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Bryan Carberry’s 2024 documentary film Smiles And Kisses You explores the unconventional relationship between a man named Chris and an AI companion he has named Mimi. The film offers viewers an intimate look into Chris’s life as he discusses the path that led him to partner with a sex doll. Through one-on-one interviews and glimpses into their daily life together, we learn how Chris’s past has shaped not just his present circumstances, but also the deeper human needs that led him to find comfort in the form of an artificial partner.

Smiles And Kisses You does not set out to condemn or condone Chris’s situation, but rather seeks to understand it. Director Bryan Carberry shows great empathy in letting Chris tell his own story in his own words, without judgment. While some viewers may find aspects of Chris’s choices difficult to fully relate to, the film approaches its subject with care,...

The 77th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has launched its entire program for the Aug. 15-21 event, where it will screen 37 new feature films and 18 world premieres.

Ten world premieres will compete for the new Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence as the fest showcases talent from filmmakers in the U.K., U.S., Canada, Mexico, Norway, China, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Iran and beyond. Screenings will take place in the heart of Scotland’s picturesque capital at some of the city’s most iconic venues including Cameo Cinema, Summerhall, and 50 George Square.

Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun, starring Saoirse Ronan, was previously confirmed as the Fest’s opening night film, with the world premiere of Carla J. Easton and Blair Young’s documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands set to close. Its Midnight Madness strand will close with the body horror The Substance, starring Demi Moore.

Daisy-May Hudson’s fiction debut Lollipop, a documentary about a man’s relationship with a life-sized AI-animated doll and Nina Conti’s Cannes Great 8 title Sunlight are among 18 world premieres at the new-look Edinburgh International Film Festival.

A total of 37 feature films form the line-up of Eiff’s 77th edition, which is the first under the leadership of Paul Ridd as festival director and Andrew Macdonald as chair. The line-up includes 10 world premieres in the running for the £50,000 Sean Connery prize for feature filmmaking excellence, plus four retrospective screenings, a Midnight Madness strand and five short film programmes.

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Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness has taken the locked down world by storm, inspiring a whirlwind of memes, at least one lawsuit, and even prompting Netflix to release a hastily put together ‘Aftershow’ catching up with some of the main players after the series became a humungous hit.

Reaching viewers who wouldn’t necessarily have called themselves documentary fans, Tiger King may have inspired audiences to seek out other true life stories. But if you’re someone who just needs more like Tiger King, Finders Keepers, which is available for free with Amazon Prime, is your next stop. So much so that the 2015 documentary, directed by Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, actually feels like a companion piece.

Here’s the logline: “A story about fame, addiction and a custody battle over a man’s leg.”

Intrigued? It gets weirder.

Finders Keepers is a story about a bitter rivalry between...

Sundance Next Fest, which returns to Los Angeles for the fourth consecutive year next month, has just announced its full film and music lineup. Sundance selections like “Lovesong,” “Morris From America” and “Under the Shadow” will all make their L.A. premieres over the weekend of August 12 – 14, with Shamir and Sunflower Bean among the musical acts performing after screenings. The Theatre at Ace Hotel will once again host the festivities.

Read More: Music and Movies Collide In This Sundance Next Fest-Inspired Mixtape

“Sundance Next Fest has become a summer staple for independent film and music fans in Los Angeles who want to experience what’s new and next in culture,” said Trevor Groth, Sundance’s Director of Programming. This is our biggest and weirdest lineup to date, and I can’t wait for people to see what we’ve dreamt up this year.” A talent show, Q&As, a short-film...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

88:88 (Isiah Medina)

What has set cinema back — both from the perspective of those who make, and those who write about it — are the binaries chosen to be created and propagated, be it taste, modes of production, or genre, essentially what forms “correct” cinema, in terms either classical or experimental. So there’s more and more hope that a film can come along that hopefully defies the tradition of quality,...

The tragic downfall of artists, behind the scenes of a genocide and the war on drugs, celebrations of music and locales, a look into the political divide from multiple angles, the history of a legendary conversation on filmmaking — these were just a few of the places and stories this year’s documentary offerings brought us. With 2015 wrapping up, we’ve selected 25 features in the field that most impressed us, so check out our list below and let us know your favorites in the comments.

Amy (Asif Kapadia)

Asif Kapadia entered cinematic radars with his BAFTA-winning Senna, a terrific documentary on the life and tragic death of Formula 1 race car driver Ayrton Senna. The subject matter of his follow-up documentary doesn’t seem, at first, to be a million miles away. Amy, which screened out of competition in Cannes, follows the meteoric rise and tragic fall of the late singer Amy Winehouse.

As a producer, band member, and a writer of original scores for narrative and documentary features, composer Dan Romer is no stranger to writing music beloved by audiences and critics alike. "My general concept of theme writing is that I want it to be a catchy enough melody to be a pop song," Romer explained. At the Toronto International Film Festival last month, Romer spoke with Indiewire Editor in Chief Dana Harris for this week's episode of Indiewire Influencers. In addition to working with Benh Zeitlin on "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Romer has also provided scores for Joe Swanberg's "Digging for Fire" and Bryan Carberry & Clay Tweel's documentary "Finder Keepers." But the African landscape of "Beasts of No Nation" called for a score with a different set of demands.  "I originally did a score that was mostly strings and horns and piano," Romer says, describing his first...

How can anyone argue with the rules of our childhood? Finder’s keepers is as sacred an adolescent law of survival as calling shotgun of implementing the infamous triple dog dare. But, what happens when we employ these tactics in adult life? One possible eventuality plays out in real life as the subject matter of a new documentary from Bryan Carberry and J. Clay Tweel.

Finder’S Keepers follows the antics of two men, John Wood and Shannon Whisnant. John Wood lost his leg in a small plane crash that killed his father. Shannon Whisnant is an entrepreneurial picker who purchases the contents of a storage unit at an auction and discovers John Wood’s amputated leg inside a smoker grill within the storage unit he purchased.

You may be asking “how does something like this transpire?” Believe it or not, it all makes sense once the film explains the circumstances,...

Read More: This Mixtape Inspired By The 'Finders Keepers' Filmmakers Is a Southern Gothic Revelation The "one man's trash is another man's treasure" idiom gets seriously complicated in "Finders Keepers," Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel's documentary about the custody fight that breaks out over a found foot. Following a story that made headlines in 2007, the film centers on Shannon Whisnant, who discovers a foot inside a grill he bought at an auction. The rightful owner, amputee John Wood, wants the foot restored to him, but Whisnant refuses to part ways with it when the weird story "win win wins" him 15 minutes of fame. "Finders Keepers" is currently playing in select theaters and is available on iTunes and On Demand. Watch an exclusive clip from the film above. Read More: Sundance Review: Documentary ‘Finders Keepers’ Is A Bizarre Story About The Custody Battle Over A Human Leg...

In 2007, Shannon Whisnant, a bargain hunter from small-town Maiden, North Carolina, picked up a BBQ smoker at auction. After taking it home, he opened the grill to find a macabre surprise in the form of a crudely mummified human foot. The discovery naturally raised a lot of questions: Whose foot was it? How did it end up inside the grill? And why in the world would anybody have their own amputated limb preserved for posterity?

Thankfully, Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel's documentary Finders Keepers has answers to all those questions.

Based on its premise, one might initially peg Finders Keepers as one of the strangest documentaries of the year, but it soon reveals itself to be one of the most emotional and uplifting. The story centers on John Wood, an amputee who is attempting to reclaim ownership of his mummified leg from Shannon Whisnant, who believes its his property and has dreams of being a reality TV star. Directors Bryan Carberry and J. Clay Tweel root themselves into the community as they explore the perils of addiction and the bond of family, all while tracking this peculiar custody battle of sorts.

We’re pleased to premiere and exclusive new clip for the film, which centers on John Wood’s story of how he was able to reclaim his amputated leg in the first place. It’s simply the start of the strange, compelling story, so it makes for a great...

Finders Keepers Trailer. Bryan Carberry and J. Clay Tweel‘s Finders Keepers (2015) movie trailer stars a wide variety of North Carolina’s citizens. Finder’s Keepers plot synopsis: “In 2007, a severed human foot was discovered in a grill bought at a North Carolina auction.” This looks like another documentary that tells a story so odd and oddly charming that it can’t […]...

One man's leg is another man's treasure. The Orchard has revealed the first official trailer for Finders Keepers, one of our favorite documentaries out of the Sundance Film Festival this year. This is one of those so-crazy-you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it true stories about two men from North Carolina fighting over a leg. One of them lost his leg in a tragic and fatal plane crash, and through some weird happenstance, it ended up in the hands of another man, who used it to make himself famous - his life dream. No, seriously. At first he charged money for people to see it, then even got himself on TV shows, and it just went from. It's wild, and this documentary is a heartfelt, honest, and remarkable look at both sides of the story. You have to see this! Here's the official trailer for Bryan Carberry & J. Clay Tweel's doc Finders Keepers, direct from...

It’s been a great year for documentaries already (read our feature on the best of 2015 so far), but there’s plenty more to come as we move towards Christmas and awards season, and one of the most high-profile, and with the potential to crossover, is “Finders Keepers.” Read More: Review: Documentary 'Finders Keepers' Is A Bizarre Of The Custody Battle Over A Human Leg Debuting at Sundance in January, Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel’s film tells the oddball story of John Wood and Shannon Whisnant. The former was a drug addict who, after losing his leg in a plane crash, lost the disembodied appendage again when his embalmed foot was accidentally sold off along with the rest of the contents of his storage lockers to pay off his debts. Whisnant was a bargain hunter who bought the leg, beginning a battle between the two for ownership of the limb.

Read More: Next Fest: 7 Questions with Bryan Carberry & Clay Tweel, Directors of 'Finders Keepers' Nothing is quite as unsettling as finding something unexpected, especially someone else's leg in your grill. Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel's "Finders Keepers" explores this strangely true story through the eyes of the two men involved: John Wood and Shannon Wisnant.  When Wood's amputated leg is found in a grill sold at a North Carolina auction, he finds himself dead center in a media frenzy. While he finds this attention to be his shot at doing something meaningful in his otherwise disappointing life, things take a turn when the leg's buyer, Shannon Whisnant, sues to regain its custody. Wood's drug addiction, initiated by his dysfunctional family, worsens and forces him to live on the streets. One more twist gives Wood one last shot at being whole.  "Finders Keepers" will screen in select theaters starting on September 25th.

