Sundance Institute and Picturehouse announced today the programme of feature films, short films and panel discussions to take place at ‘Sundance Film Festival’ London between 30 May – 2 June at Picturehouse Central.
The festival will present 12 feature films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A., selected for London by the Sundance Institute programming team in collaboration with Picturehouse. The festival will open with the European premiere of Late Night (Nisha Ganatra), written by and starring Mindy Kaling alongside Emma Thompson. The festival will close four days later with the UK premiere of Penny Lane’s Hail Satan?.
Alongside the opening and closing night films, the festival will present a selection of fearless filmmaking: The Nightingale, a striking revenge drama starring Aisling Franciosi and Sam Claflin, marks Jennifer Kent’s anticipated follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, The Babadook.
Time Out gala film, Animals (dir. Sophie Hyde, whose debut 52 Tuesdays won the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic at Sundance 2014 and features in this year’s repertory strand) is an unpredictable tale of female friendship starring Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat.
Bart Freundlich’s After the Wedding, a female-driven reimagining of Susanne Bier’s Academy Award®-nominated Danish film, features Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in leading roles. In addition, breakout American star Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians; Ocean’s 8) stars in Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, and Daniel Scheinert, co-winner of the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival for Swiss Army Man, directs The Death of Dick Long.
Festivalgoers will have a special chance to catch an unannounced title with the festival’s third Surprise Film – last year’s choice was Bart Layton’s American Animals. Following popular wins for Bo Burnham’s critically acclaimed Eighth Grade and the Academy Award®-winning Icarus, audiences will again have the opportunity to cast votes after screenings, with the Audience Favourite award being announced at the close of the festival.
Also in news – Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy to screen at the BFI IMAX
The feature film programme consists of;
After the Wedding / U.S.A. (Director/Screenwriter: Bart Freundlich)– Seeking funds for her orphanage in India, Isabelle travels to New York to meet Theresa, a wealthy benefactor. An invitation to attend a wedding ignites a series of events in which the past collides with the present while mysteries unravel. Based on the Academy Award®-nominated film by Susanne Bier.
Principal cast: Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup, Abby Quinn
European premiere.
Animals / United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia (Director: Sophie Hyde, Screenwriter: Emma Jane Unsworth) – After a decade of partying, Laura and Tyler’s friendship is strained by Laura’s new love and her focus on her novel. A snapshot of a modern woman with competing desires, at once a celebration of female friendship and an examination of the choices we make when facing a crossroads.
Principal cast: Holliday Grainger, Alia Shawkat
European premiere. Presented in Association with Time Out
Apollo 11 / U.S.A. (Director: Todd Douglas Miller) – A purely archival reconstruction of humanity’s first trip to another world, featuring never-before-seen 70mm footage and never-before-heard audio from the mission.
UK premiere
Winner – U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing
Ask Dr. Ruth / U.S.A. (Director: Ryan White) – A documentary portrait chronicling the incredible life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who became America’s most famous sex therapist. As her 90th birthday approaches, Dr. Ruth revisits her painful past and her career at the forefront of the sexual revolution
European premiere.
The Brink / U.S.A. (Director: Alison Klayman) – Now unconstrained by an official White House post, Steve Bannon is free to peddle influence as a perceived kingmaker with a direct line to the President. After anointing himself leader of the “populist movement,” he travels around the U.S. and the world spreading his hard-line anti-immigration message
UK premiere
Corporate Animals / U.S.A. (Director: Patrick Brice, Screenwriter: Sam Bain) – Disaster strikes when the egotistical CEO of an edible cutlery company leads her long-suffering staff on a corporate team-building trip in New Mexico. Trapped underground, this mismatched and disgruntled group must pull together to survive.
Principal cast: Demi Moore, Ed Helms, Jessica Williams, Karan Soni
European premiere.
The Death of Dick Long / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Scheinert, Screenwriter: Billy Chew) – Dick died last night, and Zeke and Earl don’t want anybody finding out how. That’s too bad though, cause news travels fast in small-town Alabama.
Principal cast: Michael Abbott Jr., Virginia Newcomb, Andre Hyland, Sarah Baker, Jess Weixler
European premiere.
The Farewell / U.S.A., China (Director/Screenwriter: Lulu Wang) – A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family’s decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.
Principal cast: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong, Jiang Yongbo
UK premiere
Hail Satan? / U.S.A. (Director: Penny Lane) – A look at the intersection of religion and activism, tracing the rise of The Satanic Temple: only six years old and already one of the most controversial religious movements in American history. The Temple is calling for a Satanic revolution to save the nation’s soul. But are they for real?
UK premiere
The Last Tree / United Kingdom (Director/Screenwriter: Shola Amoo) – Femi is a British boy of Nigerian heritage who, after a happy childhood in rural Lincolnshire, moves to inner London to live with his mum. Struggling with the unfamiliar culture and values of his new environment, teenage Femi has to figure out which path to adulthood he wants to take.
Principal cast: Sam Adewunmi, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Denise Black, Tai Golding, Nicholas Pinnock
European premiere
Late Night / U.S.A. (Director: Nisha Ganatra, Screenwriter: Mindy Kaling) – Legendary late-night talk show host’s world is turned upside down when she hires her only female staff writer. Originally intended to smooth over diversity concerns, her decision has unexpectedly hilarious consequences as the two women separated by culture and generation are united by their love of a biting punchline.
Principal cast: Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Paul Walter Hauser, Reid Scott, Amy Ryan.
European premiere
The Nightingale / Australia (Director/Screenwriter: Jennifer Kent) – 1825. Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way, she enlists the services of Aboriginal tracker Billy, who is marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
Principal cast: Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood, Ewen Leslie
UK premiere
For the full line up visit picturehouses.com/sundance.
General ticket sales open at 12.00pm on Tuesday 23 April, with priority booking for Picturehouse Members opening at 12.00pm on Friday 19 April. Become a Picturehouse Member now at picturehouses.com/membership. You can purchase your tickets from today with a Sundance Festival pass; buy yours now at picturehouses.com/Sundancepass
