World premieres starring Olivia Colman, Jennifer Lopez and Josh O’Connor spearhead the lineup of next month’s Sundance film festival.
The Utah-based festival will showcase 87 feature films from 33 different countries and territories.
Oscar-winner Colman will lead Jimpa, a drama from the writer-director Sophie Hyde who has previously been at the festival with Animals and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. Colman plays a mother taking her non-binary teenager to visit their gay grandfather, played by John Lithgow.
Lopez, who has previously been at Sundance with thriller Lila and Eve, will be present with a new version of Kiss of the Spider-Woman, based on the 1992 stage musical written by the late Terrence McNally. She has called it her most “challenging” role to date. “It’s a dark story, but also one about love and survival – about helping each other through hard times,” Lopez said to Variety. “I think that’s a message we really need right now.”
Fresh off his breakout role in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, Josh O’Connor will star in the world premiere of Rebuilding as a rancher coping with the loss of his farm after a wildfire. The film also stars the White Lotus breakout Meghann Fahy.
Benedict Cumberbatch will be heading to Park City with the dark grief drama The Thing with Feathers playing a father who believes a sinister presence is stalking his family after his wife dies. It’s based on the acclaimed book by Max Porter, which was also turned into a stage play.
Ben Whishaw will be reuniting with the Passages director Ira Sachs for Peter Hujar’s Day, playing the legendary photographer Peter Hujar in a drama also starring Rebecca Hall as the writer Linda Rosenkrantz.
Timely new documentaries premiering at the festival include The Librarians, about the fight against book banning in Texas, Heightened Scrutiny, about anti-trans legislation in the US, and Mr Nobody Against Putin, following a teacher in Russia pushing back against propaganda.
There will also be new documentaries on Jeff Buckley, the Zodiac Killer, Jacinda Adern, Selena Quintanilla, Marlee Matlin and To Catch a Predator.
In the main dramatic competition this year, there will be films such as the Luca Guadagnino-produced Atropia about a military role-playing facility starring Alia Shawkat and Callum Turner, the cabbage-smuggling comedy Bubble & Squeak starring Himesh Patel, the 90s-set drama Plainclothes about an undercover cop falling in love with another man starring Russell Tovey, the Cary Fukunaga-produced drama Ricky starring Stephan James as a man navigating life post-incarceration and the dark comedy Sorry, Baby produced by Barry Jenkins.
Other premieres include a remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 comedy The Wedding Banquet starring Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang, the A24 music industry thriller Opus starring Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich, the folk horror Rabbit Trap with Dev Patel, the British comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island starring Tim Key and Carey Mulligan, the Safdie brothers-produced comedy drama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You with Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien and A$AP Rocky and Train Dreams, a period drama starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones from the team behind Sing Sing.
Juliette Lewis will also star in By Design as a woman who swaps bodies with a chair.
Of the films announced, 47% were directed by one or more film-makers who identify as women while 45% were directed by one or more film-makers of colour.
“This year’s program is ready to meet our audiences, the industry, and the wider culture in a moment of many global questions,” said the festival director, Eugene Hernandez. “The works our artists will debut at our upcoming Festival will spark conversation and invite connection. We’re excited to be sharing these moments of discovery together with our communities soon and thankful to our artists for entrusting us with their stories.”
Last year’s festival saw the world premieres of Love Lies Bleeding, I Saw the TV Glow, A Real Pain, Didi, A Different Man and Will & Harper. Next year’s will take place from 23 January to 2 February.
