The fifth edition of Sundance: London came to a close this weekend. The festival, which cherry-picks a handful of films screened at its American parent festival each year to show across the pond, presented a program of 14 feature-length movies, 15 shorts, and various panel discussions over four days in collaboration with Picturehouse Cinemas.
Of the 14 features shown — which included both fiction and documentary selections — only one had a female director, but the pocket-sized fest still managed to pack in a fair amount of women-centric programming. Alongside Marianna Palka’s surreal feminist satire “Bitch,” which she directed, wrote, and starred in, there were also standout performances to enjoy from Jessica Williams (“The Daily Show”), who lives up to her character’s billing in “The Incredible Jessica James,” and veteran screen actress Lois Smith (“Please Give”) who plays the title character in the speculative sci-fi film “Marjorie Prime.” Meanwhile, on the documentary side of things, Sundance’s U.S. doc grand jury prize winner “Dina” also screened. The film stars its eponymous subject, a woman on the autism spectrum whose life has been touched by tragedy but remains charismatic and resilient in her search for new love.
Six of fifteen shorts were women-directed. Not only did London audiences get a chance to see some of the festival’s most celebrated — and, in the case of Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut “Come Swim,” perhaps, most anticipated — international short-form offerings for 2017, but a welcome spotlight was thrown on up-and-coming UK filmmakers via a dedicated UK Shorts strand. It featured Jennifer Zheng’s “Tough” — a beautiful animated meditation about the director’s mother and her early life in China during the Cultural Revolution — and Rubika Shah’s “White Riot: London,” a documentary piece about the Rock Against Racism movement.
In the The Art vs. Stepping Stone panel discussion, Palka offered advice to up-and-coming filmmakers. Producer Jessica Levick (“Personal Best,” “Legacy”) also participated. The two women shared their experiences of working with the short form and getting film projects off the ground, and both came to the reassuring conclusion that a filmmaker’s artistic vision needn’t be compromised in her search for funding.
