The Sundance Film Festival has launched the careers of indie film directors, writers, and actors now for 40 years. Back with in-person and online screening opportunities, this year’s iteration boasts new and bold storytelling from every genre. Here are a handful of films we’ll track in 2024.
For more information and tickets to Sundance 2024, click here! Be on the lookout for shared coverage with our good friend, Steve Kopian, at Unseen Films. To see all of his reviews and what he’s looking forward to this year, head over to his home base.
(World Cinema Dramatic Competition)
SUJO
When a cartel gunman is killed, he leaves behind Sujo, his beloved 4-year-old son. The shadow of violence surrounds Sujo during each stage of his life in the isolated Mexican countryside. As he grows into a man, Sujo finds that fulfilling his father’s destiny may be inescapable.
A movie about time and trauma, this beautifully acted and hauntingly written film from the directors of Identifying Features will be sure to captivate audiences.
This film contains strobe effects.
Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 25–28)
40th Edition Celebration Screenings And Events
DIG! XX
DIG! XX tracks the tumultuous rise of two talented musicians, Anton Newcombe, leader of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Courtney Taylor, leader of the Dandy Warhols, and dissects their star-crossed friendship and bitter rivalry. Through their loves and obsessions, gigs and recordings, arrests and death threats, uppers and downers, and ultimately to their chance at a piece of the profit-driven music business, they stage a self-proclaimed revolution in the music industry.
DIG! premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary Competition, where it ultimately won the Grand Jury Prize in the documentary category. DIG! XX, which will premiere at the upcoming Festival, is not only a digitally enhanced, remixed, and remastered version of DIG!, but also a special 20th anniversary new edit of the film culled from footage shot over seven years, and brought to you by the original sibling team, Ondi and David Timoner.
*Digitally enhanced and featuring new footage
(Premieres)
And So It Begins
Amidst the traditional pomp and circumstance of Filipino elections, a quirky people’s movement rises to defend the nation against deepening threats to truth and democracy. In a collective act of joy as a form of resistance, hope flickers against the backdrop of increasing autocracy.
Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 25–28)
(World Cinema Documentary Competition)
Eternal You
Startups are using AI to create avatars that allow relatives to talk with their loved ones after they have died. An exploration of a profound human desire and the consequences of turning the dream of immortality into a product.
“I wanted to see if he was okay,” explains Christi, one of the users of Project December. With this innovative software, users can communicate with a virtual version of the deceased through a chatbot that simulates the dead person’s conversation patterns. Hers was an attempt to check on her first love. Others may simply miss someone, seek permission to move on, or want to rid themselves of guilt.
At this point, I think we’ve all seen the app that turns photos into moving images. The idea feels equally sentimental and disturbing. Eternal You takes this tech further, begging the question, “How far are we willing to go to feel connected to those we’ve lost, and how might that affect our brains?”
Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 25–28)
World Cinema Documentary Competition
A New Kind of Wilderness
In a forest in Norway, a family lives an isolated lifestyle in an attempt to be wild and free, but a tragic event changes everything, and they are forced to adjust to modern society.
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen mixes home movies and a carefully intimate approach to the Payne family, whose isolated existence gets shaken up quite suddenly. This beautiful portrait of connection and resilience in the face of grief will touch your heart.
Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 25–28)
(NEXT)
REALM OF SATAN
An experiential portrait depicting Satanists in both the every day and in the extraordinary as they fight to preserve their lifestyle: magic, mystery, and misanthropy.
Filmmaker Scott Cummings is no stranger to Sundance, having edited many highly acclaimed festival premieres over the past decade, including Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Monsters and Men, and Wendy.
When I tell you that you aren’t ready for this doc, I mean it in the best way possible. Created to ruffle feathers and dispel right-wing hypocrisy, Scott Cummings titillates with gorgeous framing and a touch of tongue-in-cheek magical realism.
This film contains graphic sexual content. Audiences must be 18 or older.
Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 25–28)
(Premieres)
My Old Ass
Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza in the Sundance film MY OLD ASS
The summer before college, bright-yet-irreverent Elliott comes face-to-face with her older self during a mushroom trip. The encounter spurs a funny and heartfelt journey of self-discovery and first love as Elliott prepares to leave her childhood home.
The concept alone should get your butt into a seat, but filmmaker Megan Park casting Aubrey Plaza is chef’s kiss in indie cinema.
(Midnight)
I Saw the TV Glow
Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine in I SAW THE TV GLOW
Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021 Sundance Film Festival) gave us one of the coolest genre-bending films with a breakout performance from star Anna Cobb. I cannot wait to see how this one twists my sanity and senses.
This film contains violence and gore.
This film contains strobe effects.
To find out more information on all things Sundance 2024, head to https://festival.sundance.org/
Knowing that the film is based on true events makes it that much more intriguing and upsetting. With gloriously elaborate sets and pristine period costuming, the look of Colonia perfectly sets the tone as the story rolls along. Starting with vibrant colors on the political revolutionaries in Chile and turning dark and monochromatic once we arrive at Colonia Dignidad. The script is comprised of vast research on the part of Director Florian Gallenberger. Perhaps what is most disturbing is the fact that I’ve never heard about this happening. You’d imagine something so awful would be much more in the limelight. This is a small but brilliant window into a terrible point in human history.
Emma Watson is simply a more grown up and matured star now. Tackling a role in which a woman rescues her boyfriend is brave and important and not often something we’re treated to these days. Her grace on screen is timeless. Daniel Brühl, who I had the pleasure of meeting during the 
Colonia is successful as a love story and a political thriller. The film is now available to view via the streaming platform 
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