Sundance Film Festival

24 “experts in film, art, culture and science” will adjudicate the award feature-length work shown at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival with 28 prizes, handed out at the Awards ceremony on January 27. Hosting the Awards ceremony is  Jason Mantzoukas, actor, comedian and star of Hannah Fidell’s The Long Dumb Road (Premieres section). The awards, which recognize standout artistic and story elements, are voted on by each of seven section juries, including, in the case of the new-this-year NEXT Innovator’s Award, a jury of one. As in years past, Festival audiences have a role in deciding the 2018 Audience Awards, which will recognize five films in the U.S. Competition, World Competition and NEXT categories; new this year, audiences will vote on a Festival Favorite film across categories, which will be announced the week following the Festival. Search, which premiered in the NEXT section, won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize, announced previously. The 2018 Sundance Film Festival Jury members are:

U.S. Documentary Jury

Barbara Chai Barbara Chai is head of arts and culture coverage at Dow Jones Media Group, a suite of publications including Barron’s, Penta, MarketWatch and the U.K.’s Financial News. She is also the editor of MarketWatch Entertainment. She was previously a longtime arts and news editor at The Wall Street Journal and was the managing editor of Speakeasy, the WSJ’s pop culture and entertainment site. In 2012, Chai traveled to Dharamsala, India, to blog about Buddhism and conduct the first of two video interviews with the Dalai Lama. She has lived and worked overseas for a decade, in Brussels and Hong Kong as an international news editor, and in Taiwan as a volunteer English teacher. Chai received her M.F.A. in fiction and poetry from Hollins University, where she also taught undergraduate creative writing as a fellow. Simon Chinn Simon Chinn conceived and produced Man on Wire, which won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win an Academy Award and 40 other international awards. He followed that up with a string of award-winning feature documentaries including The Imposter, Project Nim, and Searching for Sugar Man, which also won an Academy Award and two prizes at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2014 Simon launched Lightbox with his LA-based cousin, Jonathan Chinn. Focused on producing high-end nonfiction for multiple platforms, Lightbox has produced major projects for big and small screen alike, including LA 92 for National Geographic and the only authorized documentary about Whitney Houston, directed by Kevin Macdonald, which will be released theatrically around the world in 2018. Chaz Ebert Chaz Ebert is the CEO of the movie review site RogerEbert.com, heads the TV and movie production company Ebert Productions LLC, and is the co-founder of Ebertfest (Roger Ebert’s Film Festival), now entering its 20th year. As president of the Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation, her civic interests include endowing programs to help break the glass ceiling for women and people of color, providing education and arts for women, children, and families, and encouraging empathy, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Through these programs she also supports emerging writers, filmmakers, and technologists at various film festivals and universities. Ebert’s affiliation with Sundance Institute includes supporting a program for Ebert Fellowship recipients at the Sundance Film Festival and participating as a creative investor in both the Catalyst Forum and Catalyst Women. She has also provided grants to many documentary films, among them Radical Grace, Strong Island, and They Call Us Monsters. Ezra Edelman Ezra Edelman is an award-winning filmmaker. He directed O.J.: Made in America, which won the 2016 Academy Award for best documentary feature and is the third film Edelman has made for ESPN’s acclaimed 30 for 30 documentary series. Edelman has also produced and directed three films for HBO, including the Peabody Award–winning Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals and the Emmy-winning Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush. In 2013, Edelman co-produced the Academy Award–nominated documentary Cutie and the Boxer. A native of Washington, DC, Edelman graduated from Yale University and currently lives in Brooklyn. Matt Holzman Matt Holzman is host and producer of The Document, a new mash-up of radio and documentaries from NPR’s Southern California flagship station, KCRW. A veteran public radio producer and reporter for film, culture, and the arts, Holzman previously created The Business, KCRW’s weekly radio show about the entertainment industry, and has appeared regularly on PRI’s Studio 360 and The World. On his new program, Holzman works with documentary filmmakers to tell riveting stories—with no pictures. Holzman is also the creator and host of KCRW’s documentary screening series.

