours of news footage role in about the tragedy unfolding at Sandy Hook elementary in Connecticut. Ever since I have been profoundly moved by the event and will undoubtedly be angered and frustrated all over again at the insanity of what happened that day. This movie will be important…

2. Dark Night

Via sundance.org

Following on the gun massacre theme is a somewhat esoteric depiction of the notorious events of July 20th in the midnight screening of Batman in a cinema in Aurora, Colorado. Much like Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, Dark Night apparently quietly follows the trajectories of a number of disparate young people who decide to head to the cinema not knowing the carnage that awaits them there.

3. Operation Avalanche

Via sundance.org

Hands down my favourite film of 2013 was Matt Johnson’s The Dirties. So his return with a cold-war comedy drama about the faking of the moon landing will be an absolute gem. Mark my words; it will be a gem.

4. Christine

Via sundance.org

Christine (Rebecca Hall) is a dedicated TV news reporter whose serious news values are tested by her shallow network executives who demand more salacious content from her. Her response is to gamble with her own sanity and take an enormous risk at giving them what they want. Based on a true story, this looks like this year’s Nightcrawler.

5. Southside With You

Via sundance.org

Southside With You is a fictionalised account of the serendipitous meeting in 1989 between the young attorney Michelle Robinson and Harvard Law summer associate Barack Obama. What could be sycophantic liberal hagiography will hopefully ruminate on what made such an intriguing, and somewhat humble, man so successfully run for the office of the White House.

6. Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown to Off the Wall

Via sundance.org

When I was a kid I loved MJ so much a teacher once made me stand on a table and dance, or shut the hell up. But embarrassingly as a white guy from Surrey, it took me way too long to discover that it was actually Off The Wall and not Bad that was his masterpiece album. A documentary about early Michael Jackson made by Spike Lee? What else can I say.

7. Equity

Via sundance.org

In the ugly patriarchy of investment banking, three ambitious women – a senior investor, her junior and an “aggressive” prosecutor – all get forced together after a controversial Initial Public Offering that turns brutal. Directed by Nora Ephron Prize winner (Tribeca Film Festival) Meera Menon, Equity looks to add some much needed estrogen into the Wall Street financial thriller genre.

8. Weiner

Via sundance.org

In 2011, respected Democratic New York congressman caused a media firestorm that led to his resignation when he was caught sexting a 21-year old Seattle woman over twitter. If this weren’t embarrassing enough, two years later on his triumphant return to politics as a mayoral candidate, a second scandal emerged involving an alias, ‘Carlos Danger’. Given unprecedented access to his intimate family life, filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg shed light on a genuinely popular man within reach of serious political power who just couldn’t say no…

9. Goat

Via sundance.org

Marketed as ‘part neorealism, part horror’, Goat is the brutal story of a 19 year old being swept up in a series of intense hazing rituals at his on-campus fraternity. The fact that a film depicting such uncomfortable hyper-masculinity has Nick Jonas as its lead actor is almost droolingly tempting.

10. Under The Gun

Via sundance.org

The third and final look at the epidemic of gun violence on this list is this broader state-of-the-nation documentary from Katie Couric and director Stephanie Soechtig (who made the brilliant Fed Up). Looking at the vast divide between second amendment obsessives (like the NRA) and the gun control advocates, Under The Gun apparently tries to be fair to both sides of the issue – a rarity in modern discourse. If they pull it off then they could educate a whole lot of people whom normally refuse to listen to the other side…

11. Holy Hell

Via sundance.org

At the age of 44, Will Allen finally left a strange and alluring ‘spiritualist community’ that he had joined in LA straight out of college. After spending twenty years devoted to a strange cult leader, Allen edited together the footage that he obsessively collected and created his debut, Holy Hell. The chance to see the inner workings of a cult from original source material seems like an inimitable experience.

12. Life, Animated

Via sundance.org

After being diagnosed with regressive autism at aged 3, Owen Ruskind entirely lost his ability to speak and instead developed an absolute infatuation with Disney films. This all changes when one day Owen’s father starts to play with him and some Disney puppets and he begins to start quoting the films. Owen’s story is told interwoven with Disney scenes to create a tapestry of his reemergence back into family life from his silence. Sounds utterly fascinating.

Let me know if you agree, disagree or have seen any of these in the comments below!