by Chase Burns and Jasmyne Keimig • Jan 25, 2021 at 3:30 pm Sponsored
We usually don t pay too much attention to the Sundance Film Festival on Slog since it s over in Park City and we re in Seattle. But this year is different. Sundance is going
digital, partnering with film organizations around the country to create an accessible and safe national event. In Seattle, the fest is working with Northwest Film Forum to put together forum panels and workshops, like
Our Right to Gaze, a 90-minute session on dismantling industry gatekeeping and empowering BIPOC/LGBTQ+ creators. The fest kicks off this Thursday (Jan. 28) and runs through next week (Feb. 3), and we ll have daily film reviews up on Slog once the fest kicks off.
Here are 10 titles playing at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival likely to grab attention Sean P. Means
The ticket buyer asks the veteran Sundance Film Festival hand: “What looks good this year?” The old hand shrugs his shoulders and replies, “Heck if I know.”
That’s always the dilemma with Sundance: The slate of feature films is loaded with mysteries and, despite what any prognosticators say, nobody knows for sure what’s going to be good until after they screen. In 2021, with 73 titles waiting for their online premieres, the question marks only loom larger.
Still, there are good omens for some films a director with an established track record, or a familiar face in the cast, or a documentary subject who can’t help but be interesting.
Edu Grau Welcomed Into Society Membership
The Spanish cinematographer is known for his work on the features
A Single Man, Buried and
Quién te cantará.
New Society member Edu Grau was born in Barcelona and studied at the Superior School of Cinema and Audiovisual of Catalonia in Spain as well as the National Film & Television School in the U.K. with a concentration in cinematography. After photographing the short
The Natural Route (aka
La Ruta Natural), which won the Jury Prize for International Short Filmmaking at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, Grau shot his first feature, director Albert Serra’s
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Perhaps the most surprising thing about the program announcement for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival released on Tuesday is how much it looks like the program announcement for any other year of the Sundance Film Festival.
The festival will be dramatically changed in its form from previous years. Taking place over seven days instead of the usual 11, the 2021 festival will showcase 72 feature films, down from around 120 in 2020. The event will be an ambitious hybrid, decoupled from its usual home in Park City, Utah, with mostly virtual events as well as some drive-in screenings in Los Angeles and events at satellite venues around the country.