U.S. Dramatic Jury

Rachel Morrison, A.S.C. Cinematographer Rachel Morrison has emerged as a refreshing talent in contemporary cinema. She has shot several features that have played at the Sundance Film Festival in recent years, including Fruitvale Station (which won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award); indie breakout Dope; What Happened, Miss Simone? (an Academy Award nominee for best documentary feature); and most recently, the period drama Mudbound. Morrison has a background in photojournalism and completed a master’s degree in cinematography at the American Film Institute. She has also been nominated for two Emmys and received the Kodak Vision Award. Morrison’s next film, Black Panther, reunited her with Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler and made her the first woman to be director of photography on a blockbuster superhero film. Jada Pinkett Smith Jada Pinkett Smith was born in Baltimore and has starred in many successful films. Her most recent film, Girls Trip, became the first film that starred and was produced, directed, and written by African Americans to break $100 million at the U.S. box office. Smith has also produced several films, including The Secret Life of Bees, The Karate Kid, and Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. Other films she has starred in include The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Nutty Professor, as well as voicing Gloria in the Madagascar films. The Will and Jada Smith Foundation launched Careers in Entertainment—an initiative to help underrepresented voices enter the entertainment industry—in 2016, and then in 2017 the Foundation partnered with Sundance Institute to support diverse independent filmmakers through the Screenwriters Intensive. Octavia Spencer As a veteran character actress and one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents, Octavia Spencer has become a familiar fixture on both television and the silver screen. Her critically acclaimed performance as Minny in the DreamWorks film The Help won her an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Critics’ Choice Award, among numerous other accolades. Earlier this year, Spencer portrayed real-life mathematician Dorothy Vaughan in the Academy Award-nominated drama Hidden Figures, for which she also received her second individual Academy Award nomination. She can currently be seen in Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy drama, The Shape of Water, which won the coveted Golden Lion Award at this year’s Venice Film Festival and has since been awarded a wide range of accolades including individual Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Spencer. Michael Stuhlbarg Michael Stuhlbarg can currently be seen in Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, and Steven Spielberg’s The Post. His other film credits include Doctor Strange, Arrival, Miles Ahead, Trumbo, Lincoln, Hugo, and A Serious Man, the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. Stuhlbarg received his BFA from The Juilliard School; he also studied at UCLA, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, the British American Drama Academy, Balliol College and Keble College (both of the University of Oxford), and with Marcel Marceau. Stuhlbarg is also known for his acting on the stage, having worked numerous times with Shakespeare in the Park and earning a Tony nomination for his performance in Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman. Joe Swanberg Joe Swanberg has directed several films, including Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas, and Win It All. He contributed to the anthology horror film V/H/S and has acted in Adam Wingard’s You’re Next, Ti West’s The Sacrament, and Annie Clark’s segment of XX. He is the creator of the Netflix original series Easy, which he produces, writes, and directs, and his directing work in television includes episodes of HBO’s Looking and Netflix’s Love. In addition to his own work, Swanberg finances and produces films through his Forager Films production company, including Alex Ross Perry’s Queen of Earth and Golden Exits, Zach Clark’s Little Sister, and Dustin Guy Defa’s Person to Person. Swanberg works in Chicago, where he lives with his wife – filmmaker Kris Swanberg – and their two children.

World Cinema Dramatic Jury

Hanaa Issa Hanaa Issa has held several senior responsibilities through the founding and establishment of the Doha Film Institute in Qatar. Currently, as director of strategy and development, she oversees initiatives for film funding, training, and development, as well as the institute’s programming, and she ensures that DFI’s core programs deliver on their mission of nurturing and strengthening local and regional film industries. Some of the films supported by the institute include the Academy Award nominees Timbuktu (by Abderrahmane Sissako) and Mustang (by Deniz Gamze Ergüven), Loving Vincent (by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman), and the Academy Award–winning The Salesman (by Asghar Farhadi). Issa is also the deputy director of Qumra, DFI’s annual industry event that provides mentorship, hands-on development, and international market access to emerging filmmakers from around the world. Ruben Östlund As an avid skier, Ruben Östlund directed ski films for five years, solidifying his taste for long sequence shots. In his mid 20s he went on to study film at the University of Gothenburg, where he developed his skill in constructing well-thought-out sequence shots, and this knowledge has continued to evolve through all his films. His works are best described as both humorous and accurate observations of human social behavior—film blended with sociology. His last four feature films have premiered at the Cannes Film Festival; Force Majeure won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2014, and his latest film, The Square, won the Palme d’Or, was distributed in over 75 territories, and became a box-office success. Östlund is also a professor of film at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Michael J. Werner Michael J. Werner is an American-born, Hong Kong–based producer, strategic consultant, and producer’s representative. He has been credited as a producer or executive producer on nearly 30 high-profile independent films, including Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster, Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata, John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus and How to Talk to Girls at Parties, and Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin. Werner was a partner in the pioneering foreign-sales company Fortissimo Films. He has served as a consultant or advisor to numerous industry and festival events in Asia, including the Hong Kong’s HAF, the Asian Film Awards, Screen Singapore, the Busan International Film Festival, and the International Film Festival and Awards of Macao. He most recently was a consultant to Fox International Productions and was an executive producer on 212 Warriors, their new Indonesian-language co-production. Currently he is producing a new film (Suk Suk) from Hong Kong director Ray Yeung.

