Sundance Film Festival 2021

CODA
Director and Screenwriter: Siân Heder
As a CODA – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.

PASSING
Director and Screenwriter: Rebecca Hall
Two African American women who can “pass” as white choose to live on opposite sides of the color line in 1929 New York in an exploration of racial and gender identity, performance, obsession and repression.

TOGETHER TOGETHER
Director and Screenwriter: Nikole Beckwith
When young loner Anna is hired as the surrogate for Matt, a single man in his 40s, the two strangers come to realize this unexpected relationship will quickly challenge their perceptions of connection, boundaries and the particulars of love.

MAYDAY
Director and Screenwriter: Karen Cinorre
Ana is transported to a dreamlike and dangerous land where she joins a team of female soldiers engaged in a never-ending war along a rugged coast. Though she finds strength in this exhilarating world, she comes to realize that she’s not the killer they want her to be.

SUPERIOR
Director: Erin Vassilopoulos; Screenwriters: Erin Vassilopoulos, Alessandra Mesa
On the run, Marian returns to her hometown in upstate New York to hide out with her estranged identical twin sister, Vivian. Struggling to put the past behind her, Marian lies about the reason for her return, leaving her sister in the dark until their two worlds begin to collide.

AILEY
Director: Jamila Wignot
Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. Told in his own words and through the creation of a dance inspired by his life, this immersive portrait follows a man who, when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him, determined to build one that would.

CUSP
Directors: Parker Hill, Isabel Bethencourt
In a Texas military town, three teenage girls confront the dark corners of adolescence at the end of a fever dream summer.

TRY HARDER!
Director: Debbie Lum
In a universe where cool kids are nerds, the orchestra is world class and being Asian American is the norm, seniors at Lowell High School compete for the top prize: admission to the college of their dreams.

AT THE READY
Director: Maisie Crow
Home to one of the region’s largest law enforcement education program, students at Horizon High School in El Paso train to become police officers and Border Patrol agents as they discover the realities of their dream jobs may be at odds with the truths and people they hold most dear.

RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT
Director: Mariem Pérez Riera
Rita Moreno defied both her humble upbringing and relentless racism to become one of a select group who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award. Over a seventy year career, she has paved the way for Hispanic American performers by refusing to be pigeonholed into one-dimensional stereotypes.

USERS
Director: Natalia Almada
A mother wonders, will my children love their perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother? She switches on a smart-crib lulling her crying baby to sleep. This perfect mother is everywhere. She watches over us, takes care of us. We listen to her. We trust her.

THE DOG WHO WOULDN’T BE QUIET (Argentina)
Director: Ana Katz
Sebastian, a man in his thirties, works a series of temporary jobs and he embraces love at every opportunity. He transforms, through a series of short encounters, as the world flirts with possible apocalypse.

HIVE (Kosovo-Switzerland-Macedonia-Albania)
Director and Screenwriter: Blerta Basholli
Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo. She sets up her own small business to provide for her kids, but as she fights against a patriarchal society that does not support her, she faces a crucial decision: to wait for his return, or to continue to persevere.

PLEASURE (Sweden-Netherlands-France)
Director and Screenwriter: Ninja Thyberg
A 20-year-old girl moves from her small town in Sweden to LA for a shot at a career in the adult film industry.

EL PLANETA (U.S.-Spain)
Director and Screenwriter: Amalia Ulman
Amidst the devastation of post-crisis Spain, mother and daughter bluff and grift to keep up the lifestyle they think they deserve, bonding over common tragedy and an impending eviction.

THE PINK CLOUD (Brazil)
Director and Screenwriter: Iuli Gerbase
A mysterious and deadly pink cloud appears across the globe, forcing everyone to stay home. Strangers at the outset, Giovana and Yago try to invent themselves as a couple as years of shared lockdown pass. While Yago is living in his own utopia, Giovana feels trapped deep inside.

FAYA DAYI (Ethiopia-U.S.)
Director, Screenwriter and Producer: Jessica Beshir
A spiritual journey into the highlands of Harar, immersed in the rituals of khat, a leaf Sufi Muslims chewed for centuries for religious meditations – and Ethiopia’s most lucrative cash crop today. A tapestry of intimate stories offers a window into the dreams of youth under a repressive regime.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOY IN THE WORLD (Sweden)
Directors: Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri
Swedish actor/musician Björn Andresen’s life was forever changed at the age of 15, when he played Tadzio, the object of Dirk Bogarde’s obsession in Death in Venice – a role which led Italian maestro Luchino Visconti to dub him “the world’s most beautiful boy.”

PRESIDENT (Denmark-U.S.-Norway)
Director: Camilla Nielsson
Zimbabwe is at a crossroads. The leader of the opposition MDC party, Nelson Chamisa, challenges the old guard ZANU-PF led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, known as “The Crocodile.” The election tests both the ruling party and the opposition – how do they interpret principles of democracy in discourse and in practice?

