Search Results for: sundance

‘The Virgin of The Quarry Lake’ (Sundance 2025) Teen angst and feminine rage become a powder keg in a unique coming-of-age tale.

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The Virgin of The Quarry Lake Jealousy collides with superstition in Laura Casabé‘s coming-of-age Sundance 2025 film The Virgin of The Quarry Lake. Natalia lives with her grandmother, Rita, after being abandoned by her parents. The summer after high school graduation is a time of angst, curiosity, fear, and desire. Intimated by a worldly older woman named Silvia, Nati and Read More →

‘AZI’ (Sundance 2025 short) Palpable tension and one hell of a tease.

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AZI Montana Mann‘s Sundance 2025 short film AZI is an intriguing cat-and-mouse game of power. A weekend trip away takes an odd but intriguing turn when a challenge presents itself. Seemingly harmless fun turns into something (perhaps) more sinister in a matter of hours. The dynamic between 17-year-old Azi and her best friend’s father’s new girlfriend moves from passive-aggressive to Read More →

‘LIFE AFTER’ (Sundance 2025) Autonomy, disability, and so much more.

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LIFE AFTER Filmmaker Reid Davenport‘s timely Sundance documentary LIFE AFTER is here to ask the big questions. Much like his film 2022 film, I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE, Davenport’s personal lens overlaps with his subject as a person with cerebral palsy. Upon discovering an essay about a young woman named Elizabeth Bouvia, Davenport embarks on a journey to find this Read More →

‘DEATH EDUCATION’ (Sundance 2025 short) An undeniably thought-provoking and respectful lesson.

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DEATH EDUCATION 死亡教育课 WORLD PREMIERE Yuxuan Ethan Wu‘s Sundance 2025 short DEATH EDUCATION has no soundtrack. Wu’s cinematography and Tairui Zhu‘s location sound set the tone for the entire film. This pensive piece opens in quiet stillness, then transitions into jarring images of things the public never sees — a sterile metal morgue of a funeral home and the cremation Read More →

‘MR NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN’ (Sundance 2025) The shocking militarization of Russian schoolchildren and the brave teacher who exposed it all.

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MR NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN David Borenstein’s eye-opening Sundance 2025 documentary follows a democracy-loving school event coordinator and videographer who finds himself in the trenches of warfare. Pavel “Pasha” Talankin is not a soldier. He is a primary school teacher thrust into a shocking new reality– the bastardization of history and the brainwashing of his country. MR NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN should Read More →

Sundance 2025 arrives to kick off this year’s festival season. 8 films we are excited for.

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The Sundance Film Festival has launched the careers of indie film directors, writers, and actors for 41 years now. 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 2025.   For all the info on this year’s festival, click here!   TOUCH Read More →

Sundance 2024: Rock & roll down memory lane with ‘DIG! XX’

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DIG! XX Ondi Timoner‘s Sundance hit returns to the festival for its 20th anniversary with more footage than before. If, like me, you missed its original festival run, you’ll eat up DIG! XX and its quintessential 90s music deep dive into the tumultuous relationship between The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Timoner gets a completely unfiltered look inside Read More →

Sundance 2024: ‘SAY HI AFTER YOU DIE’ is perfect

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SAY HI AFTER YOU DIE Sundance 2024 short film SAY HI AFTER YOU DIE is a laugh-out-loud look at grief, mental health, and forever friendship. Following the unexpected passing of her best friend, Gloria finds herself talking to a porta-potty. It’s easy to see why the film won the Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction. It is that wonderful.  Read More →

Sundance 2024 review: ‘And So It Begins’

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AND SO IT BEGINS Amid Filipino elections, a grassroots movement emerges to protect truth and democracy from growing threats. People unite in joyful acts of resistance, kindling hope while autocracy expands. Returning to Sundance four years after the premiere of A THOUSAND CUTS, director Ramona S. Diaz gives audiences a companion piece about the fragility of democracy. In the Philippines Read More →

Sundance 2024 review: Cheeky documentary ‘REALM OF SATAN’ gives the middle finger to haters.