Read More: Music and Movies Collide In This Sundance Next Fest-Inspired Mixtape In anticipation of Next Fest, Indiewire asked filmmakers with projects screening as part of the program to curate a selection of tracks that may have served as inspiration during the production process or are evocative of the world and themes explored by the film. The music for "Finders Keepers" played a bigger role than any other film I have been a part of. The tone bounces back and forth so many times between hilarious and tragic that we really leaned on our score to help us navigate this tricky balancing act. When we were compiling references and temp music for the edit we wanted to stay true to the geography of our story and so we went hunting for cues that would sound native to our characters and their surroundings. Our producers Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham, co-director Bryan Carberry...

Directing duo Bryan Carberry & J. Clay Tweel are two rising talents in the documentary realm who made a splash at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival with a film that defies reality and proves fiction is always outdone by the madness of life. “Finders Keepers” follows the surreal true story that unfolded when in 2007 a man discovered a severed leg inside a used grill he bought at an auction. It all becomes more incredibly insane when the limb’s owner surfaces.

The L.A. premiere of “Finders Keepers” will take place on Saturday August 8th as part of Sundance Next Fest. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the filmmakers, one of the film’s subjects, and Thomas Middleditch. The Q&A will be moderated by actress Aubrey Plaza.

For more information and tickets to Next Fest visit Here

Here are our 7 questions with filmmakers Bryan Carberry & J. Clay Tweel

Films that play in Next Fest are characterized by their wildly inventive approach to storytelling. What would you say is your personal approach to storytelling?

Carberry/ Tweel: We’ve always been firm believers that limitations breed creativity. In telling Finders Keepers’ story we had plenty of limitations -- notably the fact we were trying to cover seven years of story in 80-some minutes from just a few weeks of filming. These restrictions forced us to focus our narrative onto the basic moments that most effected our subject’s lives. Letting their personal perspectives drive the story -- centering on their goals, fears, hopes -- ultimately led the narrative to emerge organically.

As a filmmaker working in the digital age, what are some of the major challenges you have experienced that you think filmmakers before you didn't have to confront?

Carberry/ Tweel: In film in general, and particularly documentaries, we think it’s hard to complain about working in the digital age -- the incredibly low cost of shooting digital stands out as a big plus. One byproduct we had to deal with, however, was arriving at an hour-and-a-half film from 200 hours of footage -- which by today’s standard is considered mild. Documentary filmmakers before had to be more prudent with their film stock and the special moments they captured; with our film, we had trouble not filming the entirety of our subject making a sandwich or walking to the bathroom.

Do you think theatrical distribution is still the ultimate goal for filmmakers today? After all, cinema was meant to be experience on the big screen right?

Carberry/ Tweel: While cinema is currently taking many routes and is constantly evolving, and we can’t speak for all filmmakers, we can’t imagine many films that aren’t better when viewed on a thirty-foot screen with surround sound, in the dark, surrounded by your peers.

What do you think the role of festivals like Sundance in Park City or Next Fest is in terms helping filmmakers reach their audience?

Carberry/ Tweel: While it’s sad to think about the number of great films that don’t make the cut each year, those that do are catapulted into a very bright spotlight, for better or worse. This alone was something fantastic for a doc like ours that was started on a grainy handicam, ended up on its deathbed multiple times, and that more than once we considered would never be seen by anyone. Additionally for a documentary like ours -- which doesn’t center on politics or social issues, but a fight over a dude’s leg -- having Sundance’s seal of approval gave us a certain, much-needed degree of validation.

What do you think is a crucial quality filmmakers must have today to survive all the obstacles and get their films made and seen?

Carberry/ Tweel: The widespread ease of access to production and post-production equipment has certainly increased an already-competitive field. We think the filmmakers who can emerge from that over-saturation need a certain amount of persistence, adaptability, naivety (or perhaps just delusion), not to mention the ever-under-valued knowledge of story.

What are your thoughts on the musical act or speaker that will accompany your film? How do you think this extra feature will enhance the audience's experience?

Carberry/ Tweel: We think it’s great to be combining such hip, talented scripted actors with our janky little documentary -- which should provide more than a few fresh insights. And we’re particularly looking forward to having these hilarious improv-pros on stage with us... we suspect their training will be needed to keep up with our film’s subject, the show-stealing, amateur-comic, backwoods-standup John Wood.

What are some films that you've loved this year so far or that you are excited to see when they come out? Why?

Bryan Carberry: As a huge Noah Baumbach fan, I can’t wait for "Mistress America." My favorite movie of the year so far was “Seven Chinese Brothers” -- I laughed out loud for most of the movie, despite its having a heartfelt, organic and surprisingly un-formulaic story, not to mention indies "Tangerine," "Stanford Prison Experiment," and the "Final Girls" (also with Mr. Middleditch), which all pushed the boundaries of genre in their own ways.

Clay Tweel:"Cartel Land" blew my mind with its groundbreaking access and shooting style, and the twist and turns of the characters involved were straight out of a scripted film. "Ex-Machina," like all good sci fi, tackled very philosophical issues about the human condition but in an interesting and new way. Also since I’ve been obsessed with the concept of singularity for years and I love watching stories that explore its potential effects.

At their annual retreat, the traditional internal kick-off for the big Sundance Film Festival this January, programmer Charlie Reff was able to take some time to talk with me about Next Fest.

My colleague Carlos Aguilar has already written about this big L.A. event here, so I will cover other areas and fill in on the music components of the film program.

Each film is its own event so that audiences will go to one film and not necessarily all films. Though the series package is selling well, the individual ticket sales are significant not only selling out but in bringing in new audiences. Getting L.A. people’s attention is not an easy task, but the pairing of movies and music in the unique way Next is creating, plus the spectacular venue, the Theatre at the Ace Hotel, one of L.A.’s most lavish and historic film venues, downtown at 9th and Broadway, will also bring out new audiences who care about preservation of our art deco landmarks.

This year more than half the films that showed in Sundance came out quickly theatrically this spring and summer followed by their VOD releases. If they did not get released theatrically then they were eligible to be chosen for Next if they were sufficiently “renegade” in the best spirit of indie filmmakers, like past films “Obvious Child”, “Compliance”, “Appropriate Behavior”, “Tangerine” and “Escape from Tomorrow”.

Out of the six films chosen for the unconventional and forward thinking of their narrative styles – including one doc -- there is a full range of experience to be had.

Four films showing in the evening are paired with live musical acts which somehow fit the film in mood or in ideas and are new and next in film and music.

In addition there will be three world premiere music videos and a full-body, mind-blowing virtual reality flight simulator, Birdly which was shown this past Sundance in the New Frontier exhibition. You can experience being a bird from a first-person perspective through a full-body virtual reality set up….it’s free, in the mezzanine of The Theatre of the Ace Hotel and available through an onsite waitlist system.

The world premiere music videos are Superhumanoid’s music video for “Anxious in Venice”, premiering Friday along with Noah Baumbach’s out of the mold “Mistress America” (Fox Searchlight) followed by a live performance by Sky Ferreira.Health’s album trailer for “Death Magic” as part of Saturday evening’s screening of “ Entertainment“ (Magnolia Releasing) starring Michael Cera will be followed by a solo performance by Sharon Van Etten. “Death Magic” is directed by acclaimed graphic designer, title designer, and editor Pablo Ferro, who has worked alongside some of the most respected filmmakers of all time including Stanley Kubrick, Hal Ashby and Tim Burton. An experimental short film by Eddie Alcazar with soundtrack by Flying Lotus, “Fuckkkyouuu”, will premiere Sunday at the “Turbo Kid” (Epic Pictures Releasing) screening with a back-to-back DJ battle between Neon Indian and Toro Y Moi.

Pairing music audiences with movie audiences aims to bring new awareness of new art canvasses to people who do not have a lot of crossover knowledge of film on one hand or of music on the other. Musicians often want to make movies and both they and filmmakers have had the carpets pulled out from under them and are struggling to find their way amidst digitization. It seems self-evident that fimmakers appreciate music since soundtracks and even the most incidental music in a film can make or break it. By pairing “Mistress America” with Sky Ferreira, Charlie is sure Sky’s fans will love “Mistress America” which will result in new discussions and will perhaps begin to define how to make sense of movies to music audiences. The cross-pollination of audiences enriches everyone.

The two daytime films, “Cronies” by Michael Larnell and “Finders Keepers” will be followed by conversations, paired respectively with Robert Townsend, one of the Godfathers of the Independent Film World, actor, writer, director and producer of first of “Hollywood Shuffle” followed by many other films; and Saturday’s “Finders Keepers” directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel with Thomas Middletich (“Silicon Valley” ) along with the film’s subject John Wood himself! Speakers were chosen by the filmmakers who were told to ask who was influential them them and who would they want to see their film.

Among the filmmakers, cast and musicians expected to attend Sundance Next Fest are Rick Alverson, Noah Baumbach, Bryan Carberry, Munro Chambers, Greta Gerwig, Health, Tim Heidecker, Lola Kirke, Michael Larnell, François Simard, Superhumanoids, Gregg Turkington, Clay Tweel, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell.

Attendance is expected to be around 10,000 judging by lat year’s numbers. Last year all three film with music event was sold out. The opening screening in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was huge and the screenings over three days had about 1,000 at each event.

Next is not just a film festival; it is an Event.

Sundance Next Fest is supported by Principal Sponsors – Acura and Adobe; Major Sponsor – Kickstarter; Media Sponsor – Kcrw; and Supporting Sponsors – Beachside Films, Dolby, FilmL.A., Inc., ShopHouse, Shudder, Skullcandy®, Southwest Airlines, Stella Artois®, The Theatre at Ace Hotel and the Utah Film Commission. As part of their presence at the festival, Adobe and Kickstarter will host panels open to the public on Saturday and Sunday afternoons;

Below is the full program in detail. Even more details and tickets ($15-25) now on sale can be found at sundance.org/next.

