Go Ahead & Get Excited About These 2020 Sundance Films By Women Directors
January 24, 2020DMT Beauty#DMTBeautySpot #beauty
Since the Oscars don't happen until February 9, many movie lovers are still thinking about 2019. But it's time to move on, people. The Sundance Film Festival kicked off on January 23, and new feature films, documentaries, shorts, and performance art pieces are on the way. Among this years entries, 46 percent of the competition films at Sundance are directed by women. That's an increase from last year's 42 percent. And while this, unfortunately, might not mean anything when it comes to your Oscar ballot, it's still exciting to see so many films, with so much variety, at a mainstream fest.
There are familiar names are showing at the festival this year. Director Julie Taymor will be showing her Gloria Steinem biopic The Glorias. Animator Brenda Chapman is making her live action debut with Come Away, about Peter Pan and Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Director Dee Rees is showing her Joan Didion adaptation The Last Thing He Wanted. And writer Emerald Fennell is making the move from TV to film with Promising Young Women.
And that's just to start. Read on for 23 Sundance movies directed by women to look out for this year, from a Taylor Swift documentary to a movie about what happens if aliens invade while you're on a technology detox. (And to check out the full list of entries from women head to the official Sundance Film Festival site here.)
Amulet
Directed & Written by Romola Garai
Starring: Carla Juri, Angeliki Papoulia, Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton
Actor Romola Garai (Atonement, Emma) makes her feature directorial debut with Amulet, a horror movie about a homeless veteran, who is given a place to stay by a woman and her dying mother, only to find out there may be something more sinister going on between them. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Boys State
Directed by Amanda McBaine & Jesse Moss
This documentary follows a group of one-thousand 17-year-old boys participating in an experiment to design and build a government from scratch. The filmmakers set out to "remind us, ultimately, that democracy is not a spectator sport."Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Come Away
Directed by Brenda Chapman
Written by Marissa Kate Goodhill
Starring: Michael Caine, Keira Chansa, Angelina Jolie, Jordan Nash, David Oyelowo, Reece Yates
Director Brenda Chapman is known for her work at Disney and Pixar, including co-directing The Prince of Egypt and Brave. Come Away is her live-action debut, and it's an imagining of Peter Pan and Alice from Alice in Wonderland as siblings before taking off on their separate magical journeys. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Farewell Amor
Directed & Written by Ekwa Msangi
Starring Zainab Jah, Jayme Lawson, Joie Lee, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Nana Mensa
Tanzanian American director and writer Ekwa Msangi tells the story of an immigrant family, who reunite after 17 years. The father has made a new life in New York City, and when his wife and daughter arrive, they struggle to reconnect with him, but find hope through dance. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
The Fight
Directed by Eli Despres, Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg
The Fight is a documentary about ACLU lawyers as they fight for civil rights during the Trump administration, specifically rights for immigrants, women's right to choose, and voting rights. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
The 40-Year-Old Version
Directed & Written by Radha Blank
Starring: TJ Atoms, Oswin Benjamin, Reed Birney, Radha Blank, Peter Y. Kim, Imani Lewis
Radha Blank, who has written for Empire and She's Gotta Have It makes her directing debut with The 40-Year-Old Version, about a 40-year-old struggling playwright, who decides to get back in to rapping.Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
The Glorias
Directed by Julie Taymor
Written by Sarah Ruhl & Julie Taymor
Starring: Timothy Hutton, Bette Midler, Janelle Monáe, Julianne Moore, Lorraine Toussaint, Alicia Vikander
Based on Gloria Steinem's memoir My Life on the Road and helmed by Julie Taymor (Across the Universe, Frida), The Glorias tells the feminist icon's story using several different actors to portray different parts of her life. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Herself
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Written by Malcolm Campbell & Clare Dunne
Starring: Clare Dunne, Conleth Hill, Harriet Walter
Mamma Mia! and The Iron Lady director Phyllida Lloyd brings Sundance audiences Herself, about a single mother in Ireland, who falls on hard times and decides to build a house for herself and her daughters "literally and metaphorically pouring the foundation of her own future."Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
He's The One
Directed & Written by Jessie Kahnweiler
Starring: Alexandria Churchwell, Luka Jones, Jessie Kahnweiler
This short film is a "dark comedy about falling in love with the one person you’re supposed to hate." Viewers will have to wait and see the "shocking discovery" that changes things for the lead character and the man she falls for.Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.Hillary
Directed by Nanette Burstein
Hillary, a biographical documentary about Hillary Clinton, spans five decades of her life and includes interviews with the politician, as well as ones with those close to her and her adversaries. It also features previously unreleased footage from her 2016 presidential campaign.
