2021 Sundance Film Festival: Full Program Announced

PARK CITY, UTAH - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the showcase of new independent work selected across the Feature Film, Short Film, Indie Series and New Frontier categories for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The Festival will take place digitally via a feature-rich, Sundance-built online platform and in person on Satellite Screens across the country (public health permitting) from January 28-February 3, 2021. Additionally, Festival attendees can gather in virtual waiting rooms, participate in live Q&As, and congregate in new, inspired online environments to interact in a range of ways both new and familiar. The Institute shared details of how the Festival will meet audiences on the online platform and Satellite Screens earlier this month.

The Sundance Film Festival is the flagship public program of Sundance Institute. Throughout the year the majority of the Institutes resources support independent artists around the world as they make and develop new work through access to Labs, direct grants, fellowships, residencies and other strategic and tactical interventions.

Togetherness has been an animating principle here at the Sundance Institute as we've worked to reimagine the Festival for 2021, because there is no Sundance without our community, said Sundance Institute Founder and President Robert Redford. Under Tabithas leadership, weve forged a new collective vision: one that honors the spirit and tradition of these invigorating yearly gatherings in Utah, while making room for imaginative new possibilities in a new online format.

Of course, the pandemic year demanded adaptation, said Keri Putnam, Sundance Institute's Executive Director. On a deeper level, we also recognize the urgency of supporting independent storytellers at a time of great upheaval in the film and media fields. We're proud this edition of the Festival is fiercely independent, and will reach people everywhere, celebrating both the theatrical experience at our Satellite Screens and streaming on our platform.

This Festival is a singular response to a singular year - both in design and curation - and we are excited about the new dimensions of possibility it will reveal. But at its core is something that speaks to our most enduring values, said Tabitha Jackson, Director of the Sundance Film Festival. For thousands of years humans have gathered to tell stories and make meaning. In this pandemic year, we gather to celebrate a constellation of artists with unique perspectives that express this current moment and who together are saying, We exist. This is who we are. And this is what we see.'

The work in this year's program is groundbreaking, imaginative, and formally daring, said Kim Yutani, the Festival's Director of Programming. With over half the program made by first-time directors, a sense of discovery remains true to us at Sundance. This years Festival presents irrefutable evidence that despite the challenges, the independent voice is as strong as ever.

Day One films debuting on the platform to open the Festival will be Censor, CODA, Flee, One for the Road, In The Same Breath, and Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised).

Son of Monarchs, screening in the NEXT section, has been named the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize.

Announced today: the full 2021 slate of works, including 72 feature-length films, representing 29 countries and 38 first-time feature filmmakers. 14 films and projects announced today were supported by Sundance Institute in development, through direct granting or residency Labs. 66 of the Festival's feature films, or 92% of the lineup announced today, will be world premieres. These films were selected from 14,092 submissions including 3,500 feature-length films. Of the feature film submissions, 1,377 were from the U.S. and 2,132 were international. Director demographics are available in an editor's note below.

The projects confirmed for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival are:

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Presenting the world premieres of 10 narrative feature films, the Dramatic Competition offers Festivalgoers a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film. Films that have premiered in this category in recent years include Minari, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The Farewell, Honey Boy, Clemency, Eighth Grade, and Sorry to Bother You.

CODA / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Si n Heder, Producers: Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger) - As a CODA - Child of Deaf Adults - Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family's fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents. Cast: Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin. World Premiere. DAY ONE

I Was a Simple Man / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Christopher Makoto Yogi, Producers: Sarah S. Kim, Christopher Makoto Yogi, Matthew Petock, Yamato Cibulka) - As a family in Hawaii faces the imminent death of their eldest, the ghosts of the past haunt the countryside. Cast: Steve Iwamoto, Constance Wu, Kanoa Goo, Chanel Akiko Hirai, Tim Chiou, Boonyanudh Jiyarom. World Premiere

Jockey / U.S.A. (Director: Clint Bentley, Screenwriters: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Nancy Schafer) - An aging jockey is determined to win one last championship, but his dream is complicated when a young rookie shows up claiming to be his son. Cast: Clifton Collins Jr., Molly Parker, Moises Arias. World Premiere

John and the Hole / U.S.A. (Director: Pascual Sisto, Screenwriter: Nicol s Giacobone, Producers: Elika Portnoy, Alex Orlovsky, Mike Bowes) - A nontraditional coming-of-age story, set in the unsettling reality of John,

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