Friday, August 7, 8:00 p.m.

"Anxious in Venice" (Band: Superhumanoids, Director: Taylor Cohen) — It's 4:37 a.m. and someone straps a camera to your chest. Nearby, your hungover bandmate sips gas station coffee and the director yells about missing the sunrise. You hate performance music videos but you're sure this one will be different. Then again, when you've been up all night and are shooting without a permit -- you can't be sure of anything. Welcome to Anxious In Venice. Music Video. World Premiere

"Mistress America" / U.S.A. (Director: Noah Baumbach, Screenwriters: Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig) — Tracy is a lonely college freshman in New York, having neither the exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned. But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke – a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town – she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke's alluringly mad schemes. Cast: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke. Los Angeles Premiere

Sky Ferreira — Sky Ferreira has quickly established herself as one of today’s most exciting new faces in music, film and fashion. She first signed to Capitol Records at the early age of 15 where she eventually wrote & executive produced her critically acclaimed debut album, Night Time, My Time. As an actress, she has worked with many independent filmmakers including Eli Roth, Liza Johnson & Matthew Porterfield. Sky is currently recording her highly anticipated new album, Masochism.

Saturday, August 8, 3:30 p.m.

"Finders Keepers" / U.S.A. (Directors: Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel) — Recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it, therefore, to be his rightful property. Los Angeles Premiere

Followed by a conversation between directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, subject John Wood and special guests Aubrey Plaza and Thomas Middleditch.

Saturday, August 8, 8:00 p.m.

"Death Magic" (Band: Health, Director: Pablo Ferro) — The sun slowly sets; its beauty soundtracked by a serene yet melancholy sound. As the last rays of light slip behind the clouds, a violent transformation takes place. The music, ever-changing and explosive, creates the imagery… supergraphic and never seen before! The quick cuts in sync with the music, introduce the emotional range and complexity of Health’S new album Death Magic. Album Trailer. World Premiere

"Entertainment" / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington, Tim Heidecker) — In an attempt to revive his dwindling career and reunite with his estranged daughter, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the California desert. Cast: Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, Amy Seimetz, Lotte Verbeek. Los Angeles Premiere

Sharon Van Etten — Singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten writes from free-flowing emotional honesty and vulnerability, creating a bond with the listener that few contemporary musicians can match. Following her 2012 break-through Tramp, last year’s follow up Are We There and her new Ep I Don’t Want to Let You Down, Van Etten finds herself in full stride, writing, producing and performing.

Sunday, August 9, 3:30 p.m.

"Cronies" / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael J. Larnell) — Twenty-two-year-old Louis doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with Jack will last beyond today. Cast: George Sample III, Zurich Buckner, Brian Kowalski. Los Angeles Premiere

Followed by a conversation between director Michael J. Larnell and special guest Robert Townsend.

Sunday, August 9, 8:00 p.m.

"Fuckkkyouuu" (Director: Eddie Alcazar, Music: Flying Lotus) — With the ability to travel in time, a lonely girl finds love and comfort by connecting with her past self. Eventually faced with rejection she struggles with her identity and gender, and as time folds onto itself only one of them can remain. Cast: Jesse Sullivan, Charles Baker. Experimental Short / Music Video. World Premiere

"Turbo Kid" / Canada, New Zealand (Directors and screenwriters: Anouk Whissell, François Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell) — Set in a post apocalyptic year of 1997, this nostalgic tribute to ’80s action-adventure films follows an orphaned teenager who goes on an adventure to save his female-robot companion from the hands of the evil warlord who controls the only water supply. Cast: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Aaron Jeffery, Edwin Wright. Los Angeles Premiere

Neon Indian (DJ set) B2B Toro Y Moi (DJ set) — Neon Indian, the brainchild of Alan Palomo, is defined by a unique electro-mangled sound which has attracted fans and opening slots before acts like Massive Attack, The Flaming Lips, Phoenix and Chromeo. Toro Y Moi, the guise of Chaz Bundick, channels a wide swath of stylistic influences into his electronics-incorporating music and cites Big Star, Talking Heads and Todd Rundgren as some of his inspirations.

Sundance Next Fest, from August 7 to 9, will screen six films from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, with five to be paired with a special music performance or conversation between filmmakers and the luminaries who surround them. On August 2, Next Fest kicks off early with the premiere of "Cop Car," whose director John Watts just landed the new "Spider-Man" gig at Sony, at the storied Hollywood Forever Cemetery under the stars. Read More: Marvel Helps Sony Find a New Spider-Man, Director Next Fest will also co-host a special screening of Sean Baker's indie hit "Tangerine," shot entirely on an iPhone, at the glorious Ace Hotel. Little Boots will then host a special DJ set. The rest of the lineup includes Noah Baumbach's "Mistress America" with a performance by strung-out pop chanteuse Sky Ferreira, "Finders Keepers" followed by a Q&A with director Bryan Carberry, Rick Alverson's wonderfully weird "Entertainment...

Musicians Sky Ferriera, Sharon Van Etten and dee-jays Neon Indian and Toro Y Moi are now part of the expanding Sundance Film Festival family. Sundance’s Next Fest (August 7th to the 9th) kicks off early on August 2nd, with a showing of Jon Watt’s Cop Car — the filmmaker made the industry news headlines this week when he signed onto direct the new Spiderman. Now in its third year, the fest which intertwines filmmakers and musicians or surprise mentors of the arts is comprised of films from the ’15 edition of the festival with only a pair of Next titles being re-programmed in Rick Alverson’s Entertainment and Michael J. Larnell’s

Cronies. Our Nicholas Bell will be covering the event for the site. Here’s the full lineup:

Sunday, August 2, 8:30 p.m. – Sundance Next Fest Kick Off Event

Cinespia at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Cop Car / U.S.

Think Drive-in sans automobile. Think film festival that isn’t over with the blink of an eye. We’ve mentioned just how important a role it has in supporting works in progress from the participating Ifp’s Independent Filmmaker Lab folks, but it’s also a indie film love-in destination for some of the more innovative items found on the film fest circuit. Brooklynites and visiting cinephiles have several reasons to rejoice as the Rooftop Films folks have unveiled their 2015 Summer Series program and they’ll be serving up a must see plate of indie, docu and shorts.

Among the more tantalizing offerings, Sundance is well repped with Tangerine, The Wolfpack and Finders Keepers and SXSW menu offerings are found in Trey Shults’ Krisha award-winner and in Bob Byington’s 7 Chinese Brothers, which technically opens the 19th edition on May 30th. Here is the list of feature film offerings (dates...

One of the joys of True/False, it turns out, is that nearly all of the post-screening Q&As are hosted not by programmers or associate programmers or awkward theater staff who’ve been left with a pair of mics and little context, but fellow filmmakers. Several of the screenings I’ve attended thus far were moderated by Jesse Moss, whose own exquisite film The Overnighters was part of last year’s lineup. Yesterday he moderated , amongst others, the Q&A with Brett Morgen, director of the deeply moving, humanizing portrait of the Nirvana frontman in Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, as witnessed above in the photo Moss himself took from the stage of the Missouri Theater (you can see me peeking out from behind someone on the end of the right hand side of the fifth row).

“While you were watching the movie, we were drinking,” Morgen confessed as...

Deemed “unfit” for Tiff, Sebastian Silva’s Nasty Baby is the latest addition to The Orchard’s ever expanding Sundance family grove. IndieWIRE reports that The Next section gem joins Paul Davidson’s other Park City grabs (most ballsy-attentioning getting) items such as Patrick Brice’s The Overnight, Joe Swanberg’s Digging for Fire, docs Bryan Carberry & Clay Tweel’s Finders Keepers and Matthew Heineman’s Cartel Land (both are hitting True/False Film Fest next month). The distrib will release the film later this year, which means there’ll be further ops to catch the film on the fest circuit.

Gist: This centers around a Brooklyn couple, Freddy and his boyfriend Mo, who are trying to have a baby with the help of their best friend, Polly (Wiig). Freddy is an artist, and his latest work is all about babies – it’s clear he’s dying to be a father.

While top honors at this year’s Sundance Film Festival would go to The Wolfpack, it is Matthew Heineman’s Best Director Award and Special Jury Award for Cinematography winning docu that will likely leave the more impressionable stamp from the U.S. Documentary Comp section’s offerings. Having previously nabbed Patrick Brice’s The Overnight, Joe Swanberg’s Digging for Fire, Bryan Carberry & Clay Tweel’s Finders Keepers, Deadline reports that The Orchard have made Cartel Land their fourth (an impressive number) pick-up of the festival.

Gist: In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as “El Doctor,” shepherds a citizen uprising against the Knights Templar, the violent drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona’s Altar Valley—a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley—Tim “Nailer” Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon,...

Amy Schumer and Bill Hader in TrainwreckPhoto: Universal Pictures With Sundance just wrapping up and Berlin starting up in a few days, we are now immersed in the year-long barrage of film festivals. One such festival in South By Southwest. A few weeks back they announced the first seven films of their program, including the opening night film Brand: A Second Coming. Today, they have revealed the rest of the features to be shown in March (except for the midnight program), and some of it has me very excited. The bigger titles announced do not do much for me. Paul Feig's Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, and the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart starrer Get Hard leave a lot to be desired in terms of anticipation, as does a work in progress cut of Judd Apatow's latest film Trainwreck. I'm guessing an Apatow work in progress is probably around three and a half hours.

South by Southwest, the multi-faceted film, music and technology festival held annually in Austin, TX will feature such upcoming films as Paul Feig’s Spy, David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, Alex Gibney’s documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, and Ondi Timoner’s Russell Brand profile Brand: A Second Coming as headliners in this year’s film festival lineup.

SXSW runs from March 13 to 21 in Austin and is now in its 22nd year. Variety has details of the 145 films and 100 world premieres bowing at this year’s festival. Brand, as previously reported, will be the festival’s opening night film.

