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| Top L to R: CODA, Past Lives, Klondike.
Center L to R: Beyond Utopia, Stephen Curry: Underrated, Flora And Son.
Bottom L to R: Navalny, Earth Mama, Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
The films comprise three fiction features and two documentaries. John Carney, who was last at the festival with Sing Street in 2016, returns with Flora And Son. The film about a single mum trying to reconnect with her son stars Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Earth Mama, which will join the Premieres section alongsid Flora and Son marks the directorial debut of British Olympian turned filmmaker Savanah Leaf and is also themed around single motherhood. Celine Song's Past Lives, about a reunion of childhood friends, also joins the Premieres strand.
Madeleine Gavin's Beyond Utopia joins the US Documentary section and uses hidden camera footage, while basketball profile Stephen Curry: Underrated will show as a special screening.
Director of Programming Kim Yutani said: "These five new films round out our program in an exciting and emotional way. They are cinematic experiences that delight, entertain, and keep us on the edge of our seats. The works introduce us to new voices, along with directors we’re excited to welcome back to the Festival."
In addition to the premieres, four encore screenings also join the slate. It will mark the first time that CODA, Klondike, Navalny and Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) will screen in person at Utah as they showed at the festival during the Covid-disrupted editions of 2021 and 2022.
Details of the premiering films are as follows:
US Documentary Competition
- Beyond Utopia, US (Director: Madeleine Gavin, Producers: Jana Edelbaum, Rachel Cohen, Sue Mi Terry) — Hidden camera footage augments this perilous high-stakes journey as we embed with families attempting to escape oppression, ultimately revealing a world most of us have never seen. World Premiere. Available online.
Premieres
- Earth Mama, US (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Savanah Leaf, Producers: Cody Ryder, Shirley O'Connor, Medb Riordan, Sam Bisbee) — A pregnant single mother with two children in foster care embraces her Bay Area community as she fights to reclaim her family. Cast: Tia Nomore, Erika Alexander, Doechii, Sharon Duncan Brewster, Dominic Fike, Bokeem Woodbine. World Premiere. Fiction.
- Flora and Son, US/Ireland (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: John Carney, Producers: Anthony Bregman, Peter Cron, Rebecca O'Flanagan, Robert Walpole) — Single mom Flora is at war with her teenage son, petty thief Max. Encouraged by the police to find Max a hobby, she rescues a beat-up guitar from a dumpster and finds that one person’s trash can be a family’s salvation. Cast: Eve Hewson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Orén Kinlan, Jack Reynor. World Premiere. Fiction.
- Past Lives, US (Director and Screenwriter: Celine Song, Producers: Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, David Hinojosa) — Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny and love, and the choices that make a life. Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro. World Premiere. Fiction.
Special Screenings
- Stephen Curry: Underrated / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Peter Nicks, Producers: Ryan Coogler, Erick Peyton) — Stephen Curry is one of the most influential, dynamic, and unexpected players in the history of basketball. Intimate cinematic video, archival footage, and on-camera interviews reveal Curry's rise from an undersized college player to a four-time NBA champion. World Premiere. Documentary.