World Cinema Documentary Jury

Joslyn Barnes Among the films Joslyn Barnes has been involved with producing since co-founding Louverture Films are Bamako (directed by Abderrahmane Sissako), Trouble the Water (Carl Deal and Tia Lessin), The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975 and Concerning Violence (both directed by Göran Hugo Olsson), The House I Live In (Eugene Jarecki), The Time that Remains (Elia Suleiman), Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Cemetery of Splendour (both directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul), House in the Fields (Tala Hadid), White Sun (Deepak Rauniyar), Zama (Lucrecia Martel), and Strong Island (Yance Ford). Forthcoming films include Hale County This Morning, This Evening (RaMell Ross); Angels Are Made of Light (James Longley); and Aquarela (Victor Kossakovsky). In 2017, Barnes received both the Cinereach Producer Award and the Amazon Studios Producers Award. Billy Luther Billy Luther (Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo) is the director and producer of the award-winning documentary Miss Navajo, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and aired on PBS’s Independent Lens. He studied film at Hampshire College and worked on various projects for the National Museum of the American Indian’s film and video center. His second documentary feature, Grab, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on public television. His latest short documentary film, Red Lake, premiered at the 2016 LA Film Festival and was nominated for best short at the 2016 International Documentary Association Awards. He is currently in production on alter-NATIVE, a docuseries exploring the world of Native American fashion designers. Paulina Suárez Paulina Suárez is director of Ambulante, a non-profit organization that supports and promotes documentary cinema culture across Mexico. She holds a BA from UNAM (Mexico’s national university), an MA from the University of Chicago, and is completing her PhD at NYU. Her research and writing have focused on Mexican cinematic modernity, fictional and nonfictional melodramas, and expanded documentary cultures. Since 2016, Suárez has directed Ambulante’s film training program and its annual traveling festival, which screens nonfiction works at over 140 venues across Mexico. Suárez is committed to cinema’s vocation as a public art and to exploring its potential as a catalyst for social change.

Short Film Jury

Cherien Dabis Cherien Dabis is an award-winning filmmaker and television writer/director who made her feature debut with Amreeka, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the coveted FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It went on to win several more international awards (including the Humanitas Prize), was nominated for the IFP Gotham Award for best feature, and was named one of the top 10 independent films of the year by the National Board of Review. Dabis made her onscreen debut in her second feature, May in the Summer, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Dabis has also written and directed for several television series, such as Showtime’s groundbreaking The L Word, Fox’s hit Empire, and USA Network’s critically acclaimed crime thriller The Sinner. Shirley Manson Shirley Manson is best known as the lead vocalist of the critically acclaimed alternative rock band Garbage and has been an active recording artist for more than 30 years. Garbage has sold over 12 million records during the course of an award-winning career that includes the recording of the James Bond movie theme “The World Is Not Enough” and the formation of their own independent record label, STUNVOLUME. Last year they released an autobiographical coffee-table book titled This Is the Noise That Keeps Me Awake and embarked upon a co-headline tour across North America with the legendary post-punk band Blondie. They are currently in the studio working on their seventh record, and they expect to be hitting the road later in 2018 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their Grammy-nominated record, Version 2.0. Chris Ware Chris Ware is the author of Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth and Building Stories, which was named a top 10 book of the year by the New York Times and a top 10 fiction book of the year by Time. A regular contributor of comic strips and over two dozen covers to the New Yorker, his work has been exhibited at MOCA Los Angeles, the MCA Chicago, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, and he was a focus of the “Chicago” episode of the PBS program Art in the 21st Century in late 2016. His book Monograph by Chris Ware was released by Rizzoli in October 2017.

NEXT

RuPaul Charles RuPaul Charles is an actor, singer, songwriter, and the two-time Emmy-winning host and executive producer of RuPaul’s Drag Race. RuPaul studied theatre before moving to New York City in the mid-eighties, where he was crowned the Queen of Manhattan in 1989. RuPaul shot to international fame with the 1992 hit song “Supermodel (You Better Work),” followed by a seven-year contract as the first face of MAC Cosmetics. In addition to Drag Race, RuPaul has appeared in more than 50 films and television sitcoms, released 13 solo albums, published 2 books, and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2017. RuPaul currently hosts the weekly podcast What’s the Tee? with Michelle Visage as well as the bi-annual drag convention RuPaul’s DragCon.

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Jury

Robert Benezra Dr. Robert Benezra is a member of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a professor of biological sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University. He received his doctoral degree in biological sciences at Columbia University and completed his postdoctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Heather Berlin Dr. Heather Berlin is a cognitive neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Passionate about science communication, Berlin is a committee member of the National Academy of Science’s Science & Entertainment Exchange and the New York Times series TimesTalks. She hosts StarTalk All-Stars with Neil deGrasse Tyson, and she hosted the CUNY TV series Science Goes to the Movies and the Discovery Channel series Superhuman Showdown. Kerry Bishé Kerry Bishé is an actor and writer for theatre, film, and television. Her work can be seen in movies including Argo, Red State, and Blue Highway. She played computer engineer Donna Clark on AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire. Kerry is an ardent science enthusiast who works to expand access to computer science education and help scientists articulate their message for a broad audience. Nancy Buirski Nancy Buirski is the director/producer/writer of The Rape of Recy Taylor, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Human Rights Nights Award. It is also a nominee for the NAACP Image Award for outstanding documentary. Buirski is also the director/producer of By Sidney Lumet (2015), Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq (2013), and the Peabody Award–winning and Emmy-winning The Loving Story (2012). Buirski is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