Kajillionaire
Directed & Written by Miranda July
Starring Richard Jenkins, Gina Rodriguez, Debra Winger, Evan Rachel Wood
Kajillionaire follows a family of con artists, who invite a stranger to join them on their next heist. But, this changes things for the family's daughter, who was raised from birth to be a scammer, but begins to see her life in a different light. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
The Last Thing He Wanted
Directed by Dee Rees
Written by Dee Rees & Marco Villalobos
Starring Ben Affleck, Willem Dafoe, Anne Hathaway, Rosie Perez
The Last Thing He Wanted is an adaptation of Joan Didion's novel of the same name. It's a thriller about a journalist, who goes from reporting to part of the story when she becomes involved in risky arms deals in Central America.Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.Lost Girls
Directed by Liz Garbus
Written by Michael Werwie
Starring Gabriel Byrne, Lola Kirke, Thomasin McKenzie, Oona Laurence, Amy Ryan, Miriam Shor
Based on the Robert Kolker novel of the same name, Lost Girls follows a mother who takes a search for justice into her own hands after her daughter goes missing. Her daughter had become an online sex worker, and authorities blame her rather than working to find her and help her family.
Miss Americana
Directed by Lana Wilson
Miss Americana is a documentary about Taylor Swift, focusing on her recent decision to be more open about her beliefs and personal life and use her voice in a bigger way. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Miss Juneteenth
Directed & Written by Channing Godfrey Peoples
Starring: Nicole Beharie, Alexis Chikaeze, Lori Hayes, Marcus M. Mauldin, Kendrick Sampson
Miss Juneteenth revolves around a single mom, who was once named Miss Juneteenth in a pageant honoring the day slavery was banned in Texas. With her life not turning out as she hoped, she's prepping her teenage daughter to become Miss Juneteenth, even if that's not what she wants. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Mucho Mucho Amor
Directed by Cristina Costantini & Kareem Tabsch
Mucho Mucho Amor is a documentary about Puerto Rican "astrologer, psychic, and gender nonconforming legend Walter Mercado," who rose to fame with his televised horoscopes, before disappearing from public life in 2007. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.Promising Young Woman
Directed & Written by Emerald Fennell
Starring: Connie Britton, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Carey Mulligan
Writer and actor Emerald Fennell (The Crown, Killing Eve) makes her feature directorial debut with Promising Young Woman about a woman who pretends to be drunk and then makes the men who try to take advantage of her pay in order to cope with a trauma she experienced.
Save Yourselves!
Directed & Written by Alex Huston Fischer
& Eleanor Wilson
Starring: Johanna Day,
John Early, Sunita Mani, John Reynolds, Gary Richardson, Ben Sinclair
Save Yourselves! answers the question: What happens if the Earth is attacked by aliens while you're enjoying a technology-free week away at a cabin? Well, you won't find out about it right away, to start. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Shirley
Directed by Josephine Decker
Written by Sarah Gubbins
Starring: Logan Lerman, Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young
Shirley is inspired by the horror writer Shirley Jackson, but it's not a traditional biopic. Instead, it centers around a couple who end up living with Jackson and her husband in their home in a small Vermont town. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Us Kids
Directed by Kim A. Snyder
The documentary Us Kids follows the survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who became major activists and inspirations in the fight for gun control. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Wander Darkly
Directed & Written by Tara Miele
Starring: Vanessa Bayer, Aimee Carrero, Beth Grant, Tory Kittles, Diego Luna, Sienna Miller
Wander Darkly centers around a woman who "finds herself in a disorienting state of limbo, unstuck in time and witnessing life from a distance," following a traumatic event. With her partner, with whom she shares a child, she tries to figure out exactly what happened to her and try to move forward. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Worth
Directed by Sara Colangelo
Written by Max Borenstein
Starring: Talia Balsam, Laura Benanti, Tate Donovan, Michael Keaton, Amy Ryan, Stanley Tucci
Worth is about the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which had to literally assign a worth to the victims when deciding the compensation their families would receive. In the film, the attorney in charge of the fund is at odds with a community organizer whose wife died in the 9/11 attacks. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Zola
Directed by Janicza Bravo
Written by Janicza Bravo & Jeremy O. Harris
Starring: Nicholas Braun, Colman Domingo, Riley Keough, Taylour Paige
In 2015, a series of over 100 tweets went viral when a woman named A’ziah King posted about a wild experience involving a new friend and their journey to go dance in Miami strip clubs that turned incredibly dark. Now, that story has been adapted into a film, Zola, that "frames the protagonist’s narrative in a groundbreaking exchange that plays with and questions perspective." Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.Embrace
Director: Jessica Sanders
Written By: Kathreen Khavari, Chuck Neal
Starring: Kathreen Khavari, Eddie Huang, Mitra Jouhari
Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Jessica Sanders is a Sundance regular. She directed and produced the documentary After Innocence, about criminal-justice reform, and End of the Line, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival for Refinery29’s Shatterbox series.
In Embrace, she depicts the story of Iranian American medical student Kat, who tries to save her family by taking on a surprising side hustle.
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