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| Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck in A Ghost Story - this is the story of a ghost and the house he haunts. Photo: Andrew Droz Palermo |
The festival will present 14 feature films from this year's Sundance Film Festival in the US. As previously announced, the festival will open with the International premiere of Miguel Arteta’s Beatriz At Dinner, and it will close four days later with the UK premiere of David Lowery’s A Ghost Story, starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara.
Among the other films screening are crowd-pleasing comedy romance The Big Sick, Scots director Marianna Palka's feminist satire Bitch and Apocalyptic thriller Bushwick, which has also been selected for the Cannes Directors' Fortnight. There will also be screenings of Michael Almereyda's consideration of memory, Marjorie Prime and unconventional love story documentary Dina.
The festival will also include a short film programme with 15 shorts, including a strand dedicated to new UK shorts.
For the first time, the programme will include a “Surprise Film” screening which promises festivalgoers an exclusive chance to catch an audience hit from this year’s festival in Park City. Additionally, the festival will introduce an Audience Favourite award.
The Special Events programme comprises three panel events and an "In Conversation". The “Independent Film Trumps Reality” panel will examine independent filmmaking in the current political climate, involving directors at the festival whose films have gained a new level of currency in the age of Trump, while the “On Collaboration: Documentary Practices and Process” panel will explore the themes of diversity, accessibility and progress in documentary, and the short filmmaker panel “Art vs. Stepping Stone” will pose the question, “Are shorts simply a stepping stone or do they sustain a filmmaker throughout a career?” Lowery, will participate in an "In Conversation" event, which will be followed by a special screening of his earlier feature, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.
Festival founder Robert Redford said, “As we head into our fifth festival in London, we remain committed to introducing new American independent films to audiences around the world. Our success in the UK is a reflection of the enormous creativity of independent artists and the stories they tell, as well as the curious and adventurous audiences who have made us feel right at home in the heart of London.”
John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, added: “The films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival: London show us the very human sides of issues, people and places both intimately familiar and entirely unknown. The range of characters and approaches — all told from independent perspectives — allows us to see the funny and the serious, the scary and the comforting, the urgent and the timeless in our world today.”
Features
- Beatriz At Dinner, director: Miguel Arteta, writer: Mike White
- The Big Sick, director: Michael Showalter, writers: Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani
- Bitch, director/writer Marianna Palka
- Bushwick, directors: Cary Murnion, Jonathan Millot, writers: Nick Damici, Graham Reznick
- Chasing Coral, director: Jeff Orlowski
- Crown Heights, director/writer: Matt Ruskin
- Dina, director: Dan Sickles, Antonio Santini
- A Ghost Story, director/writer: David Lowery
- Icarus, director: Bryan Fogel
- The Incredible Jessica James, director/writer: Jim Strouse
- Marjorie Prime, director/writer: Michael Almereyda
- Walking Out, directors/writers: Alex Smith, Adam Smith
- Wilson, director: Craig Johnson, writer: Daniel Clowes
- Surprise Film
Shorts
- 5 Films About Technology, director/writer: Peter Huang
- And the Whole Sky Fit In The Dead Cow’s Eye, director/writer: Francisca Alegria
- Come Swim, director/writer: Kristen Stewart
- Lucia, Before And After, director/writer: Anu Valia
- Night Shift, director/writer: Marshall Tyler
- Pussy, director/writer: Renata Gasiorowska
- Ten Meter Tower, co-directors: Maximilien Van Aertryck, Axel Danielson
- Dawn Of The Deaf, director/writer: Rob Savage
- Dear Mr Shakespeare, director: Shola Amoo, writer: Phoebe Boswell
- Fish Story, director/writer: Charlie Lyne
- In The Hills, director/writer: Hamid Ahmadi
- Mother, director/writer: Leo Leigh
- Robot & Scarecrow, director: Kibwe Tavares, writers: Kibwe Tavares and Ursula Rani Sarma
- Tough, director: Jennifer Zheng
- White Riot: London, director: Rubika Shah, writers: Ed Gibbs, Rubika Shah