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[caption id="attachment_25774" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] War Paint[/caption] The lineup for the new Indie Episodic, Shorts and Special Events sections of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival were announced today.  69 short films will screen at the Festival. New this year is the Indie Episodic section, designed as a dedicated showcase for emerging independent voices and their work. In recent years, the Festival has screened episodic content in the Special Events section, which includes new independent works that add to the unique Festival experience. This evolution reflects Sundance Institute’s ongoing support of the developing episodic format, which includes the Episodic Lab, where creators develop original projects under the guidance of veteran industry advisors. Works from the new Indie Episodic section premiere at the Festival beginning Monday, January 22 and continuing through Wednesday, January 24. The works selected in these sections are:

INDIE EPISODIC

America To Me / U.S.A. (Director: Steve James, Segment Directors: Bing Liu, Rebecca Parrish, Kevin Shaw)  — This limited series captures a year-long look at one of Chicago’s most progressive and diverse public schools, located in suburban Oak Park. Unprecedented in scope, the series is both intimate and epic in its storytelling as it explores America’s charged state of race, culture and education today. World Premiere The Adulterers / U.S.A. (Creators and screenwriters:: Tonya Glanz, Chris Roberti) — Two co-workers engaged in an extramarital affair discover an unexpected but limited intimacy which unlocks a secret world of creativity and freedom. Cast: Tonya Glanz, Chris Roberti. World Premiere Cherries / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Diaz Jacobs) — After a long separation, two sisters are forced to come together. When the man that once got between them reappears, a triangle emerges and they find themselves in a similar place after many years: suffocating, infuriating and incredibly familiar. Home. Cast: Shannon Plumb, Melora Walters, Robert Maffia, Lora Witty. World Premiere Franchesca / U.S.A. (Executive Producers: Topic Studios, Franchesca Ramsey, Kara Welker, Director: Kaitlin Fontana) — Comedian Franchesca Ramsey finds communion and culture in this digital series which explores beauty and fashion. The pilot episode finds Franchesca escaping ubiquitous internet trolls as she spends the day with friend Michelle Buteau getting an ornate Japanese gel manicure. Cast: Franchesca Ramsey. World Premiere Halfway There / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Rosenthal, Screenwriter: Nick Morton) — When recovering addict Jimmy Bishop finds his sober living facility teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, he is forced to take in his wealthy alcoholic mother as a client. Her arrival solves his immediate financial crisis but also unleashes every other problem he has struggled his whole life to contain. Cast: Matthew Lillard, Blythe Danner, Esai Morales, Sarah Shahi, Nishi Munshi, Paige Hurd. World Premiere High & Mighty / U.S.A. (Director: Carlos Lopez Estrada, Screenwriter: Cesar Mazariegos)  — After getting shot multiple times by a mysterious flower delivery man and surviving without a scratch, Chelo discovers he has superhuman powers. But only when he’s drunk or high. With the help of his homies, Chelo will decide whether to use his powers for good…or social media. Cast: Jorge Diaz, J.R. Villarreal, Adam Zastrow, James Eckhouse, Shakira Barrera, Chelsea Rendon. I’m Poppy / U.S.A. (Director and writer: Titanic Sinclair) — Join Internet sensation Poppy as she enters the real world for the very first time and quickly realizes that fame and fortune comes at a price, with secret societies, dangerous fanatics and a very envious mannequin named Charlotte.Cast: Poppy Chan, Samm Levine, Dan Hildebrand, Brad Carter, Kofi Boakye, Madison Lawlor. World Premiere Leimert Park / U.S.A. (Director: Mel Jones, Screenwriters: Davita Scarlett, Mel Jones, Kady Kamakate) — Things get complicated when three friends share a house in South LA’s Leimert Park. Despite being married, beats-maker Mickey hasn’t had an orgasm in three months, Bridget mistakes sex for love while assisting a visiting artist and Kendra shoots videos of her numerous sexual encounters, hoping for her own art show. Cast: Ashley Blaine Featherson, Ashlí Haynes, Asia’h Epperson, Wade Allain-Marcus, Franz Latten, Ikenna Okoye. World Premiere The Mortified Guide / U.S.A. (Director: Michael Mayer, Executive Producers: David Nadelberg, Neil Katcher) — A comedic look at the biggest issues of adolescence – from first loves to fitting in – as adults share their childhood writings and art in front of total strangers. Based on the Mortified stage shows, books, podcast and film, this docuseries celebrates the awkward insecurities that shaped us all. Cast: Robert Woo, Katie Westerfield, Adam Ruben. World Premiere Mr. Inbetween / Australia (Director: Nash Edgerton, Screenwriter: Scott Ryan) — Father, ex-husband, boyfriend: tough roles to juggle in the modern age. Even harder when you’re a hitman. Cast: Scott Ryan, Justin Rosniak, Brooke Satchwell, Damon Herriman, Jackson Tozer, Chika Yasumura. World Premiere Paint / U.S.A. (Creator and director: Michael Walker) — A 30 minute comedy/drama about three young artists, living in Brooklyn, and their adventures trying to make it in the art world and in life. Cast: Joshua Caras, Olivia Luccardi, Paul Cooper, Amy Hargreaves, David Patrick Kelley. World Premiere The Passage / U.S.A. (Director: Kitao Sakurai, Writers: Phillip Burgers, Kitao Sakurai) — Phil, wide-eyed and mute, is on the run from a pagan cult. Phil’s scatterbrained ineptitude keeps getting him into trouble, however, and agents who’ve been hired to recapture him are always one step behind. The result is a series of misadventures that take the trio around the globe. Cast: Philip Burgers, Chad Damiani, Krystel Roche, Juzo Yoshida. World Premiere The Show About The Show (Season 2) / U.S.A. (Director: Caveh Zahedi, Producer: Aziz Isham) — In Season 2, Caveh and Mandy break up over the Show. Caveh gets involved with a fan but the pressure of having every aspect of their relationship made public begins to erode that relationship as well. The Show becomes a runaway train that Caveh struggles to keep from being derailed.Cast: Amanda Field, Ashley Foy, Emmy Harrington, Peter Rinaldi, Karley Sciortino, Caveh Zahedi. World Premiere susaneLand / U.S.A. (Creators: Susane Lee and Andrew Olsen, Director: Andrew Olsen) — Dark, comedic vignettes from one young woman’s life. Cast: Susane Lee, Robert David Hall, Ken Takemoto, Mimi Cozzens, Travis Coles, Caitlin Kim. World Premiere Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time / U.S.A. (Creator: Peter Gulsvig, Screenwriters: Daniel Shepard, Diana McCorry) — An animated comedy about a maladjusted 42-year-old woman with the emotional capacity of a child who shrinks to the size of her toys and forces them to entertain her before introducing several unrelated animated shorts. Cast: Rachel Butera, Nate Corddry, Peter Gulsvig, Jeremy Bent, Diana McCorry. World Premiere This Close / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Ahn, Creators: Josh Feldman, Shoshannah Stern) — Best friends Kate and Michael, who are deaf, try to balance their personal and professional lives. She’s newly engaged and struggles to grow at work, while he battles self-destructive writer’s block after having his heart broken. As they tackle their own issues, their friendship is put to the test. Cast: Shoshannah Stern, Josh Feldman, Zach Gilford, Colt Prattes, Marlee Matlin, Cheryl Hines. World Premiere Tropical Cop Tales / U.S.A (Director: Jim Hosking, Writers: Jim Hosking, Toby Harvard) — Two burned-out city cops — Keymarion “Primetime” Weeyums and Demetrius “Meechie” Franks — relocate to a tropical paradise for a relaxing twilight to their careers. It ends up being the most vicious, menacing place on earth, not even slightly relaxing. Cast: Wayne DeHart, Charles Noland, Carl Solomon, Nicole Crump, Brian Russell. World Premiere

