Glen Wilson / Via Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Produced by Ryan Coogler, the second feature from Shaka King is a formidable work of art. A late addition to the Sundance lineup, the film stars Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton, the young chair of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter, and Lakeith Stanfield as William O’Neal, the undercover FBI informant who joins the group and betrays them. Kaluuya carries a grounded gravitas and is nothing short of sensational in his tour de force portrayal of the charismatic activist. Meanwhile, Stanfield’s chameleonlike nature serves his frantic character well here; it’s hard to pin down where his head’s at as he scrambles to survive. Throw in a handful of other notable performances (courtesy of Dominique Fishback,
Even in a world turned upside-down and an all-virtual Sundance, the movies survive
Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
Feb. 5, 2021
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1of5Teenage girls in Texas are at the center of Cusp. Parker Hill, Isabel BethencourtShow MoreShow Less
2of5Students Celine Lu, Jimmy Qiu, Alvan Cai in Try Harder! TRY HARDER! filmShow MoreShow Less
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4of5Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson in Summer of Soul, a festival standout and directorial debut of Ahmir Questlove Thompson.Mass Distraction MediaShow MoreShow Less
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For the first time in its history, the Sundance Film Festival went online this year, forced out of theaters in Park City, Utah, by the coronavirus. And it turns out, virtual Sundance was a lot like in-person Sundance in the most important ways.
Kathy Huang/Sundance Institute
What’s it like to be a teenager in 2021?
Teens have always been great movie subjects, perhaps especially for documentaries. Watching a nonfiction movie set in a high school, adults can sigh with both nostalgia and relief. High schools are microcosms of society as well as a peek into the future, and the arc of a school year makes for a natural story progression.
For decades, documentarians have often trained their cameras on teenagers. But being a teenager in 2021 is not like being a teenager in 1981, or, for that matter, 2011. Teenagers now write, direct, distribute, and star in their own mini-documentaries virtually every day, thanks to smartphones and social media. And making a nonfiction film in which your subjects are used to not just being on camera, but directing and editing and constructing their own image for it, is a special challenge.
Cusp
Friday night slight.
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Three small-town Texas teenage girlfriends spend their summer break hanging out, partying and navigating the transition from adolescence to adulthood in Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt s intimate documentary.
The evocative closing shot in
Cusp a documentary whose aesthetic beauty counterpoints the raw experiences mostly shrugged off by its unguarded subjects shows three young women at a local swimming hole as one takes a flying leap off the rocks high above the water. The image conjures associations with countless American coming-of-age stories, incisively capturing the exhilaration and fear of having a whole life ahead of you. Debuting directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt s vérité portrait of a tight-knit trio of teenage girlfriends in a small Texas military town has many similar moments of illumination, even if its poignant insights don t quite cohere into a robust through-line.
The full list of awards:
U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic: “CODA,” Sian Heder
U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: “Summer of Soul,” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Directing Award – U.S. Dramatic: Sian Heder, “CODA”
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch,
“On the Count of Three”
Directing Award – U.S. Documentary: “Users,” Natalia Almada
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award – U.S. Documentary: Kristina Motwani and Rebecca Adorno, “Homeroom”
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble: the cast of “CODA”
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award, Best Actor: Clifton Collins Jr., “Jockey”
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Nonfiction Experimentation: Theo Anthony, “All Light, Everywhere”