Other notable titles on the list are the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, a rough cut of Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, the directorial debut of 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland, Ex Machina, and a new comedy by Michael Showalter, Hello, My Name is Doris.

On the small screen,...

In a pair of late-breaking North American deals from Sundance, Alchemy has acquired political thriller Zipper while The Orchard has taken Finders Keepers.

Mora Stephens’ Zipper (pictured) stars Patrick Wilson, Lena Headey and Ray Winstone in the tale of a philandering attorney with political ambitions.

Cargo will represent international sales at the Efm later this week. Alchemy brokered the deal with CAA and Cinetic on behalf of the film-makers.

Stephens co-wrote with Joel Viertel and the producers are R Bryan Wright, Amy Mitchell-Smith, Mark Heyman, Joel Viertel and Marina Grasic.

Scott Franklin, Ari Handel, Darren Aronofsky, Danya Duffy, Jan Korbelin, Beau Chaney and Christian Oliver served as executive producers.

Richard Dreyfuss, John Cho, Dianna Agron, Christopher McDonald, Alexandra Breckenridge and Penelope Mitchell round out the key cast and Alchemy plans a theatrical and VOD release later this year.

The Orchard brokered the deal for Finders Keepers with Wme Global and plans a theatrical and digital release in 2015.

Clay...

An eccentric Southern tale that feels like a Harry Crews-scripted edition of Storage Wars, Finders Keepers tells the story of two men battling — in courts of law and public opinion — over the ownership of a severed foot. The foot belonged once to John Wood, amputated following a small plane crash that also killed Wood’s father. When Wood failed to make payments to his storage unit, it became the property of local North Carolina huckster Shannon Whisnant, who parlays his contested ownership of the foot into a roadside tourist attraction. Directed by Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, collaborating for […]...

An eccentric Southern tale that feels like a Harry Crews-scripted edition of Storage Wars, Finders Keepers tells the story of two men battling — in courts of law and public opinion — over the ownership of a severed foot. The foot belonged once to John Wood, amputated following a small plane crash that also killed Wood’s father. When Wood failed to make payments to his storage unit, it became the property of local North Carolina huckster Shannon Whisnant, who parlays his contested ownership of the foot into a roadside tourist attraction. Directed by Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, collaborating for […]...

Clay Tweel is a name that should be known to any documentary fan. After serving as an associate producer on Seth Gordon‘s The King of Kong, he went on to direct his first feature, the surprisingly sharp teen-magician film Make Believe, which is better than its conventional competition-doc surface indicates, and then he co-directed last year’s riveting exploration of the 3D printer market, Print the Legend, which in a way is also a competition doc only with very high, entrepreneurial stakes. For the most part, those two are dissimilar animals, though together they’d hinted that Tweel could maybe do no wrong with clean, non-complex subject matter of any sort. He has a talent for delivering reality in an entertaining yet not sensationalistic way. His latest, co-directed with Bryan Carberry (a multitasked intern on Make Believe) and produced by Gordon, is called Finders Keepers, and it’s his closest to the line of sensational exploitation...

Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel's Us Documentary Competition entry "Finders Keepers" has one of the most salacious loglines of any film at Sundance this year. "Recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction." It's a synopsis with a review blurb practically built in, because Sundance is often a haven for the quirky and absurd and, at least on the surface, "Finders Keepers" has the sort of plot that no screenwriter in his or her right mind would ever dream up. And were "Finders Keepers" just the story of a couple of North Carolina bumpkins bickering over a mummified leg that one of them lost in a tragic plane accident and the other purchased in a storage locker auction, it would be fun and sensationalistic and probably ultimately condescending,...

Just as the Sundance Film Festival was closing the book on its 2015 incarnation, the deals kept coming. The Orchard has acquired North American rights to the documentary Finders Keepers, co-directed by Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel. The film follows the story of recovering drug addict and amputee John Wood, who embarked on a legal battle to reclaim his leg, which was unwittingly purchased by Shannon Wisnant when it turned up in a grill he bought at a town auction. The film documents Wood's fight to get the leg back in a courtroom drama that aired on Judge Mathis.

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Academy Awards

On December 2, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that they’d whittled down the 134 eligible documentary submissions to a 15 film shortlist. The chosen films include:

Art and Craft – Purple Parrot Films

The Case Against 8 – Day in Court

Citizen Koch – Elsewhere Films

Citizenfour – Praxis Films

Finding Vivian Maier – Ravine Pictures

The Internet’s Own Boy – Luminant Media

Jodorowsky’s Dune – City Film

Keep on Keepin’ On – Absolute Clay Productions

The Kill Team – f/8 filmworks

Last Days in Vietnam – Moxie Firecracker Films

Life Itself – Kartemquin Films and Film Rites

The Overnighters – Mile End Films West

The Salt of the Earth – Decia Films

Tales of the Grim Sleeper – Lafayette Film

Virunga – Grain Media

EntreVues Belfort International Film Festival - France - November 22nd – November 30th

The 29th edition of the Entrevues Belfort International Film Festival jury members announced the 2014 Awards, giving Anna Roussillon’s Je suis le peuple,...

The holidays are winding down and that means we at Ioncinema.com are gearing up for our annual pilgrimage to Park City where an A-list of documentaries is now set to premiere. Earlier this month Tabitha Jackson and the Sundance doc programming team let the cats out of the bag, unsurprisingly announcing much anticipated Us Doc Competition titles such as the Ross Brothers’ Western, Louie Psihoyos’ Racing Extinction, Marc Silver’s 3 1/2 Minutes and Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s (T)Error, along with some surprises like Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel’s bizarro Kickstarted doc Finders Keepers (see trailer below). Having been produced by the fine folks behind The King of Kong and Undefeated, the film bears all the markings of its well regarded pedigree, yet appears to be of even odder ilk, following the story that unfolded when a severed human foot was discovered in a grill bought at a North Carolina auction.

Announcements for the lineup for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, taking place between January 22nd and February 1st, are starting to roll out. Watch this page for updates as more films and sections are revealed.

Premieres

Brooklyn (John Crowley, UK)

Digging for Fire (Joe Swanberg, USA)

Don Verdean (Jared Hess, USA)

End of the Tour (James Ponsoldt, USA)

Experimenter (Michael Almereyda, USA)

Grandma (Paul Weitz, USA)

I Am Michael (Justin Kelly, USA)

I'll See You In My Dreams (Brett Haley, USA)

Last Days in the Desert (Rodrigo Garcia, USA)

Lila & Eve (Charles Stone III, USA)

Mississipi Grind (Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden, USA)

Mistress America (Noah Baumbach, USA)

Seoul Searching (Benson Lee, USA/Korea)

Sleeping with Other People (Leslye Headland, USA)

Ten Thousand Saints (Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, USA)

True Story (Rupert Goold, USA)

A Walk in the Woods (Ken Kwapis, USA)

Zipper (Mora Stephens, USA)

Documentary Premieres

Beaver Trilogy Part IV (Brad Besser,...

John Nein was not always a Senior Programmer at the Sundance Film Festival — it’s only been eight years. When he began at Sundance in 2002 he was always watching movies of course. More than that, like John Cooper said, he just didn’t shut up when he was in the room; he was opinionated and spoke his opinions. He also always liked international cinema as he was born in Ireland and grew up in The Netherlands, Belgium and London where his father worked for international companies. When he was 12 he came to the U.S.

The programmers at Sundance do not have a strict formal assignment of areas they program; they see all the films of all the sections, but like his father, international was always of great interest. The same is true for myself, although out of the 118 feature films selected out of 4,105 feature length submissions, many of the U.S. films look great to me as well. For instance, I am so happy that Matt Sobel’s “ Take Me To The River ” which won the prize at Us in Progress this past November in Wroclaw, Poland at The American Film Festival is in the Next section.

John: This year on Day One, January 22, 2015, the Festival will feature one of each type of film shown at the Festival: one shorts program, a U.S. documentary, a U.S. dramatic, an international documentary and an international dramatic which will be the first ever Lithuanian film in Competition, a lesbian love story that is stylish and smartly directed by Alanté Kavaïté with two fantastic actors, Julija Steponaitytė and Aistė Diržiūtė. Actually " The Summer of Sangaile” is a coproduction of Lithuania, France, and Holland . I think Alanté lives in France.

There ares 29 countries represented and 45 first-time filmmakers.

Sydney: I know the Chileans love Sundance. Last year Alejandro Fernández Almendras said in our interview about “To Kill a Man” that Sundance is very important for Chile. I am also a longtime fan of Sebastian Silva since “The Maid”. Two years ago he had two films, “Crystal Fairy” and “Magic, Magic” in Sundance, so why is this Chilean film not in World Competition but in Next?

John: I’m glad Alejandro said that. Yes we like Chile too. They make many good films. But “Nasty Baby” by Sebastian Silva is a U.S. film, about people living in Brooklyn.

He lives in U.S. and has spent a lot of time here. He knows Brooklyn and yet his curiosity and his view of it is that of an outsider. He knows these people because he watches and listens so well. “

Sydney: “Bridesmaids” star and co-writer Kristen Wiig stars. A short promo of “Nasty Baby” was shown to buyers while it was in post-production in Cannes and Toronto. The Chilean production company of Juan de Dios Larrain and Pablo Larrain, Fabula, produced “No” as well as Sebastian’s later films. Papi Boye and Violaine Pichon’s production and international sales agent Versatile out of France along with the film’s international sales agent Funny Balloons — also based in France – helped finance this U.S. Production.

John: World Cinema is now 10 years old. Overall, the Competition sections have evolved over the years. We have a sense of emerging directors here. We have come of age.

All our films are of emerging filmmakers. Either first time directors or highly anticipated second or third features. Of all the festivals worldwide, Sundance has the strongest program of emerging talent. Watch these filmmakers over the next years. Like “Homesick” by Anna Sewitsky. Her previous film “Happy, Happy” showed at Sundance in 2011 and took the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema. “Happy, Happy” also became the Norwegian Official entry for the Academy Awards® .

Sydney: TrustNordisk sold “Happy, Happy” to more than 50 countries, so they must be poised to sell this one as well.

