A new dawning of the Sundance Film Festival is upon us! SAGindie’s staff will return to Park City, Utah, for the 2024 edition (the 40th anniversary), taking place January 18 – 28. In between the brunches, parties, Q&A’s, and networking, there will also be movies! Which movies, you ask? Well, a lot. You can check out the full program for everything, but to keep things easy right here, we’re going to run down each of our staff’s most anticipated films of Sundance 2024.
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Darrien’s Picks:
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES
(Premieres, Directed by Kobi Libii. A young man, Aren, is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier.)
Eliza’s Picks:
I SAW THE TV GLOW
(Midnight, Directed by Jane Schoenbrun. 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.)
STRESS POSITIONS
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Theda Hammel. Terry Goon is keeping strict quarantine in his ex-husband’s Brooklyn brownstone while caring for his nephew — a 19-year-old model from Morocco named Bahlul — bedridden in a full leg cast after an electric scooter accident. Unfortunately for Terry, everyone in his life wants to meet the model.)
SEEKING MAVIS BEACON
(NEXT, Directed by Jazmin Renée Jones. Launched in the late ’80s, educational software ‘Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing’ taught millions globally, but the program’s Haitian-born cover model vanished decades ago. Two DIY investigators search for the unsung cultural icon, while questioning notions of digital security, AI, and Black representation in the digital realm.)
FREAKY TALES
(Premieres, Directed by Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden. In 1987 Oakland, a mysterious force guides The Town’s underdogs in four interconnected tales: Teen punks defend their turf against Nazi skinheads, a rap duo battles for hip-hop immortality, a weary henchman gets a shot at redemption, and an NBA All-Star settles the score. Basically another day in the Bay.)
BETWEEN THE TEMPLES
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Nathan Silver. A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher reenters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student.)
IN A VIOLENT NATURE
(Midnight, Directed by Chris Nash. The enigmatic resurrection, rampage, and retribution of an undead monster in a remote wilderness.)
GAUCHO GAUCHO
(U.S. Documentary Competition, Directed by Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw. A celebration of a community of Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as Gauchos, living beyond the boundaries of the modern world.)
PONYBOI
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Esteban Arango. Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past.)
Colin’s Picks:
KNEECAP
(NEXT, Directed by Rich Peppiatt. There are 80,000 native Irish speakers in Ireland. 6,000 live in the North of Ireland. Three of them became a rap group called Kneecap. This anarchic Belfast trio becomes the unlikely figurehead of a civil rights movement to save the mother tongue.)
KIDNAPPING INC.
(Midnight, Directed by Bruno Mourral. Tasked with what appears to be a simple abduction for hire, two hapless kidnappers find out that it’s anything but and end up in the middle of a political conspiracy.)
CONBODY VS EVERYBODY
(Episodic, Directed by Debra Granik. Taking place over eight years, Coss Marte builds ConBody, a gym inspired by workouts he developed while in prison. Committed to employing trainers who were formerly incarcerated, Coss creates a community fighting to break the cycle of recidivism while navigating society’s many obstacles to reentry.)
THELMA
(Premieres, Directed by Josh Margolin. A strait-laced professor discovers his hidden talent as a fake hit man. He meets his match in a client who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities. Inspired by an unbelievable true story.)
HIT MAN
(Spotlight, Directed by Richard Linklater. When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her.)
SEBASTIAN
(World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Directed by Mikko Mäkelä. Max, a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London, begins a double life as a sex worker in order to research his debut novel.)
Shefali’s Picks:
GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS
(World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Directed by Shuchi Talati. In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance. But her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself.)
DÌDI
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Sean Wang. In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-yearold Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom.)
EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Titus Kaphar. Utilizing his paintings to find freedom from his past, a Black artist on the path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father, a recovering addict desperate to reconcile. Together, they learn that forgetting might be a greater challenge than forgiving.)
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES
(Premieres, Directed by Kobi Libii. A young man, Aren, is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier.)
PONYBOI
(U.S. Dramatic Competition, Directed by Esteban Arango. Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past.)
DESIRE LINES
(NEXT, Directed by Jules Rosskam. Past and present collide when an Iranian American trans man time-travels through an LGBTQ+ archive on a dizzying and erotic quest to unravel his own sexual desires.)
YOUR MONSTER
(Midnight, Directed by Caroline Lindy. After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming, monster living in her closet.)
FREAKY TALES
(Premieres, Directed by Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden. In 1987 Oakland, a mysterious force guides The Town’s underdogs in four interconnected tales: Teen punks defend their turf against Nazi skinheads, a rap duo battles for hip-hop immortality, a weary henchman gets a shot at redemption, and an NBA All-Star settles the score. Basically another day in the Bay.)
WHAT ARE YOUR 2024 SUNDANCE MOVIE PICKS?
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