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In the opening minutes of Native Son, Big, a young man played by Ashton Sanders, rests a gun on his worn copy of Invisible Man. This image sets the tone for the catastrophic direction of the modern adaptation of Richard Wright’s seminal work—directed by Rashid Johnson and written by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks—that shocked audiences throughout the 2019 Festival. The film premieres on HBO early this month.

March loads up with a twofer of 100% Certified Fresh films out of the 2019 Festival.Not since Senna have we seen such a dexterous handling of exclusively archive material as we do in Apollo 11, director Todd Miller’s immersive journey through the first moon landing. NASA opened its vaults to reveal never-before-seen 70 mm footage of the spacecraft’s launch, landing, and return home, making for an indelible new portrait of a pivotal moment in American history.

In a month when more Sundance-supported films make their releases than any other in recent memory, a slew of badass women are dominating the screen. To canvass the indie film slate in September is to find yourself among intimate portraits of women brimming with conviction. In Kusama – Infinity, it’s Yayoi Kusama’s against-the-odds journey from the rigid conformity of her home life in Japan to becoming the top-selling female artist in the world; in Colette, Wash Westmoreland revisits the eponymous vanguard French writer whose own husband stripped her of authorial credit; and in Bad Reputation and Matangi/Maya/M.

Four films from the 2018 Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section – the place for films operating on the fringes of genre and shaping the next wave of cinema – make their premieres this August, two of which (We the Animals and Night Comes On) shared honors for the inaugural NEXT Innovator Award. Another theme emerging among this month’s docket: Crystal Moselle (Skate Kitchen) and Jeremiah Zagar (We the Animals) both make their dramatic feature debuts after opening their careers on the nonfiction side. Check out all of the Sundance-supported releases coming to theaters and digital platforms this month.

During a month when new film releases prove unusually elusive (rest easy, we’ve got 110 new ones coming your way in January), we’re setting the stage for the winter season with some of our favorite holiday-themed Sundance films. This is where the debate concerning Die Hard’s standing as a “Christmas movie” promptly ends, and reignites with a push for a streetwise tale of pimps and prostitutes (that’d be Tangerine) as the new December classic.
Happy ChristmasWatch it now.

This story was originally published January 25, 2017, following the premiere of Manifesto at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film is currently screening at Film Forum in NYC.In her latest film, Cate Blanchett plays a choreographer.

Broadway previews for “Indecent” begin April 4. Click here for discounted tickets by using the code INSUN224.
The year was 1923.

It’s one of the quickest turnarounds in recent memory for a Grand Jury Prize Winner, but Macon Blair’s aptly titled I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore comes to Netflix in February. Led by a brilliantly bizarre turn from Melanie Lynskey, Blair’s idiosyncratic tale of a woman’s search for a sense of purpose after her home is burglarized is full of baffling reroutes – as well as being a true sign of the times, as is its immediate post-Festival digital release.Also opening this month, Jena Malone and Riley Keough navigate a muddled and fluctuating intimacy in Lovesong, director So Yong Kim’s wistful portrait of relationships, neglect, and the fluidity of love.

The self-proclaimed “non-breakup breakup story” Possibilia is an interactive experience that’s “set in the multiverse … whatever that means.” In a choose-your-own-adventure–like encounter, the viewer takes an active role in the story of a young couple as they contemplate breaking up.
Alex Karpovsky and Zoe Jarman star as Rick and Pollie, who, depending on the scenes you choose, are found either fighting on the front lawn to stay together or resignedly discussing the inevitable at the kitchen table.

This article was originally published following the premiere of “Tallulah” at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
The complexities of motherhood and its responsibilities are keenly examined in Tallulah, the debut feature from writer-director Sian Heder that offers a dazzling showcase for actors Elliot Page, Allison Janney, and Tammy Blanchard.
Page and Janney are reunited nine years after starring in Jason Reitman’s Juno, but the similarities to that hit comedy end there.

Pale, flaccid, and remarkably lifelike, a dummy resembling a
famed actor lounged on a colorful chair on a Hollywood hotel’s rooftop during a
hot summer afternoon. This replica of a dead Daniel Radcliffe, or more
specifically Manny, the character he plays, has been on the road with directors
Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert as they promote their debut feature Swiss Army Man, which is almost
unequivocally the most original film to be released on U.S.

You’d think that a film called Tickled would offer a light, escapist, mirthful time at the theater. But while this World Documentary Competition feature is often very funny, and starts off as an uproarious investigation into an obscure and frankly amusing fetish, it quickly veers into very darker territory. Provoked by insulting and homophobic responses to requests for an interview, New Zealand directors David Farrier and Dylan Reeve press deeper into a surprisingly disturbing subculture, led by several shady organizations perhaps run by the same mysterious person.