John: But not all the second and third films are from filmmakers whose first films were at Sundance, although Canada’s “ Chorus” director Francois Delisle showed “The Meteor” at Sundance two years ago.

And “Glassland”, was a very anticipated second film. The first film by director and screenwriter, Gerard Barrett, "Pilgrim Hill” won the Galway Film Festival and was very sought after and was signed with a U.S. agent then. “Sangaile" is also a second feature.

Look at the international films in the Premieres section and you will see some international filmmakers there, like “ Brooklyn” which is an immigrant story directed by John Crowley and written by Nick Hornby whose film “Wild” is now playing .

Sydney: I see from IMDbPro that Hanway has already sold Middle Eastern rights to Front Row Entertainment who must have pre-bought “Brooklyn” in Cannes or Toronto.

John: Of the 12 films in World Cinema the less expected films come from Turkey, “Ivy” by the talented director Tolga Karacelik. This is his second film. His first was “Toll Booth” which Global Initiative distributed in the U.S. The Dp on this was Nuri Bilge Ceylan (“Winter’s Sleep”)’s Dp on “Winter’s Sleep”, Gökhan Tiryaki. It is about guys stuck on a freighter whose company goes bankrupt. Power dynamics play out.

Sydney: Have there been Oscar nominated films in Sundance (Aside from “Whiplash” and “Boyhood”)?

John: Yes, “Man on Wire” was not last year but it was foreign. “Ida” was in Spotlight last year and maybe Sundance increased its visibility. Three others were in Sundance last year:

“To Kill a Man” is Chile’s submission, “Difret” which won the Audience Award is Ethiopia’s submission this year and “Liar’s Dice” from India was in World Competition last year. It is a very artful film. We knew it would do well with the critics, but it did extremely well with the audience too. A couple of films in Spotlight will probably be nominated next year. Watch for them.

Sydney : We haven’t even discussed the World documentaries.

John : Are there any that stand out for you?

Sydney: Yes, “Chuck Norris vs. Communism”, from U.K., Romania and Germany. Chuck Norris?

John: How interesting it is that something like Chuck Norris means something very different to others. It is a sign of cultural differences between us. Chuck Norris shows how independent films built a community of counter culture against an authoritarian government.

Sydney: I also notice that there are six docs from the U.K. Out of 12 films.

John: Yes we noticed and discussed that. U.K. really supports documentary filmmaking. Great work is coming out of the U.K. And many of the films are about different countries, so it doesn’t fit so simply into a U.K. pigeon hole.

Sydney : Yes I see “Chuck Norris” is about Romania, “Dreamcatcher” is about teenage prostitution, “How to Change the World” is about Greenpeace, “Listen to Me Marlon” is about a famous U.S. actor, “The Russian Woodpecker” is about a Ukrainian survivor of Chernobyl.

Thank you John for your insights. I think we have a lot to look at here. Thank you for taking this time to talk with me. See you at Sundance!

For a full list thus far of Sundance films, see below.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Advantageous / U.S.A. (Director: Jennifer Phang, Screenwriters: Jacqueline Kim, Jennifer Phang) — In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world. Cast: Jacqueline Kim, James Urbaniak, Freya Adams, Ken Jeong, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Kim.

The Bronze / U.S.A. (Director: Bryan Buckley, Screenwriters: Melissa Rauch, Winston Rauch) — In 2004, Hope Ann Greggory became an American hero after winning the bronze medal for the women's gymnastics team. Today, she's still living in her small hometown, washed-up and embittered. Stuck in the past, Hope must reassess her life when a promising young gymnast threatens her local celebrity status.Cast: Melissa Rauch, Gary Cole, Thomas Middleditch, Sebastian Stan, Haley Lu Richardson, Cecily Strong. Day One Film

The D Train / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel) — With his 20th reunion looming, Dan can’t shake his high school insecurities. In a misguided mission to prove he's changed, Dan rekindles a friendship with the popular guy from his class and is left scrambling to protect more than just his reputation when a wild night takes an unexpected turn. Cast: Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike White, Kyle Bornheimer.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Marielle Heller) — Minnie Goetze is a 15-year-old aspiring comic-book artist, coming of age in the haze of the 1970s in San Francisco. Insatiably curious about the world around her, Minnie is a pretty typical teenage girl. Oh, except that she's sleeping with her mother's boyfriend. Cast: Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, Christopher Meloni, Kristen Wiig.

Dope / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Rick Famuyiwa) — Malcolm is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the Sat. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself. Cast: Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Blake Anderson, Zoë Kravitz, A$AP Rocky.

I Smile Back / U.S.A. (Director: Adam Salky, Screenwriters: Amy Koppelman, Paige Dylan) — All is not right in suburbia. Laney Brooks, a wife and mother on the edge, has stopped taking her meds, substituting recreational drugs and the wrong men. With the destruction of her family looming, Laney makes a last, desperate attempt at redemption. Cast: Sarah Silverman, Josh Charles, Thomas Sadoski, Mia Barron, Terry Kinney, Chris Sarandon.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl / U.S.A. (Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Screenwriter: Jesse Andrews) — Greg is coasting through senior year of high school as anonymously as possible, avoiding social interactions like the plague while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl, his only friend. But both his anonymity and friendship threaten to unravel when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia. Cast: Thomas Mann, Rj Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon.

The Overnight / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Patrick Brice) — Alex, Emily, and their son, Rj, are new to Los Angeles. A chance meeting at the park introduces them to the mysterious Kurt, Charlotte, and Max. A family "playdate" becomes increasingly interesting as the night goes on. Cast: Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godrèche.

People, Places, Things / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: James C. Strouse) — Will Henry is a newly single graphic novelist balancing being a parent to his young twin daughters and teaching a classroom full of college students, all the while trying to navigate the rich complexities of new love and letting go of the woman who left him. Cast: Jemaine Clement, Regina Hall, Stephanie Allynne, Jessica Williams, Gia Gadsby, Aundrea Gadsby.

Results / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Bujalski) — Two mismatched personal trainers' lives are upended by the actions of a new, wealthy client. Cast: Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Michael Hall, Brooklyn Decker.

Songs My Brothers Taught Me / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Chloé Zhao) — This complex portrait of modern-day life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation explores the bond between a brother and his younger sister, who find themselves on separate paths to rediscovering the meaning of home. Cast: John Reddy, Jashaun St. John, Irene Bedard, Taysha Fuller, Travis Lone Hill, Eléonore Hendricks.

The Stanford Prison Experiment / U.S.A. (Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Screenwriter: Tim Talbott) — This film is based on the actual events that took place in 1971 when Stanford professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo created what became one of the most shocking and famous social experiments of all time. Cast: Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, Michael Angarano, Tye Sheridan, Johnny Simmons, Olivia Thirlby.

Stockholm, Pennsylvania / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Nikole Beckwith) — A young woman is returned home to her biological parents after living with her abductor for 17 years. Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Cynthia Nixon, Jason Isaacs, David Warshofsky.

Unexpected / U.S.A. (Director: Kris Swanberg, Screenwriters: Kris Swanberg, Megan Mercier) — When Samantha Abbott begins her final semester teaching science at a Chicago high school, she faces some unexpected news: she's pregnant. Soon after, Samantha learns that one of her favorite students, Jasmine, has landed in a similar situation. Unexpected follows the two women as they embark on an unlikely friendship. Cast: Cobie Smulders, Anders Holm, Gail Bean, Elizabeth McGovern.

The Witch / U.S.A., Canada (Director and screenwriter: Robert Eggers) — New England in the 1630s: William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness. When their newborn son vanishes and crops fail, the family turns on one another. Beyond their worst fears, a supernatural evil lurks in the nearby wood. Cast: Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Lucas Dawson, Ellie Grainger.

Z for Zachariah / U.S.A. (Director: Craig Zobel, Screenwriter: Nissar Modi) — In a post-apocalyptic world, a young woman who believes she is the last human on Earth meets a dying scientist searching for survivors. Their relationship becomes tenuous when another survivor appears. As the two men compete for the woman's affection, their primal urges begin to reveal their true nature. Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie, Chris Pine.

U.S. Documentary Competition

Sixteen world-premiere American documentaries that illuminate the ideas, people, and events that shape the present day.

3½ Minutes / U.S.A. (Director: Marc Silver) — On November 23, 2012, unarmed 17-year-old Jordan Russell Davis was shot at a Jacksonville gas station by Michael David Dunn. 3½ Minutes explores the aftermath of Jordan's tragic death, the latent and often unseen effects of racism, and the contradictions of the American criminal justice system.

Being Evel / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Junge) — An unprecedented, candid portrait of American icon Robert "Evel" Knievel and his legacy.

Best of Enemies / U.S.A. (Directors: Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon) — Best of Enemies is a behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex.

Call Me Lucky / U.S.A. (Director: Bobcat Goldthwait) — Barry Crimmins was a volatile but brilliant bar comic who became an honored peace activist and influential political satirist. Famous comedians and others build a picture of a man who underwent an incredible transformation.

Cartel Land / U.S.A., Mexico (Director: Matthew Heineman) — In this classic Western set in the 21st century, vigilantes on both sides of the border fight the vicious Mexican drug cartels. With unprecedented access, this character-driven film provokes deep questions about lawlessness, the breakdown of order, and whether citizens should fight violence with violence.

City of Gold / U.S.A. (Director: Laura Gabbert) — Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Gold casts his light upon a vibrant and growing cultural movement in which he plays the dual roles of high-low priest and culinary geographer of his beloved Los Angeles.

Finders Keepers / U.S.A. (Directors: Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel) — Recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it to therefore be his rightful property.

Hot Girls Wanted / U.S.A. (Directors: Jill Bauer, Ronna Gradus) — Hot Girls Wanted is a first-ever look at the realities inside the world of the amateur porn industry and the steady stream of 18- and 19-year-old girls entering into it.

How to Dance in Ohio / U.S.A. (Director: Alexandra Shiva) — In Columbus, Ohio, a group of teenagers and young adults on the autism spectrum prepare for an iconic American rite of passage — a spring formal. They spend 12 weeks practicing their social skills at a local nightclub in preparation for the dance.