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REALM OF SATAN Filmmaker Scott Cummings brings Sundance 2024 audiences into the everyday lives of Satanists. The Church of Satan boasts innumerable followers around the world. REALM OF SATAN introduces us to members from all backgrounds in this part experimental, part cinema verité documentary that both challenges and pokes fun at any preconceived notions we may have had in the Read More →

Sundance 2024 review: AI advancements walk a fine line between healing and harmful in shocking doc ‘ETERNAL YOU’

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ETERNAL YOU Sundance 2024 documentary ETERNAL YOU is deeply disturbing and endlessly intriguing. It is something straight out of a horror sci-fi film. Filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck guide audiences through the latest technological advances in AI, where versions of your lost loved ones can interact with you in real-time. The moral and emotional gray area this tech exists Read More →

Sundance 2024 review: ‘SUJO’ explores childhood trauma and cyclical violence

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SUJO Ominous, heartbreaking, and beautifully shot, the Sundance 2024 film SUJO, from Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero (Identifying Features), examines cyclical violence and trauma through the lives of the family left behind by a murdered cartel member. Nemesia hides her nephew Sujo with the help of Rosalia and her two young sons, Jeremy and Jai. During early childhood, the five Read More →

‘A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS’ (Sundance 2024) Wading through grief with grace. Opening in NYC October 25th!!

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A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS A life chronicled most intimately and authentically, the Payne family experiences physical and emotional upheaval after a family tragedy. Choosing to raise their family on a secluded farm in the woods of Norway, Maria and Nik wanted nothing more than to instill a love of nature into their children. Potentially forced to sell the beloved Read More →

Sundance 2024 preview: A film for everyone at the festival’s 40th Edition.

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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 Read More →

Sundance 2023 Unseen Films review: Roman Liubyi’s ‘Iron Butterflies’ exposes the roots of current conflict.

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IRON BUTTERFLIES This is a look at the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur which was shot down by Russian forces over eastern Ukraine in 2014 threw news video, reconstructions, trial footage, and intercepted recordings. This is going to be the most low-key film you will see on the never-ending Ukraine conflict. There is no Read More →

Sundance 2023 Unseen Films capsule review: ‘Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)’

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Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, are the men behind the art design studio, Hipgnosis. Named by Syd Barrett when he scrolled the name across a door, the studio went on to create hundreds of record covers for all of the great bands and performers. One of the great films of the year Read More →

Sundance 2023 capsule review: Anna Hints’ profound documentary ‘SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD’ is a collective sigh of womanhood.

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SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD The ancient Estonian ritual of sauna building is a physical and spiritual cleansing. Women gather to share everything from funny childhood stories to earthly, almost guttural chants to intimate confessions with unfiltered honesty. Anna Hints‘ Sundance 2023 documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is a visceral and profoundly deep film. Mesmerizing closeups of body parts beading with sweat captured Read More →

Sundance 2023 capsule review: ‘BAD PRESS’ is a striking microcosm of tribal oppression and corruption.

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BAD PRESS Imagine a scenario, if you will, where the federal government controlled the entirety of the media. Ask North Korea and China’s citizens how well that works for them. Native American tribes are sovereign nations. They do not have freedom of the press. In the Sundance 2023 documentary from Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler, BAD PRESS exposes the crushing Read More →

Sundance 2023 documentary review: ‘FANTASTIC MACHINE’ is a gasp-worthy watch.

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FANTASTIC MACHINE Memory preservation, emotional resonance, exploration, and exposure of truth, FANTASTIC MACHINE explores the history of capturing the first image to the deliberate curation of media content through the ages. The swiftness of the manipulation of images shocked me. From the beginning, the film is ruthless in its takedown of perceived truth. It is what we don’t see changes everything. Fantastic Read More →

Sundance 2023 doc review: ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ is an unexpectedly badass victory cry

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IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? In search of someone else with the same physical condition, Ella Glendining takes us on a thoughtful journey in Sundance 2023 documentary IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? The editing combined with the score creates a charming and deeply affecting quality. Confessional diary logs place us in Ella’s headspace. She uses home videos and sit-down chats Read More →