SPECIAL EVENTS

One-of-a-kind moments highlighting new independent works that add to the unique Festival experience. An evolving section, this year includes episodic work, short films and live post-screening discussions. THE KING / U.S.A., Germany, France (Director: Eugene Jarecki, Executive Producer: Steven Soderbergh)  —  Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, a musical road trip across America in his 1963 Rolls Royce explores how a country boy lost his authenticity and became a king while his country lost her democracy and became an empire. Cast: Alec Baldwin, Chuck D, Emmylou Harris, Ethan Hawke, Van Jones, Mike Myers. North American Premiere Pass Over / U.S.A (Director: Spike Lee, Playwright/Screenwriter: Antoinette Nwandu) — A provocative riff on Waiting for Godot, capturing the poetry, humor and humanity of this urgent and timely play about two young black men talking shit, passing the time and dreaming of the promised land. Cast: Jon Michael Hill, Julian Parker, Ryan Hallahan, Blake Delong. World Premiere The Trade / U.S.A. (Director: Matthew Heineman, Executive Producers: Morgan Spurlock, Jeremy Chilnick, Pagan Harleman, Matthew Galkin)  — A character-driven vérité docu-series which explores the opioid epidemic from the intimate perspectives of growers, addicts and law enforcement on both sides of the border. This interwoven narrative transcends the headlines to convey, with humanity and nuance, the scope and gravity of the crisis. World Premiere Wild Wild Country / U.S.A. (Directors: Chapman Way, Maclain Way, Producer: Juliana Lembi) — When a mysterious guru and his disciples purchase a 64,000 acre ranch in desolate, rural Oregon – and build a $125 million utopian society – a war erupts with neighboring ranchers, pitting one way of life against the other and forcing both sides to take actions neither thought imaginable. Cast: Ma Anand Sheela, Jane Stork, Swami Prem Niren, John Silvertooth. World Premiere