Larry Kramer in Love and Anger / U.S.A. (Director: Jean Carlomusto) — Author, activist, and playwright Larry Kramer is one of the most important and controversial figures in contemporary gay America, a political firebrand who gave voice to the outrage and grief that inspired gay men and lesbians to fight for their lives. At 78, this complicated man still commands our attention.

Meru / U.S.A. (Directors: Jimmy Chin, E. Chai Vasarhelyi) — Three elite mountain climbers sacrifice everything but their friendship as they struggle through heartbreaking loss and nature’s harshest elements to attempt the never-before-completed Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru, the most coveted first ascent in the dangerous game of Himalayan big wall climbing.

Racing Extinction / U.S.A. (Director: Louie Psihoyos) — Academy Award-winner Louie Psihoyos (The Cove) assembles a unique team to show the world never-before-seen images that expose issues surrounding endangered species and mass extinction. Whether infiltrating notorious black markets or exploring humans' effect on the environment, Racing Extinction will change the way you see the world.

(T)Error / U.S.A. (Directors: Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe) — (T)Error is the first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds. Through the perspective of *******, a 63-year-old Black revolutionary turned FBI informant, viewers are given an unprecedented glimpse of the government’s counterterrorism tactics, and the murky justifications behind them.

Welcome to Leith / U.S.A. (Directors: Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker) — A white supremacist attempts to take over a small town in North Dakota.

Western / U.S.A., Mexico (Directors: Bill Ross, Turner Ross) — For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, Texas, from Piedras Negras, Mexico, was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life. Western portrays timeless American figures in the grip of unforgiving change.

The Wolfpack / U.S.A. (Director: Crystal Moselle) — Six bright teenage brothers have spent their entire lives locked away from society in a Manhattan housing project. All they know of the outside is gleaned from the movies they watch obsessively (and recreate meticulously). Yet as adolescence looms, they dream of escape, ever more urgently, into the beckoning world.

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Twelve films from emerging filmmaking talents around the world offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles.

Chlorine / Italy (Director: Lamberto Sanfelice, Screenwriters: Lamberto Sanfelice, Elisa Amoruso) — Jenny, 17, dreams of becoming a synchronized swimmer. Family events turn her life upside down and she is forced move to a remote area to look after her ill father and younger brother. It won't be long before Jenny starts pursuing her dreams again. Cast: Sara Serraiocco, Ivan Franek, Giorgio Colangeli, Anatol Sassi, Piera Degli Esposti, Andrea Vergoni. World Premiere

Chorus / Canada (Director and screenwriter: François Delisle) — A separated couple meet again after 10 years when the body of their missing son is found. Amid the guilt of losing a loved one, they hesitantly move toward affirmation of life, acceptance of death, and even the possibility of reconciliation. Cast: Sébastien Ricard, Fanny Mallette, Pierre Curzi, Genevieve Bujold. World Premiere

Glassland / Ireland (Director and screenwriter: Gerard Barrett) — In a desperate attempt to reunite his broken family, a young taxi driver becomes entangled in the criminal underworld. Cast: Jack Reynor, Toni Collette, Will Poulter, Michael Smiley. International Premiere

Homesick / Norway (Director: Anne Sewitsky, Screenwriters: Ragnhild Tronvoll, Anne Sewitsky) — When Charlotte, 27, meets her brother Henrik, 35, for the first time, two people who don't know what a normal family is begin an encounter without boundaries. How does sibling love manifest itself if you have never experienced it before?Cast: Ine Marie Wilmann, Simon J. Berger, Anneke von der Lippe, Silje Storstein, Oddgeir Thune, Kari Onstad. World Premiere. Isa: TrustNordisk

Ivy / Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Tolga Karaçelik) — Sarmasik is sailing to Egypt when the ship's owner goes bankrupt. The crew learns there is a lien on the ship, and key crew members must stay on board. Ivy is the story of these six men trapped on the ship for days. Cast: Nadir Sarıbacak, Özgür Emre Yıldırım, Hakan Karsak, Kadir Çermik, Osman Alkaş, Seyithan Özdemiroğlu. World Premiere

Partisan / Australia (Director: Ariel Kleiman, Screenwriters: Ariel Kleiman, Sarah Cyngler) — Alexander is like any other kid: playful, curious and naive. He is also a trained assassin. Raised in a hidden paradise, Alexander has grown up seeing the world filtered through his father, Gregori. As Alexander begins to think for himself, creeping fears take shape, and Gregori's idyllic world unravels. Cast: Vincent Cassel, Jeremy Chabriel, Florence Mezzara. World Premiere

Princess / Israel (Director and screenwriter: Tali Shalom Ezer) — While her mother is away from home, 12-year-old Adar’s role-playing games with her stepfather move into dangerous territory. Seeking an escape, Adar finds Alan, an ethereal boy that accompanies her on a dark journey between reality and fantasy. Cast: Keren Mor, Shira Haas, Ori Pfeffer, Adar Zohar Hanetz. International Premiere

The Second Mother / Brazil (Director and screenwriter: Anna Muylaert) — Having left her daughter, Jessica, to be raised by relatives in the north of Brazil, Val works as a loving nanny in São Paulo. When Jessica arrives for a visit 13 years later, she confronts her mother's slave-like attitude and everyone in the house is affected by her unexpected behavior. Cast: Regina Casé, Michel Joelsas, Camila Márdila, Karine Teles, Lourenço Mutarelli. World Premiere

Slow West / New Zealand (Director: John Maclean, Screenwriters: John Maclean, Michael Lesslie) — Set at the end of the nineteenth century, 16-year-old Jay Cavendish journeys across the American frontier in search of the woman he loves. He is joined by Silas, a mysterious traveler, and hotly pursued by an outlaw along the way. Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Rory McCann, Ben Mendelsohn, Brooke Williams, Caren Pistorius. World Premiere

Strangerland / Australia, Ireland (Director: Kim Farrant, Screenwriters: Fiona Seres, Michael Kinirons) — When Catherine and Matthew Parker's two teenage kids disappear into the remote Australian desert, the couple's relationship is pushed to the brink as they confront the mystery of their children's fate. Cast: Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, Hugo Weaving, Lisa Flanagan, Meyne Wyatt, Maddison Brown. World Premiere

The Summer of Sangaile / Lithuania, France, Holland (Director and screenwriter: Alanté Kavaïté) — Seventeen-year-old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. She meets a girl her age at the summer aeronautical show, nearby her parents’ lakeside villa. Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret and in the process finds in her teenage love, the only person that truly encourages her to fly. Cast: Julija Steponaitytė, Aistė Diržiūtė. World Premiere. Isa: Films Distribution.

Umrika / India (Director and screenwriter: Prashant Nair) — When a young village boy discovers that his brother, long believed to be in America, has actually gone missing, he begins to invent letters on his behalf to save their mother from heartbreak, all the while searching for him. Cast: Suraj Sharma, Tony Revolori, Smita Tambe, Adil Hussain, Rajesh Tailang, Prateik Babbar. World Premiere

World Cinema Documentary Competition

Twelve documentaries by some of the most courageous and extraordinary international filmmakers working today.

The Amina Profile / Canada (Director: Sophie Deraspe) — During the Arab revolution, a love story between two women — a Canadian and a Syrian American — turns into an international sociopolitical thriller spotlighting media excesses and the thin line between truth and falsehood on the Internet. World Premiere

Censored Voices / Israel, Germany (Director: Mor Loushy) — One week after the 1967 Six-Day War, renowned author Amos Oz and editor Avraham Shapira recorded intimate conversations with soldiers returning from the battlefield. The Israeli army censored the recordings, allowing only a fragment of the conversations to be published. Censored Voices reveals these recordings for the first time. World Premiere

The Chinese Mayor / China (Director: Hao Zhou) — Mayor Geng Yanbo is determined to transform the coal-mining center of Datong, in China’s Shanxi province, into a tourism haven showcasing clean energy. In order to achieve that, however, he has to relocate 500,000 residences to make way for the restoration of the ancient city. World Premiere

Chuck Norris vs Communism / United Kingdom, Romania, Germany (Director: Ilinca Calugareanu) — In 1980s Romania, thousands of Western films smashed through the Iron Curtain, opening a window to the free world for those who dared to look. A black market VHS racketeer and courageous female translator brought the magic of film to the masses and sowed the seeds of a revolution. World Premiere. Producers Rep: UTA

Dark Horse / United Kingdom (Director: Louise Osmond) — Dark Horse is the inspirational true story of a group of friends from a workingman's club who decide to take on the elite "sport of kings" and breed themselves a racehorse. World Premiere

Dreamcatcher / United Kingdom (Director: Kim Longinotto) — Dreamcatcher takes us into a hidden world seen through the eyes of one of its survivors, Brenda Myers-Powell. A former teenage prostitute, Brenda defied the odds to become a powerful advocate for change in her community. With warmth and humor, Brenda gives hope to those who have none. World Premiere

How to Change the World / United Kingdom, Canada (Director: Jerry Rothwell) — In 1971, a group of friends sails into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world’s imagination. Using rare, archival footage that brings their extraordinary world to life, How to Change the World is the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement. World Premiere. Day One Film

Listen to Me Marlon / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Stevan Riley, Co-writer: Peter Ettedgui) — With exclusive access to previously unheard audio archives, this is the definitive Marlon Brando cinema documentary. Charting his exceptional career and extraordinary life away from the stage and screen, the film fully explores the complexities of the man by telling the story uniquely in Marlon’s own voice. World Premiere

Pervert Park / Sweden, Denmark (Directors: Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors) — Pervert Park follows the everyday lives of sex offenders in a Florida trailer park as they struggle to reintegrate into society, and try to understand who they are and how to break the cycle of sex crimes being committed. International Premiere

The Russian Woodpecker / United Kingdom (Director: Chad Gracia) — A Ukrainian victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life by revealing it, amid growing clouds of revolution and war. World Premiere

Sembene! / U.S.A., Senegal (Directors: Samba Gadjigo, Jason Silverman) — In 1952, Ousmane Sembene, a Senegalese dockworker and fifth-grade dropout, began dreaming an impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa. This true story celebrates how the “father of African cinema,” against enormous odds, fought a monumental, 50-year-long battle to give Africans a voice. World Premiere

The Visit / Denmark, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Norway (Director: Michael Madsen) — “This film documents an event that has never taken place…” With unprecedented access to the United Nations' Office for Outer Space Affairs, leading space scientists and space agencies, The Visit explores humans' first encounter with alien intelligent life and thereby humanity itself. "Our scenario begins with the arrival. Your arrival." World Premiere

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Pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling populate this program. Digital technology paired with unfettered creativity promises that the films in this section will shape a “greater” next wave in American cinema. Presented by Adobe.

