2024 is already geared up to be a powerhouse year for cinema as January alone sees the release of the promisingly “fetch” musical adaptation Mean Girls, Yorgos Lanthimos' absurdist masterpiece Poor Things and Andrew Haigh’s aching queer romance All of Us Strangers, among other popular titles.
Sharing in its cinematic limelight is the 40th anniversary of the Sundance Film Festival, arriving next week from January 18-28. It marks a record-breaking year of over 17,000 submissions from 153 countries, including over 4,000 feature-length films. Although taking place in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, a selection of titles will be available online nationwide, so rest assured that you won’t miss out on Sundance gems.
Last year’s Sundance saw the premiere of some of the standout films of 2023, including the lauded directorial debuts of Raine Allen Miller for Rye Lane and Celine Song for Past Lives – the latter of which secured 5 nominations at the 2024 Golden Globes and, criminally, did not take home a win. As for this year’s festival, the released lineup offers a slew of talent spanning genre, style and perspective from both first-time and seasoned filmmakers. New films starring Pedro Pascal, Kristen Stewart and Saorise Ronan will be leading the lineup, so you can count on a year-round surge of internet buzz. But with such a robust selection to look forward to, I round up – in no particular order – the 11 hotly anticipated films that are already dominating online film discourse.
The American Society of Magical Negroes
Director(s): Kobi Libii
Starring: Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Watkins, Rupert Friend, Nicole Byer.
This upcoming satirical fantasy comedy follows a young man, Aren, who gets recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to serving one purpose: making white people’s lives easier. The trailer has stirred social media controversy regarding the direction the film took towards the “Magical Negro” trope, a recurring motif in American cinema where a Black character, often possessing special insight or mystical abilities, has no story of their own and merely aids the white protagonist. Some Black viewers were disappointed that the film did not align with their expectations of a “Black Hogwarts,” and instead sees the main biracial character chasing a white woman.
Of course, this isn’t to say that the film is set to be a flop amongst audiences, but as it stands, the current reception doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence.
Love Me
Director(s): Sam Zucherro, Andy Zucherro
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Steven Yeun
From married directorial duo Sam and Andy, this film is an unusual post-apocalyptic romance in which a buoy and a satellite meet online and fall in love. It’s wildly imaginative, and Kristen thinks so too; “it's hard to explain,” she told Entertainment Weekly in 2021 when the project was initially announced, “I hope I don't botch it, because it's a really revolutionarily written script."
Also the recipient of the 2024 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize for its outstanding depiction of science and technology, this film is definitely one to keep on your radar.
Love Lies Bleeding
Director(s): Rose Glass
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, Ed Harris, Dave Franco, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov
More Kristen Stewart? No complaints here. After all, she is set to receive the 2024 Sundance Visionary Award at the festival’s opening night gala in recognition of her work as an uncompromising artist and contributions to the field of independent film. From Saint Maud director Rose Glass, this A24 80s-set queer romance thriller sees Kristen playing Lou, a reclusive gym manager who falls in love with ambitious bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian). However, Lou’s criminal family (led by Ed Harris) attracts a web of violence that leads the two lovers to embark on a vengeance quest.
With an action-packed trailer teasing dead bodies, guns, muscle and sex, this film looks to deliver an undercurrent of unbridled desire with visceral execution.
Freaky Tales
Director(s): Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, Normani Kordei Hamilton, Dominique Thorne, Ben Mendelsohn, Ji-Young Yoo, Jack Champion, Angus Cloud, Keir Gilchrist
Normani’s fans may be awaiting new music from her but for now, her big-screen acting debut in this Oakland-centred 80s thriller, co-starring Pedro Pascal, should be keeping them fed in the meantime. From the directors who brought us Captain Marvel, this latest feature of theirs comprises of four interconnected stories: “teen punks defend their turf against Nazi skinheads, a rap duo battles for hip-hop immortality, a weary henchman gets a shot at redemption, and an NBA All-Star settles the score,” per Sundance’s official synopsis.
10 Lives
Director(s): Christopher Jenkins
Starring: Mo Gilligan, Simone Ashley, Sophie Okonedo, Dylan Llewellyn, Zayn Malik, Bill Nighy Jeremy Swift
This animated comedy featuring a stellar voice cast led by three-time BAFTA winner Mo Milligan and joined by musician Zayn Malik and Bridgerton star Simone Ashley could easily become your new favourite for classic family movie nights. Miligan plays Beckett, a pampered cat who takes life for granted until he loses his ninth life, so fate intervenes and sets him on a corrective course of transformation.
