All articles tagged with #sundance film festival
Tabitha Jackson, who led the Sundance Film Festival from 2020 to 2022 and has completed fellowships with Harvard, the Royal Shakespeare Company and MIT, has been named the new director of Film Forum in Manhattan, bringing her independent-cinema expertise to the historic Greenwich Village venue and aiming to nurture a new generation of cinephiles.
Sumerian Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Sundance’s Josephine in a seven-figure deal, securing a major theatrical release and an awards campaign. The Beth de Araújo drama stars Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, centers on an 8-year-old girl who witnesses a crime, and will premiere at Sundance with a Berlin Film Festival competition bow to follow, signaling strong buzz for an indie hit and potential awards season momentum.
Molly Ringwald says John Hughes wouldn’t want his films remade and they can’t be remade without his permission, which he reportedly didn’t grant; she believes remakes aren’t appropriate and would prefer new interpretations that address today’s issues, with The Breakfast Club seen as the most relevant Hughes work. Ringwald shared these thoughts at Sundance while promoting Run Amok.
At the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Beth de Araújo’s Josephine won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, while Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman’s Nuisance Bear took the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize. The festival also honored winners across dramatic, documentary, NEXT, shorts and world cinema sections, including Shame and Money (World Cinema Dramatic), To Hold a Mountain (World Cinema Documentary), TheyDream and The Incomer (NEXT), and various Shorts prizes, highlighting a broad slate of awards across competitive categories.
Paul Dano has broken his silence about Quentin Tarantino’s harsh appraisal of him, where Tarantino called Dano a “weak, weak, uninteresting guy” after praising There Will Be Blood. At a Sundance screening marking the 20th anniversary of Little Miss Sunshine, Dano expressed gratitude for the support he’s received, with high-profile colleagues like Toni Collette, Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon publicly defending him. George Clooney also spoke out against cruelty toward actors, noting he would be honored to work with Dano, and the film’s directors defended him, calling Tarantino’s remarks an embarrassment.
The Sundance premiere Antiheroine interweaves archival footage with Courtney Love’s frank reflections on fame, Kurt Cobain, addiction, motherhood, and her ongoing musical comeback, delivering a blend of raunchy humor and intimate insight about her turbulent and enduring artistry.
Paul Dano finally addresses Quentin Tarantino’s harsh critique of his performance in There Will Be Blood, saying he’s grateful for the outpouring of support as Sundance’s Little Miss Sunshine 20th‑anniversary screening approaches; colleagues including Toni Collette and directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris defend him, while Tarantino’s comments drew backlash for diminishing Dano’s work.
The Sundance documentary Antiheroine gives Courtney Love a platform to tell her story on her own terms, tracing her rise with Hole, her relationship with Kurt Cobain, and the media-fueled myths around her, while also spotlighting her current sobriety, songwriting, and a new album, presenting a candid, unfiltered portrait of a performer determined to age in public on her own terms.
The Hollywood Reporter reviews Andrew Stanton’s Sundance premiere In the Blink of an Eye, a three-part sci‑fi drama linking Neanderthal and 25th‑century storylines about life, death, and humanity. Starring Rashida Jones, Daveed Diggs, and Kate McKinnon, it’s well‑intentioned and emotionally affecting—McKinnon’s solemn monologue and Jones’s grieving scientist arc land—yet the broad plots and a cheery, uplift‑all message feel underdeveloped, like a glossy, expensive ode rather than a deeply resonant work. The score by Thomas Newman adds melancholy weight, and the reviewer admits tearing up, though overall the film remains more surface than profundity.
Padraic McKinley’s debut The Weight is a mood-driven Depression-era crime drama set in 1933 Oregon, with Hawke delivering a soulful center as a father caught in a ruthless gold-smuggling plot led by a corrupt warden (Crowe). While the film evokes 1970s survival thrillers and benefits from strong performances and a tense score, it remains murky and underpowered in storytelling, offering atmosphere more than sustained momentum at Sundance.
Duplass’s See You When I See You, based on Adam Cayton-Holland’s memoir about his sister’s suicide, is earnest and intimate, anchored by Cooper Raiff’s strong lead and a convincing ensemble, but it leans on familiar indie-grief tropes and relies on a few awkward stylistic devices that undercut its raw honesty, resulting in a heartfelt yet uneven Sundance tragedy-comedy.
At Sundance, Jay Duplass helms See You When I See You, a heartfelt dramedy inspired by Adam Cayton-Holland’s memoir about PTSD and family grief. Cooper Raiff delivers a complex lead performance opposite David Duchovny, Kaitlyn Dever, Lucy Boynton, Hope Davis, and Ariela Barer as a family confronts loss, denial, and a mother's cancer while balancing humor and heartbreak.
Brandi Glanville revealed she’s been coping with facial disfigurement since July 2023, which she attributes to a facial parasite, and has consulted multiple medical and dental specialists. She posted a selfie thanking plastic surgeon Dr. Nicholas Nikolov for helping prepare her for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and to attend related events, following prior costly efforts to address the issue.
A24 and Focus Features are in a heated bidding war for Olivia Wilde’s Sundance breakout The Invite, with offers north of $12 million as buyers including Neon, Netflix, Apple, Searchlight and Black Bear back out to pursue a traditional theatrical release; the film stars Wilde alongside Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton and is an English remake of The People Upstairs.
At Sundance, celebrities wore ICE OUT pins and joined panels on democracy, free expression and immigration as real-world politics intruded on the festival vibe; Ava DuVernay and others spoke at events like the ACLU gathering while stars such as Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega and Olivia Wilde urged action against ICE, as protests near Main Street highlighted the clash between art and politics.