Bob and the Trees / U.S.A., France (Director: Diego Ongaro, Screenwriters: Diego Ongaro, Courtney Maum, Sasha Statman-Weil) — Bob, a 50-year-old logger in rural Massachusetts with a soft spot for golf and gangsta rap, is struggling to make ends meet in a changed economy. When his beloved cow is wounded and a job goes awry, Bob begins to heed the instincts of his ever-darkening self. Cast: Bob Tarasuk, Matt Gallagher, Polly MacIntyre, Winthrop Barrett, Nathaniel Gregory. World Premiere

Christmas, Again / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Charles Poekel) — A heartbroken Christmas tree salesman returns to New York, hoping to put the past year behind him. He spends the season living in a trailer and working the night shift, until a mysterious woman and some colorful customers rescue him from self-destruction. Cast: Kentucker Audley, Hannah Gross, Jason Shelton, Oona Roche. North American Premiere

Cronies / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Larnell) — Twenty-two-year-old Louis doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with Jack will last beyond today. Cast: George Sample III, Zurich Buckner, Brian Kowalski. World Premiere

Entertainment / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington, Tim Heidecker) — En route to meeting with his estranged daughter, in an attempt to revive his dwindling career, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the Mojave Desert. Cast: Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, Amy Seimetz, Lotte Verbeek. World Premiere

H. / U.S.A., Argentina (Directors and screenwriters: Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia) — Two women, each named Helen, find their lives spinning out of control after a meteor allegedly explodes over their city of Troy, New York. Cast: Robin Bartlett, Rebecca Dayan, Will Janowitz, Julian Gamble, Roger Robinson. World Premiere

James White / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Josh Mond) — A young New Yorker struggles to take control of his reckless, self-destructive behavior in the face of momentous family challenges. Cast: Chris Abbott, Cynthia Nixon, Scott Mescudi, Makenzie Leigh, David Call. World Premiere

Nasty Baby / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sebastian Silva) — A gay couple try to have a baby with the help of their best friend, Polly. The trio navigates the idea of creating life while confronted by unexpected harassment from a neighborhood man called The Bishop. As their clashes grow increasingly aggressive, odds are someone is getting hurt. Cast: Sebastian Silva, Tunde Adebimpe, Kristin Wiig, Reg E. Cathey, Mark Margolis, Denis O'Hare. World Premiere

The Strongest Man / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kenny Riches) — An anxiety-ridden Cuban man who fancies himself the strongest man in the world attempts to recover his most prized possession, a stolen bicycle. On his quest, he finds and loses much more. Cast: Robert Lorie, Paul Chamberlain, Ashly Burch, Patrick Fugit, Lisa Banes. World Premiere

" Take Me To The River " / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Matt Sobel) — A naive California teen plans to remain above the fray at his Nebraskan family reunion, but a strange encounter places him at the center of a long-buried family secret.Cast: Logan Miller, Robin Weigert, Josh Hamilton, Richard Schiff, Ursula Parker, Azura Skye. World Premiere. Producer rep: Cinetic Media

Tangerine / U.S.A. (Director: Sean Baker, Screenwriters: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch) — A working girl tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart. Cast: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O'Hagan, Alla Tumanyan, James Ransone. World Premiere

Spotlight

Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love.

6 Desires: Dh Lawrence and Sardinia / United Kingdom, Italy (Director: Mark Cousins) — In winter 1921, Dh Lawrence and his wife journeyed to Sardinia, and he chronicled their experiences in Sea and Sardinia. Now, Mark Cousins retraces Lawrence’s footsteps. The film is conceived partly as a letter to Lawrence — or “Bert” — a detail that’s typical of the film’s inviting sense of conversational intimacy.International Premiere

'71 / United Kingdom (Director: Yann Demange, Screenwriter: Gregory Burke) — ‘71 takes place over a single night in the life of a young British soldier accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot on the streets of Belfast in 1971. Unable to tell friend from foe, he must survive the night alone and find his way to safety. Cast: Jack O'Connell, Paul Anderson, Richard Dormer, Sean Harris, Barry Keoghan, Martin McCann.

99 Homes / U.S.A. (Director: Ramin Bahrani, Screenwriters: Ramin Bahrani, Amir Naderi, Bahareh Azimi) — A father struggles to get back the home that his family was evicted from by working for the greedy real-estate broker who's the source of his frustration. Cast: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern, Tim Guinee, Cullen Moss, J.D. Evermore.

Aloft / Spain, France, Canada (Director and screenwriter: Claudia Llosa) — Aloft tells the story of a struggling mother, Nana, and her evolution to becoming a renowned healer. When a young artist tracks down Nana's son 20 years after she abandoned him, she sets in motion an encounter between the two that will bring the meaning of their lives into question. Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy, Mélanie Laurent, William Shimell. North American Premiere

Eden / France (Director: Mia Hansen-løve, Screenwriters: Mia Hansen-løve, Sven Hansen-løve) — Mia Hansen-løve's electronic-dance-music epic follows the rise and fall of a DJ (based on her brother, Sven, a contemporary of Daft Punk) who gets into the rave scene in 1994 and spends the next 20 years navigating the French club scene. Cast: Félix de Givry, Pauline Etienne, Greta Gerwig, Brady Corbet, Arsinee Khanjian, Vincent Macaigne.

Girlhood / France (Director and screenwriter: Céline Sciamma) — Oppressed by her family, dead-end school prospects, and the boys law in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of free-spirited girls. She changes her name and dress, and quits school to be accepted in the gang, hoping to find a way to freedom. Cast: Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh, Mariétou Touré, Idrissa Diabaté, Simina Soumaré.

The Tribe / Ukraine (Director and screenwriter: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy) — Set at a Ukrainian boarding school for the deaf, the film’s narrative unfolds purely through sign language without the need for employing subtitles or voiceover, resulting in a unique, never-before-seen cinematic experience that engages the audience on a new level. Cast: Grigoriy Fesenko, Yana Novikova, Rosa Babiy, Alexander Dsiadevich.

White God / Hungary (Director: Kornél Mundruczó, Screenwriters: Kata Wéber, Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi) — When young Lili is forced to give up her beloved dog, Hagen, because its mixed-breed heritage is deemed “unfit” by The State, she and the dog begin a dangerous journey back toward each other. Cast: Zsófia Psotta, Sandor Zsótér, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Lili Monori, László Gálffi, Lili Horváth. U.S. Premiere

Wild Tales / Argentina, Spain (Director and screenwriter: Damián Szifrón) — Inequality, injustice, and the demands of the world cause stress and depression for many people. Some of them, however, explode. This is a movie about those people. Vulnerable in the face of an unpredictable reality, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line dividing civilization and barbarism. Cast: Ricardo Darín, Julieta Zyberberg, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Darío Grandinetti, Erica Rivas, Oscar Martínez.

Park City At Midnight

From horror flicks to comedies to works that defy any genre, these unruly films will keep you edge-seated and wide awake.

Cop Car / U.S.A. (Director: Jon Watts, Screenwriters: Christopher D. Ford, Jon Watts) — Two 10-year-old boys steal an abandoned cop car. Cast: Kevin Bacon, James Freedson-Jackson, Hays Wellford, Shea Whigham, Camryn Manheim. World Premiere

The Hallow / Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Corin Hardy, Screenwriters: Corin Hardy, Felipe Marino) — When a London-based conservationist is sent to Ireland to survey an area of ancient forest believed by the superstitious locals to be hallowed ground, he unwittingly disturbs a horde of terrifying beings and must fight to protect his family. Cast: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, Michael Smiley. World Premiere

Hellions / Canada (Director: Bruce McDonald, Screenwriter: Pascal Trottier) — Teenage Dora Vogel must survive a Halloween night from hell when malevolent trick-or-treaters come knocking at her door. Cast: Chloe Rose, Robert Patrick, Rossif Sutherland, Rachel Wilson, Peter DaCunha, Luke Bilyk. World Premiere

It Follows / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Robert Mitchell) — After a strange sexual encounter, a teenager finds herself haunted by nightmarish visions and the inescapable sense that something is after her. Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe.

