Some of the biggest hits out of Park City are heading to the UK. The program for Sundance Film Festival: London 2018 has been announced, and those who didn’t make it out to Utah in January will be able to catch Desiree Akhavan’s Grand Jury Prize winner “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” among other titles. Of 12 features screening, seven are women-directed, amounting to 58 percent of the slate.
Toplined by Chloë Grace Moretz, “Miseducation” follows a teen sent to gay conversion camp after she’s caught in the back seat of a car with a female classmate. The pic, which took home the U.S. Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic section, marks Akhavan’s follow-up to “Appropriate Behavior,” her 2014 feature debut.
Other films making their way across the pond include Laura Dern-starrer “The Tale,” Jennifer Fox’s acclaimed sexual abuse drama, and “Half the Picture,” Amy Adrion’s timely documentary exploring the barriers facing female directors.
A press release revealing the lineup acknowledged the impact that #MeToo and #TimesUp have had on the film community and emphasized the projects by and about women set to screen. “Amid the film industry’s current period of dramatic change and intense reflection, this year’s Sundance Film Festival: London will provide an exciting opportunity for the US and UK film industries to connect and discuss our past, present, and future,” the release states. The fest, now in its third edition, poses a new question: “#WhatNext?”
The #WhatNext theme will be explored in The Big Culture Shift, a special event set to “examine what must be done to create a new cultural landscape that is more inclusive and representative.”
Another event, Triple Threat, will see Akhavan, Fox, and Debra Granik (“Leave No Trace”) discussing their careers and filmmaking processes.
Sundance’s Competition lineup in Park Slope was 38 percent women-directed.
Sundance Film Festival: London 2018 runs from May 31-June 3. Tickets go on sale towards the end of the month. Check out more information about the films and special events below, courtesy of Sundance.
Features
Generation Wealth (Director: Lauren Greenfield) — Lauren Greenfield’s postcard from the edge of the American Empire captures a portrait of a materialistic, image-obsessed culture. Simultaneously personal journey and historical essay, the film bears witness to the global boom–bust economy, the corrupted American Dream and the human costs of late stage capitalism, narcissism and greed.
Principal cast: Florian Homm, Tiffany Masters, Jaqueline Siegel
UK premiere
Half the Picture (Director: Amy Adrion) — At a pivotal moment for gender equality in Hollywood, successful women directors tell the stories of their art, lives and careers. Having endured a long history of systemic discrimination, women filmmakers may be getting the first glimpse of a future that values their voices equally.
Principal cast: Rosanna Arquette, Jamie Babbit, Emily Best
International premiere
Leave No Trace (Director: Debra Granik, Screenwriters: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini) — A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. A small mistake tips them off to authorities sending them on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.
Principal cast: Ben Foster, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Jeff Kober, Dale Dickey
UK premiere
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Director: Desiree Akhavan, Screenwriters: Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele) — 1993: after being caught having sex with the prom queen, a girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center. Based on Emily Danforth’s acclaimed and controversial coming-of-age novel.
Principal cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane, Forrest Goodluck, John Gallagher Jr., Jennifer Ehle.
UK premiere
Winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Never Goin’ Back (Director/Screenwriter: Augustine Frizzell) — Jessie and Angela, high school dropout BFFs, are taking a week off to chill at the beach. Too bad their house got robbed, rent’s due, they’re about to get fired and they’re broke. Now they’ve gotta avoid eviction, stay out of jail and get to the beach, no matter what!!!
Principal cast: Maia Mitchell, Cami Morrone, Kyle Mooney, Joel Allen, Kendal Smith, Matthew Holcomb
International premiere
Skate Kitchen (Director: Crystal Moselle, Screenwriters: Crystal Moselle, Ashlihan Unaldi) — Camille’s life as a lonely suburban teenager changes dramatically when she befriends a group of girl skateboarders. As she journeys deeper into this raw New York City subculture, she begins to understand the true meaning of friendship as well as her inner self.
Principal cast: Rachelle Vinberg, Dede Lovelace, Jaden Smith, Nina Moran, Ajani Russell, Kabrina Adams
UK premiere
The Tale (Director/Screenwriter: Jennifer Fox) — An investigation into one woman’s memory as she’s forced to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive; based on the filmmaker’s own story.
Principal cast: Laura Dern, Isabelle Nélisse, Jason Ritter, Elizabeth Debicki, Ellen Burstyn, Common
UK Premiere
Events
The Big Culture Shift
Presented in association with Film London
Coinciding with the festival’s #WhatNext theme, this vital event sees key industry players take the stage to examine what must be done to create a new cultural landscape that is more inclusive and representative. Figures from the UK’s major film funders, Film London, BBC Films and Sundance, will speak alongside Amy Adrion, whose film Half The Picture explores the hiring of film and television directors in Hollywood and features Ava DuVernay (A Wrinkle in Time), Lena Dunham (Girls), Jill Soloway (Transparent) and Rosanna Arquette.
Panelists: Amy Adrion, director of Half the Picture; Jordan McGarry, Head of Production for Film London;Eva Yates, Commissioning Executive at BBC Films.
Art of the Real — the intersection between Documentary and Fiction
Hosted by The Doc Society
Three leading documentary and narrative filmmakers discuss the relationship between documentary and fiction filmmaking and how these boundaries can be blurred when the limits of traditional filmmaking are transcended. Following a successful career in documentary filmmaking, Jennifer Fox makes her narrative feature debut with The Tale, bringing her unique approach to documentary filmmaking to the autobiographically inspired story of sexual abuse. Lauren Greenfield joins the discussion as a distinguished documentary filmmaker boasting wins at both Sundance Film Festival and River Run Festival in 2012 for her riches-to-rags documentary, Queen of Versailles. This year sees Greenfield’s return to filmmaking with her examination of consumer capitalism: Generation Wealth. Completing the line-up is Crystal Moselle, best known for her U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize-winning feature TheWolfpack at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, who brings true authenticity to her narrative debut, Skate Kitchen.
Panellists: Jennifer Fox, director/screenwriter of The Tale; Lauren Greenfield, director of Generation Wealth; Crystal Moselle, director/co-screenwriter of Skate Kitchen. Hosted by Lisa-Marie Russo of The Doc Society
Triple Threat — Three major filmmakers in conversation
Join three of the festival’s leading filmmakers for an insightful discussion of their careers and filmmaking processes. Jennifer Fox (The Tale) is joined by Debra Granik (Leave No Trace), Oscar-nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for the critically lauded Winter’s Bone (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival), and 2018 Grand Jury prize-winning Desiree Akhavan (The Miseducation Of Cameron Post), writer, director and star of Appropriate Behaviour.
A must-see masterclass.
Panellists: Jennifer Fox, director/screenwriter of The Tale; Debra Granik, director/co-screenwriter of Leave No Trace; Desiree Akhavan, director/co-screenwriter of The Miseducation of Cameron Post