INCONVENIENT INDIAN (Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: Michelle Latimer
An examination of Thomas King’s brilliant dismantling of North America’s colonial narrative, which reframes history with the powerful voices of those continuing the tradition of Indigenous resistance.

PLAYING WITH SHARKS (Australia)
Director and Screenwriter: Sally Aitken
Valerie Taylor is a shark fanatic and an Australian icon – a marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist. She filmed the real sharks for Jaws and famously wore a chainmail suit, using herself as shark bait, changing our scientific understanding of sharks forever.

TAMING THE GARDEN (Switzerland-Germany-Georgia)
Director Salomé Jashi
A poetic ode to the rivalry between men and nature.

WRITING WITH FIRE (India)
Directors and Producers: Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their own homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.

BRING YOUR OWN BRIGADE
Director and Screenwriter: Lucy Walker
A character-driven vérité and revelatory investigation takes us on a journey embedded with firefighters and residents on a mission to understand the causes of historically large wildfires and how to survive them, discovering that the solution has been here all along. (Documentary)

IN THE SAME BREATH
Director: Nanfu Wang
How did the Chinese government turn pandemic coverups in Wuhan into a triumph for the Communist party? An essential narrative of firsthand accounts of the coronavirus, and a revelatory examination of how propaganda and patriotism shaped the outbreak’s course – both in China and in the U.S. (Documentary)

MARVELOUS AND THE BLACK HOLE
Director and Screenwriter: Kate Tsang
A teenage delinquent befriends a surly magician who helps her navigate her inner demons and dysfunctional family with sleight of hand magic, in a coming-of-age comedy that touches on unlikely friendships, grief, and finding hope in the darkest moments. (Narrative)

“Philly D.A.”
Created By: Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar
A groundbreaking inside look at the long shot election and tumultuous first term of Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s unapologetic District Attorney, and his experiment to upend the criminal justice system from the inside out. (Episodic Documentary)

HOW IT ENDS
Directors, Screenwriters and Producers: Daryl Wein, WIF Film Finishing Fund grantee Zoe Lister-Jones
On the last day on Earth, one woman goes on a journey through LA to make it to her last party before the world ends, running into an eclectic cast of characters along the way. (Narrative)

LAND
Director: Robin Wright
The poignant story of one woman’s search, in the aftermath of an unfathomable event, for meaning in the vast and harsh American wilderness. Cast: Robin Wright, Demián Bichir, Kim Dickens. (Narrative)

MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY
Directors: Betsy West, Julie Cohen
Overlooked by history, Pauli Murray was a legal trailblazer whose ideas influenced RBG’s fight for gender equality and Thurgood Marshall’s landmark civil rights arguments. Featuring never-before-seen footage and audio recordings, a portrait of Murray’s impact as a non-binary Black luminary: lawyer, activist, poet, and priest who transformed our world. (Documentary)

STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET
Director: Marilyn Agrelo
How did a group of rebels create the world’s most famous street? In 1969 New York, this “gang” of mission-driven artists, writers and educators catalyzed a moment of civil awakening, transforming it into Sesame Street, one of the most influential and impactful television programs in history. (Documentary)

THE WORLD TO COME
Director: Mona Fastvold
Music supervision by WIF Board member Tracy McKnight
Somewhere along the mid-nineteenth century American East Coast frontier, two neighboring couples battle hardship and isolation, witnessed by a splendid yet testing landscape, challenging them both physically and psychologically.

THE BLAZING WORLD
Director and Screenwriter: Carlson Young
Decades after the accidental drowning of her twin sister, a self-destructive young woman returns to her family home, finding herself drawn to an alternate dimension where her sister may still be alive.

WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR
Director and Screenwriter: Jane Schoenbrun
A teenage girl becomes immersed in an online role-playing game

MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY (U.S.-France)
Director and Screenwriter: Marion Hill
A surprise reunion in southern France reignites passions and jealousies between two women who were formerly polyamorous lovers.

CENSOR (U.K.)
Director and Screenwriter: Prano Bailey-Bond
When film censor Enid discovers an eerie horror that speaks directly to her sister’s mysterious disappearance, she resolves to unravel the puzzle behind the film and its enigmatic director – a quest blurring the lines between fiction and reality in terrifying ways.

VIOLATION (Canada)
Directors, Screenwriters and Producers: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli
A troubled woman on the edge of divorce returns home to her younger sister after years apart. But when her sister and brother-in-law betray her trust, she embarks on a vicious crusade of revenge.

KNOCKING (Sweden)
Director: Frida Kempff
When Molly moves into her new apartment after a tragic accident, a strange noise from upstairs begins to unnerve her. As its intensity grows, she confronts her neighbors – but no one seems to hear what she is hearing.