Knock Knock / U.S.A. (Director: Eli Roth, Screenwriters: Eli Roth, Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo) — Two beautiful young girls walk into a married man's life and turn a wild fantasy into his worst nightmare. Cast: Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo, Ana De Armas, Aaron Burns, Ignacia Allamand, Colleen Camp. World Premiere

The Nightmare / U.S.A. (Director: Rodney Ascher) — A documentary-horror film exploring the phenomenon of sleep paralysis through the eyes of eight people. They (and a surprisingly large number of others) often find themselves trapped between the sleeping and awake realms, unable to move but aware of their surroundings while subject to disturbing sights and sounds. World Premiere

Reversal / U.S.A. (Director: J.M Cravioto, Screenwriters: Rock Shaink, Keith Kjornes) — A gritty psychological thriller about a young woman chained in a basement of a sexual predator and manages to escape. However, right when she has a chance for freedom, she unravels a hard truth and decides to turn the tables on her captor. Cast: Tina Ivlev, Richard Tyson, Bianca Malinowski. World Premiere

Turbo Kid / Canada, New Zealand (Directors: Anouk Whissell, Francois Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell, Screenwriters: Anouk Whissell, Francois Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell) — In a post-apocalyptic future, The Kid, an orphaned outcast, meets a mysterious girl. They become friends until Zeus, the sadistic leader of the Wasteland, kidnaps her. The Kid must face his fears, and journey to rid the Wasteland of evil and save the girl. Cast: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Aaron Jeffery, Edwin Wright. World Premiere

New Frontier Films

The Forbidden Room / Canada (Directors: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Screenwriters: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Robert Kotyk) — A submarine crew, a feared pack of forest bandits, a famous surgeon, and a battalion of child soldiers all get more than they bargained for as they wend their way toward progressive ideas on life and love. Cast: Geraldine Chaplin, Caroline Dhavernas, Roy Dupuis, Udo Kier, Charlotte Rampling, Karine Vanasse. World Premiere

Liveforever / Colombia, Mexico (Director: Carlos Moreno, Screenwriters: Alberto Ferreras, Alonso Torres, Carlos Moreno) — Driven by the music and dancing she finds along the way, a teenager leaves home willing to try anything her provocative and tolerant city has to offer, even if she burns out in the process. Inspired by the best-selling novel "Que viva la música" by Andres Caicedo. Cast: Paulina Davila, Alejandra Avila, Luis Arrieta, Juan Pablo Barragan, Nelson Camayo, Christian Tappan. World Premiere

The Royal Road / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jenni Olson) — This cinematic essay, a defense of remembering, offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, butch identity and Alfred Hitchcock'sVertigo — all against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes. Cast: Jenni Olson, Tony Kushner. World Premiere

Sam Klemke's Time Machine / Australia (Director: Matthew Bate) — Sam Klemke has filmed and narrated 50 years of his life, creating a strange and intimate portrait of what it means to be human. World Premiere

Station to Station / U.S.A. (Director: Doug Aitken) — Station to Station is composed of 60 individual one-minute films featuring different artists, musicians, places, and perspectives. This revolutionary feature-length film reveals a larger narrative about modern creativity. World Premiere

Things of the Aimless Wanderer / Rwanda, United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Kivu Ruhorahoza) — A white man meets a black girl, then she disappears. The white man tries to understand what happened to her while also trying to finish a travelogue. Things of the Aimless Wanderer is a film about the sensitive topic of relations between “locals” and Westerners, about paranoia, mistrust, and misunderstandings. Cast: Justin Mullikin, Grace Nikuze, Ramadhan Bizimana, Eliane Umuhire, Wesley Ruzibiza, Matt Ray Brown. World Premiere

New Frontier Installations

1979 Revolution Game

Artists: Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari

1979 Revolution Game presents an innovative approach to non-fiction storytelling. Designed to engage players with an immersive "on the ground" experience of the Iranian Revolution, the game integrates an emotionally impactful narrative with interactive moral choices and intuitive touchscreen gameplay while remaining true to history.

Assent

Artist: Oscar Raby

This immersive documentary uses virtual reality technology to put the user in the footsteps of Director Oscar Raby's father, who in 1973 was a 22-year-old army officer stationed in the north of Chile, on the day when the Caravan of Death came to his regiment.

Birdly

Artist: Max Rheiner

Flying is one of the oldest dreams of humankind. Birdly is an experiment to capture this dream, to simulate the experience of being a bird from a first-person perspective. This embodiment is conducted through a full-body virtual reality setup.

Dérive

Artist: François Quévillon

This interactive installation uses the audience’s body motions and positions to explore 3-D reconstructions of urban and natural spaces that are transformed according to live environmental data, including meteorological and astronomical phenomena.

Evolution of Verse

Artist: Chris Milk

Chris Milk, working with visual effects powerhouse Digital Domain and virtual reality production company Vrse.works, has created this photo-realistic CGI-rendered 3-D virtual reality film that takes the viewer on a journey from beginning to new beginning.

Kaiju Fury!

Artist: Ian Hunter

A dark energy experiment leads to a devastating attack by monstrous Kaiju, and you are standing at ground zero — all in 360-degree, stereoscopic 3-D cinematic virtual reality. You will "be there" as the beasts lay waste to a crumbling city and humanity makes its last stand. Cast: Susie Abromeit, Bill Lippincott, Daniel Martin, Brian Dodge, Vincient Chiantelli.

Paradise

Artist: Pleix

Paradise is certainly not paradisiacal if you look at it through our eyes. But neither is it totally devoid of humor, melancholy and absurdity. Perhaps it is first and foremost life as it is, and then a touch exaggerated in the digital overdrive.

Perspective; Chapter I: The Party

Artists: Rose Troche, Morris May

A young college woman attends a party with the intention of shedding her "shy girl" persona. At the same party, a young man is after a similar reinvention. They meet, drink, and misinterpreted signals turn into things that cannot be undone. Virtual reality simulators let viewers experience both characters. Cast: Tabitha Morella, Caleb Thomas, Zachary Zagoria, Anna Grace Barlow.

Possibilia

Artists: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

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The competition movie line-up has been revealed for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 22nd to February 1st 2015. Below the announcement video you'll find the U.S. and World Competition categories, as well as the Next section.

Out of the 12,166 submissions that the festival received this year only 185 were selected. It looks like there are going to be a lot of great films this year. I always enjoy going to Sundance because you never know what film gems are just waiting to be seen.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films, the Dramatic Competition offers Festivalgoers a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film.

Advantageous / U.S.A. (Director: Jennifer Phang, Screenwriters: Jacqueline Kim, Jennifer Phang) — In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy,...

Today the first wave of titles playing at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival were announced and while the majority of the titles are new to me the names in front of the camera most certainly are not as you'll see the likes of Michael Fassbender, Nicole Kidman, Saoirse Ronan, Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Jack Black, James Marsden, Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, Jemaine Clement, Sarah Silverman, Toni Collette, Vincent Cassell and many, many more among the titles featured. I have collected several photos from many of the films playing the festival, which will take place from January 22 - February 1 in Utah next year. Today's selection includes the U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition and Next program. I'll be adding a few more pictures soon enough, but for now, have a look and see what stands out.

Last year, Andrew Droz Palermo and Tracy Droz Tragos’ Rich Hill walked away with U.S. Grand Jury Prize while Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters was perhaps the section’s most buzzed about film. The sixteen titles offerings for 2015 include a first docu offering from Bobcat Goldthwait, Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare director Matthew Heineman, the return of Oscar winning director Morgan Neville (for Twenty Feet from Stardom) with Best of Enemies and the latest from Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love director E. Chai Vasarhelyi. Here are the sweet sixteen:

U.S. Documentary Competition

3½ Minutes / U.S.A. (Director: Marc Silver) — On November 23, 2012, unarmed 17-year-old Jordan Russell Davis was shot at a Jacksonville gas station by Michael David Dunn. 3½ Minutes explores the aftermath of Jordan’s tragic death, the latent and often unseen effects of racism, and the contradictions of the American criminal justice system.

Being Evel / U.

America’s hottest and most eagerly anticipated film festival is nearly upon us! Running January 22 to February 1, 2015 in Park City, Utah, the annual Sundance Film Festival has launched its initial lineup of in-competition films in the Dramatic, World Cinema, Documentary and Next slates. In all, 66 films were announced in this initial lineup, with the Premieres and Documentary Premieres arriving December 8 and the Short Film slate arriving December 9.

Among the lineup, as always, are some intriguing prospects. The Us Dramatic Competition features films starring stars such as Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie, Chris Pine (Z for Zachariah), Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn, Jeffrey Tambor (The D Train), Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, Christopher Meloni, Kristen Wiig (The Diary of a Teenage Girl), Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman (The Overnight), and Sarah Silverman (I Smile Back), among many others, and new films from recently hot directors including Alfonso-Gomez Rejon, Andrew Bujalski, and Craig Zobel.

New films from Nicole Kidman, Michael Fassbender, Louie Psihoyos and Sebastian Silva are featured in the festival’s line-up of Us and world competition strands and the Next programme.

Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper and head of programming Trevor Groth have unleashed their first volley of films in what will be a 118-strong line-up overall culled from 12,166 submissions. Of these, 103 features are world premieres. The festival will run January 22 to February 1.

Us Dramatic Competition includes Craig Zobel’s post-apocalytpic tale Z For Zachariah starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine; Jack Black in comedy The D Train; and Kristen Wiig in the 1970s San Francisco-set coming-of-age story The Diary Of A Teenage Girl.

Other likely highlights are Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s The Stanford Prison Experiment starring Billy Crudup and Ezra Miller; and Saoirse Ronan in Stockholm, Pennsylvania, about a young woman who returns to live with her parents after she is freed from her abductor of 17 years...

The Sundance Film Festival announced its four main 2015 narrative and competition slates on Wednesday (December 3) and the Us Documentary Competition field is packed with Oscar winners and returning Park City favorites. Leading the way, at least to some degree, is last year's Documentary Oscar winner Morgan Neville, whose "Twenty Feet From Stardom" was one of the openers at the 2013 Festival. Neville and Robert Gordon co-directed "Best of Enemies," which looks at the 1968 televised debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. "The Cove" Oscar winner Louie Psihoyos is back with "Racing Extinction," which focuses on endangered species and, yes, mass extinction from a variety of viewpoints. Also sporting an Oscar, for the short "Saving Face," is Daniel Junge, who chronicles the life of Evel Knievel in "Being Evel." Both "The Cove" and "Twenty Feet From Stardom" played at Sundance, which has been a fairly reliable feeder for Oscar winners in recent years,...

Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. "Finders Keepers" Tweetable Logline: Man finds leg in grill. Amputee wants leg back. Man sues amputee for leg. Things get ugly, go viral, are documented in "Finders Keepers." Elevator Pitch: "Finders Keepers" follows recovering addict and amputee John Wood in his stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction. Production Team:Director Bryan Carberry learned the finer points of documentary filmmaking with Ed Cunningham and the rest of the 'King of Kong' team on their film 'Make Believe,' Bryan's first project after graduating from USC's film program. The other points he picked...

Undefeated producer Ed Cunningham is turning his attention to the strange case of an amputated foot for his next documentary. The producer, whose credits also include Seth Gordon's The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, announced production on Finders Keepers and is launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund the final stages of physical production as well as post-production. Cunningham, who also announces college football for Espn, will produce through his World Record Headquarters shingle and has put together a team that includes director Bryan Carberry and indie producer Adam Gibbs. With more than 50 hours of footage already shot, Finders Keepers

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