SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 19: Matthew Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens, Peter Ettedgui, Ian Bonhote, and William Reeve attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Super/Man premiere at Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center on January 19, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Marc Sagliocco/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Stephanie Ornelas
When Matthew Reeve, William Reeve, and Alexandra Reeve Givens saw Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story for the very first time, it didn't matter that they lived in three different cities on two different continents. They just had to watch it together.
That was a feat in and of itself, says William. Just the fact that we got to watch it together was special.
And afterward, the one thing he felt was relief.
Because these two had done it, says William of co-directors Ian Bonh te and Peter Ettedgui. We had given them our trust, and we didn't know what we were going to get back. It's a tough story to tell, and it's possible, I hate to break it to you, that you wouldn't have done a good job, he laughs with the directors. But you did a great job. And that was the relief.
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival kicked off Opening Night in Salt Lake City at Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center with an invite-only world premiere of Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. The emotional documentary chronicles the life of actor Christopher Reeve after a horseback riding accident leaves him permanently paralyzed from the neck down.
Using intimate footage of Reeve and his family, Bonh te and Ettedgui paint a picture of a real-life hero known for his iconic role as Superman. To people who knew him and spent time with him, he was so much more than that. He was a champion for the disabled community, and Bonh te and Ettedgui made it their mission to make that a focal point of the film, highlighting not just Reeve's legacy but that of his children, who work to carry out his mission through The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.
For Alexandra, it was essential to her that the film be authentic and still express the joys and the struggles of her family's story.
There's a way you can tell this story and have it just be the sweetness, to show the valleys as well as the hilltop. It matters to show that it was hard sometimes but that there's overwhelming joy at the same time, she says.
Our dad was passionate about his craft and he loved this community - the beautiful family of people who are committed to the film and to theater. We're so excited, and it is just the highest honor for this film to be shown at Sundance, of all places. The fact that it is here really means the most to us. In addition to being passionate about film, he loved a beautiful city in the mountains in the snow. We are so grateful to the people of Salt Lake City and of Park City and all of you hosting us tonight.
It is fitting that this film's Sundance and Utah film journey begins in a theater because that is what shaped our dad in such a meaningful way, adds William. And it's the place where he truly felt at home. We always said to each other that if we ever participated in a project like this, it would need to be at the right time and with the right people. This year is the 20-year anniversary of our dad's passing, so it felt like the right time. It's a Passion Pictures, Misfits Entertainment, and Words and Pictures phenomenon, so we know we have the right people. And it's at Sundance, and it's in Utah, so it's definitely the right place.
Before the film began, Matthew, Alexandra, and William took the stage to address the audience. As the packed theater cheered for them, Matthew, the youngest of the three siblings, approached the mic with a smile and said: This is what Dad must have felt like when he walked out on stage.
To see more of the magic from the 2024 Festival, click here.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 19: Matthew Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens, Peter Ettedgui, Ian Bonhote, and William Reeve attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Super/Man premiere at Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center on January 19, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Marc Sagliocco/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
