Every November, as Thanksgiving nears, I tend to start looking at the possibilities that may show up at the Sundance Film Festival. This upcoming 2021 edition of the Park City event will be the first in-person one I miss in almost a decade. No worries, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Sundance has hibernated into digital format for the coming edition.
Yes, the 2021 edition has shrunk to seven days, and most audiences will experience it far away from the beautiful mountains of Park City, but the number of great movies looks to remain intact.
IndieWire had no trouble finding 50 movies that they hope will make the cut in this year’s lineup, ditto IonCinema, which upped the ante with 75 potential Sundance 2021 films. In the meantime, I’ve decided to narrow it down to the biggest names rumored names to premiere their films at the 2021 edition of the festival, which runs January 28 — February 3. And, surprise, I’ve found quite a few.
Of course, the whole point of a festival such as Sundance is to discover new filmmaking talent, not the usual names, but it’d be obviously impossible to narrow those down, the element of surprise is the key lure of attending a fest such as this one. Regardless, I have found more than a dozen titles from directors we are already accustomed to, who have become recurrent Sundance alumni and could very well premiere their new works in 2021.
“After Yang”
Director: Kogonada
”Antlers”
Director: Scott Cooper
“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure”
Director: Richard Linklater
“Bliss”
Director: Mike Cahill
“C’mon C’mon”
Director: Mike Mills
“The Green Knight”
Director: David Lowery
“Harry Haft”
Director: Barry Levinson
“Italian Studies”
Director: Adam Leon
“Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon”
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
“Next Goal Wins”
Director: Taika Waititi
“Passing”
Director: Rebecca Hall
“Things Heard and Seen”
Director: Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer
Untitled Bing Liu Documentary
Director: Bing Liu
The lineup has been announced in early December in year’s past, so it's likely coming next week, or soon thereafter. As expected, this year's edition (like TIFF and NYFF) will be shortened due to its 7-day length and the handicaps that come with the virtual format. Due to the online component, t’s also going to be hard for the festival to secure certain films, particularly the bigger studio titles, but others could see this coming edition of Sundance as a potential launchpad for movies opening in February to qualify for the Oscars.
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