U.S. NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS

Agua Viva / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Alexa Lim Haas) — A Chinese manicurist in Miami attempts to describe feelings she doesn’t have the words for. The Blazing World / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Carlson Young) — Margaret has been plagued with dreams of a strange world since she was a little girl. After a mysterious man with a map visits her one night, she decides to give in to the incessant calls of The Blazing World. Blue Christmas / United Kingdom, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Charlotte Wells) — On Christmas Eve, 1968, in a Scottish coastal town, a debt collector goes to work to avoid confronting his wife’s worsening psychosis at home. Cheer Up Baby / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Adinah Dancyger) — A young woman who has been sexually assaulted by a stranger on the subway is rendered with psychological menace and sensory dislocation in this elliptical tale. The Climb / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Covino) — Kyle is depressed and a weekend bike ride with his best friend, Mike, should help. Fresh air. Camaraderie. Exercise. But Mike has something to say that might ruin the ride. Don’t Be a Hero / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Pete Lee) — A middle-aged woman battles loneliness and boredom by robbing banks on her lunch break. But after the adrenaline rush wears off, she still has to deal with her deeply unhappy life. Inspired by a true story. DAY ONE Emergency / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriter: K.D. Dávila) — Faced with an emergency situation, a group of young Black and Latino friends carefully weigh the pros and cons of calling the police. End of the Line / U.S.A. (Director: Jessica Sanders, Screenwriter: Joanne Giger) — A lonely man goes to the pet store and buys a tiny man in a cage. EVE / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Susan Bay Nimoy) — Eve, a 74 year old widow after 30 years of marriage, journeys through grief, sexual passion, and renewal. GREAT CHOICE / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Robin Comisar) — A woman gets stuck in a Red Lobster commercial. Hair Wolf / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Mariama Diallo) — In a black hair salon in gentrifying Brooklyn, the local residents fend off a strange new monster: white women intent on sucking the lifeblood from black culture. Home Shopper / Singapore, U.S.A. (Director: Dev Patel, Screenwriter: Ryan Farhoudi) — In a loveless marriage, Penny finds solace in the hypnotic escape of the home shopping channel. When things take an unexpected turn with her husband, the channel proves to be her saving grace…or was it the problem all along? LaZercism / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Shaka King) — Ask your doctor if LaZercism is right for you. Maude / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Anna Margaret Hollyman) — Teeny thought it was just another routine babysitting job – until she’s shocked to meet the client. As the day goes on, Teeny decides to become the woman she had no idea she always wanted to be…until she gets caught. Men Don’t Whisper / U.S.A. (Director: Jordan Firstman, Screenwriters: Jordan Firstman, Charles Rogers) — After being emasculated at a sales conference, gay couple Reese and Peyton set out to do the most masculine thing they can think of – sleep with some women.  DAY ONE Mud (Hashtł’ishnii) / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Shaandiin Tome) — On her last day, Ruby faces the inescapable remnants of alcoholism, family and culture. Painting with Joan / U.S.A. (Director: Jack Henry Robbins, Screenwriters: Jack Henry Robbins, Nunzio Randazzo) — Today on “Painting with Joan”: a mixture of fun, learning and cobalt blue. ULTRAVIOLET / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Marc Johnson) — A woman named Kanchana and several scorpions explore collaborative survival approaches in a posthuman future in which all living beings are considered equal. Inter-species sociability, the Anthropocene and speculative Fabulations unfold in a futuristic and enchanted world. War Paint / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Katrelle N. Kindred) — A young black girl in South L.A. experiences a series of events at the convergence of racism and sexism during the 4th of July holiday. Wyrm / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Christopher Winterbauer) — Wyrm has two days to get his first kiss or he’ll be held back as part of the school district’s No Child Left Alone program and forced to wear his My.E.Q. Remote Monitoring collar through high school.

INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS

ARIA / Cyprus, France (Director and screenwriter: Myrsini Aristidou) — Athens, present day. Seventeen-year-old Aria, who is working at Jimmy’s kebab place, is waiting for a driving lesson with her father. DAY ONE Careful How You Go / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Emerald Fennell) — A darkly comic three-part short film about malevolent women. Counterfeit Kunkoo / India (Director and screenwriter: Reema Sengupta) — In a city that houses millions, Smita discovers a strange pre-requisite to renting a house in middle-class Mumbai. She would make an ideal tenant,  except for one glaring flaw – she is an Indian woman without a husband. Deer Boy / Poland, Belgium, Croatia (Director and screenwriter: Katarzyna Gondek) — A hunter’s son is born with antlers; a reflection on how each man kills the thing he loves. Fauve / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Jérémy Comte) — Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game, with Mother Nature as the sole observer. The Fisherman / Cuba, Netherlands, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ana Alpizar) — A humble Cuban fisherman is having a harsh winter on the open sea. For the sake of his family and against all odds, he needs to capture a fish tonight. For Nonna Anna / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Luis De Filippis) — A trans girl cares for her Italian grandmother. She assumes that her Nonna disapproves of her – but instead discovers a tender bond in their shared vulnerability. Fry-Up / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Charlotte Regan) — An intimate portrayal of what could be a family’s last day together, set against the urban backdrop of North London. Garfield / United Kingdom (Director: Georgi Banks-Davies, Screenwriter: Myra Appannah) — Krishna wakes up in a strange place, with a strange guy. As she pieces together how she got there, she realizes that the reasons may be bigger than just the night before. DAY ONE Matria / Spain (Director and screenwriter: Álvaro Gago) — Faced with a challenging daily routine, Ramona tries to take refuge in her relationships with her daughter and granddaughter. The Right Choice / United Kingdom (Director: Tomisin Adepeju, Screenwriter: Vijay Varman) — With the help of an adviser, a husband and wife must answer three seemingly harmless questions to create their perfect designer baby. Set me as a Seal Upon Thine Heart / Israel (Director and screenwriter: Omer Tobi) — A gay sauna encounter between a young man and an older man becomes an unexpected lesson about love. SWAMP / Colombia (Director and screenwriter: Juan Sebastián Mesa) — Oscar and his family live in a humble country house threatened by a massive hydroelectric project. In the face of uncertainty and sorrow that means leaving the land where they were born, his grandparents decide to end it all. THURSDAY NIGHT / Portugal (Director and screenwriter: Gonçalo Almeida) — An elusive stranger pays Bimbo a visit in the middle of the night to deliver a vital message. The Turk Shop / Sweden (Director and screenwriter: Bahar Pars) — A comedy about structural racism at the workplace. Would You Look at Her / Macedonia (Director and screenwriter: Goran Stolevski) — A hard-headed tomboy spots the unlikely solution to all her problems in an all-male religious ritual. Wren Boys / United Kingdom (Director: Harry Lighton, Screenwriters: Harry Lighton, John Fitzpatrick) — On the day after Christmas, a Catholic priest from Cork drives his nephew to prison.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS

Baby Brother / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kamau Bilal) — The director’s baby brother moves back in with his parents. The Driver Is Red / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Randall Christopher) — Argentina, 1960: a true crime story of how secret agent Zvi Aharoni hunts down one of the highest-ranking Nazi war criminals on the run. End Game / U.S.A. (Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman) — Filmed and edited in intimate vérité style, this work follows visionary medical practitioners who are working on the cutting edge of life and death — and dedicated to changing our thinking about both. I Like Girls / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Diane Obomsawin) — Charlotte, Mathilde, Marie, and Diane reveal the nitty-gritty about their first loves, sharing funny and intimate tales of one-sided infatuation, mutual attraction, erotic moments and fumbling attempts at sexual expression. Intimity / Switzerland (Director and screenwriter: Elodie Dermange) — As she is showering, dressing, putting on her make-up, a woman bares her soul. Judith Loves Martha / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Anna Gaskell) — A wily 87-year-old New Yorker, Judith Godwin is one of very few women of the Abstract Expressionist Movement. A creative awakening in college led her to produce the brilliant, gestural paintings for which she is renowned. Julius Caesar Was Buried in a Pet Cemetery / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sam Green) — A short documentary portrait of the greatest pet cemetery in the world. My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes / Canada (Director: Charlie Tyrell, Screenwriters: Josef Beeby, Charlie Tyrell) — Filmmaker Charlie Tyrell seeks to better understand his emotionally distant late-father through the personal belongings he left behind…including a stack of VHS dirty movies. Narrated by David Wain. A Night at The Garden / U.S.A. (Director: Marshall Curry) — Months before the start of World War II, 22,000 Americans gathered in New York’s Madison Square Garden to rally in support of Nazism. Nuuca / U.S.A., Canada (Director: Michelle Latimer) — The oil boom in North Dakota has brought tens of thousands of new people to the region and with that has come an influx of drugs, crime and sex trafficking. RX EARLY DETECTION A Cancer Journey with Sandra Lee / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Cathy Chermol Schrijver) — The intense journey of a woman stunned when her routine annual mammogram delivers a cancer diagnosis. This film is unafraid to battle cancer directly, projecting a power to inspire, educate, destigmatize and effect change. SYMPHONY OF A SAD SEA / Mexico (Director and screenwriter: Carlos Morales) — Hugo, a Mexican child and victim of the violence, flees his hometown with one single dream: crossing to the United States to meet his father and leave his past behind. THE TRADER (SOVDAGARI) / Georgia (Director and screenwriter: Tamta Gabrichidze) — Gela sells secondhand clothes and household items in places where money is potatoes. The Violence of a Civilization without Secrets / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, Jackson Polys) — An urgent reflection on indigenous sovereignty, the undead violence of museum archives and post-mortem justice through the case of the “Kennewick Man,” a prehistoric Paleoamerican man whose remains were found in Kennewick, Washington State in 1996. Volte / Poland (Directors and screenwriters: Monika Kotecka, Karolina Poryzala) — Zuzia, 12, has been training for two years and has extraordinary role topping the acrobatic pyramid. At the start of a new season, it’s clear that she’s lost some grace and lightness. A growth spurt may be the culprit. Wild Wild West: A Beautiful Rant by Mark Bradford / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Dime Davis) — Where do artists come from? An answer explored through paper, percussion, and one pissed off artist. ZION / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Floyd Russ) — A portrait of Zion Clark, a young wrestler who was born without legs and grew up in foster care. DAY ONE