Malik, who also serves as executive music producer on 10 Lives, has written new music that includes a duet with Ashley – a duo I never knew I needed.
The Outrun
Director(s): Nora Fingscheidt
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Stephen Dillane, Saskia Reeves
Marking her first project as a producer, four-time Academy Award nominee Saorise Ronan stars in this new adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir. She plays Rona who, fresh out of rehab, returns to her hometown in Scotland, hoping to heal from her troubled past. Between harrowing flashbacks and attempts to reconnect with the painful environment Rona grew up in, Fingscheidt’s film delicately intertwines Rona’s personal struggles with an evolving harmony with nature.
I Saw the TV Glow
Director(s): Jane Schoenbrun
Starring: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Fred Durst, Danielle Deadwyler
A24’s reputation for building up a library of innovative indie horrors like Talk To Me and Hereditary appears to live up to expectations with this newest edition from director Jane Schoenbrun. It follows teenager Owen (Justice Smith), an outcast who bonds with his classmate over a TV show, but when the show is mysteriously cancelled, its reality starts to bleed into their own. Fans of Schoenbrun will appreciate their revisit to the reality-bending genre of their 2021 Sundance feature debut We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.
A Different Man
Director(s): Aaron Schimberg
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Adam Pearson
Another A24 buzzy title that should break out on social media when it premieres. In this unique psychological thriller, Sebastian Stan plays aspiring actor Edward who has neurofibromatosis and undergoes facial reconstruction surgery to cure his alienation. But, he quickly regrets changing his face and grows obsessed with an actor (Adam Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis in real life) starring as him in a stage production based on his former life.
The film has received backlash from viewers over the decision of casting an actor without neurofibromatosis for the lead role. Reacting to a photo of the Avengers star in heavy prosthetics to depict the condition, one X user wrote that “deformity & disability as a tool in horror further stigmatises.”
Ponyboi
Director(s): Esteban Arango
Starring: River Gallo, Dylan O'brien, Victoria Pedretti, Murray Bartlett, Indya Moore
Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, young intersex sex worker Ponyboi – played by River Gallo – must run from the mob after a drug deal goes wrong, forcing him to confront his past. The film is based on the 2019 Tribeca award-winning short of the same name that Gallo wrote, co-directed and starred in. In a 2020 interview with Subvrt magazine, Gallo had this to say about growing up in New Jersey and working on the short: “New Jersey has always been my biggest muse, in that much of my trauma growing up intersex is rooted there [...] As I got older and discovered my intersex identity, I began to appreciate and be grateful for what those experiences taught me.”
With first-look photos showing Dylan O’Brien covered in blood and Victoria Pedretti with a fake pregnant belly, there is a lot we can expect from the plot that is as action-filled as it is tender.
My Old Ass
Director(s): Megan Park
Starring: Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks, Aubrey Plaza
What would you do if you met your future self? Megan Park's sophomore feature transforms this hypothetical, timeless inquiry into a captivating exploration of young romance and coming of age. The summer before college, bright-yet-irreverent Elliott (Maisy Stella) comes face-to-face with her older self during a mushroom trip (Aubrey Plaza). The two are said to have a terrific unlikely chemistry, as the sass and self-assuredness of the young Elliott blends and overlaps with Plaza’s sardonic humour as a more mature Elliott.
Park’s directorial debut, the hard-hitting The Fallout, was easily among my 2021 film favourites, so I’m holding high hopes for this one.
Frida
Director(s): Carla Gutiérrez
Voice Actor: Fernanda Echevarría Del Rivero
Drawing exclusively from Frida Kahlo's diary entries, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews, first-time director Carla Gutiérrez offers a groundbreaking exploration of the iconic artist's life, narrating her often painful story with Kahlo's own words for the very first time. Per Sundance’s official description, Gutiérrez vibrantly guides us through Frida’s complex relationship to her own work, navigating the tension between art as commerce and painting for pleasure and self-knowledge.
Brought to life by vivid animation drawing from Kahlo’s distinctive artwork, Gutiérrez is set to impress not only Kahlo superfans but also those new to her enduring legacy.