ANIMATED SHORT FILMS

BLACK / Poland, Japan (Director and screenwriter: Tomasz Popakul) — A pair of astronauts are trapped on an orbital space station due to unexpected nuclear war on Earth. They lost contact with Earth and all attempts to communicate with their base or anybody else have failed. A Brief Spark Bookended by Darkness / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Brent Green) — A hand-drawn animated tale about love in an increasingly dark world. The Burden / Sweden (Director and screenwriter: Niki Lindroth von Bahr) — A dark musical enacted in a modern shopping center, situated next to a large freeway. The employees of the various commercial venues deal with boredom and existential anxiety by performing cheerful musical turns. The apocalypse is a tempting liberator. Eye Bags / Hong Kong (Director and screenwriter: Waikwan Ho) — Through monologue, Talia describes her chronic insomnia. She does not know its cause, and spends many painful nights awake. When Talia meets Ah Gum, a goldfish who lives in her eye bags, they develop an interesting relationship. GLUCOSE / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeron Braxton) — Sugar was the engine of the slave trade that brought millions of Africans to America. Glucose is sweet, marketable and easy to consume, but its surface satisfaction is a thin coating on the pain of many disenfranchised people. Hedgehog’s Home / Canada, Croatia (Director and screenwriter: Eva Cvijanović) — In a lush and lively forest lives a hedgehog. Though he’s respected by the other animals, Hedgehog’s devotion to his home annoys a quartet of beasts, who decide to confront him. JEOM / U.S.A., South Korea (Director and screenwriter: Kangmin Kim) — A father and a son both have the same big birthmark on their butt. Believing that the two birthmarks are connected, the son scrubs his father’s birthmark to remove it – but he just can’t get rid of it. Manivald / Estonia, Croatia, Canada (Director: Chintis Lundgren, Screenwriters: Chintis Lundgren, Draško Ivezić) — Manivald is still living at home with his retired mother. The day before his 33rd birthday a hot young wolf named Toomas comes to fix their washing machine. A love triangle develops, which leaves Manivald increasingly frustrated. Marfa / United Kingdom (Directors and screenwriters: Greg McLeod, Myles McLeod) — An isolated town in the Texas borderlands. A place out of time. A shrine to minimalist art. Home to a remote festival. A place where unexplained lights tremble in the night sky. And then there’s the giant lemon. Nevada / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Emily Ann Hoffman) — A young couple’s romantic weekend getaway is interrupted by a birth control mishap in this stop-motion animated comedy. [O] / United Kingdom (Directors and screenwriters: Mario Radev, Chiara Sgatti) — A film that imitates nature in its manner of operation, depicting animated cycles in a world entirely based on sound frequency and vibration. PLUR / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Julie Fliegenspan) — A claymation adaptation of a series of actual voicemails received after making out with someone at a rave. The Shivering Truth / U.S.A. (Directors: Vernon Chatman, Cat Solen, Screenwriter: Vernon Chatman) — An omnibus of painfully riotous daymares, dripping with dream logic; a slate of emotional parables from the deepest caverns of your unconscious, lovingly animated in stop-motion. In other words: it is the Truth. Vox Lipoma / Sweden (Directors and screenwriters: Jane Magnusson, Liv Strömquist) — A short about Ingmar Bergman’s power, sexuality and facial lipoma that gives him no rest. World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Don Hertzfeldt) — Written entirely around candid audio recordings of Don Hertzfeldt’s five-year-old niece, “Episode Two” finds Emily Prime swept inside the brain of an incomplete backup clone of her future self, who’s on a mission to reboot her broken mind. DAY ONE Image: Sasha Matthews and Aston Synder Jr. appear in War Paint by Katrelle N. Kindred, an official selection of the Shorts Programs at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. 

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