Sundance London 2018 line-up: First look at film festival programme

#Time’sUp and #MeToo have dominated the discourse in Hollywood this year, but the upcoming Sundance Film Festival: London is asking #WhatNext?

Taking place from May 31 to June 3 at Picturehouse Central, the festival has its focus firmly on celebrating the work of inspiring women in film.

Inequality in the industry and events in Hollywood over the past 12 months are touched on throughout, including in Amy Adrion’s perceptive documentary Half the Picture and Jennifer Fox’s traumatic drama the Tale.

The festival, though, is determinedly looking forward rather than back as Clare Binns, Picturehouse Cinemas’ director of programming and acquisition, is at pains to point out. “It’s not just women complaining, it’s actually talking about their experiences and asking how we can make things better,” she says.

So, what’s next? Well, with seven of the 11 announced films directed by women, the festival believes a wealth of robust female-led narratives bodes well for the industry at large. “This is a connected, relevant, global art that provides a fresh alternative to the noise dominating the cultural mainstream, and an inspiration for its future,” says festival director John Cooper.

Thankfully, as well as a celebrating a worthy cause, the films being screened at Sundance just so happened to be the “very strongest films” at the parent event last January. “We weren’t thinking: ‘We have to find films by women’,” says Binns. “These are just great films.”

Leave No Trace

Winter’s Bone helped launch Jennifer Lawrence’s career back in 2010 and now director Debra Granik is back with this long awaited follow-up. The film follows the heart-rending relationship between a father and daughter living miles from civilisation in the wilderness of Oregon’s Forest Park. “It is so nuanced and so subtle and a beautiful piece of filmmaking,” says Picturehouse’s Clare Binns.

Hereditary

Toni Collette leads the cast of this unnerving horror from Ari Aster, as a woman who loses her mother and whose family then suffer a series of increasingly dark and disturbing fates. Collette will also be in attendance for the film’s screening. “You’re going to be scared out of your wits,” says Binns. “It’ll have you on the edge of your seat and probably falling off it.”

An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn

Director Jim Hosking returns to Sundance with a follow up to The Greasy Strangler, one of the strangest and most original comedies to show at the festival in recent times. He’s armed with an impressive cast boasting some of the quirkiest names in comedy. Parks and Recreation’s Aubrey Plaza, Flight of the Conchord’s Jemaine Clement, British alt-comedy hero Matt Berry and the Office’s Craig Robertson all star in the oddball indie flick An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn, which recounts a series of typically surreal events taking place out of a deadbeat Californian motel.

Half the Picture

Amy Adrion’s documentary focuses on the systemic struggles female filmmakers face trying to get their voices heard. It also looks to the future and asks #WhatNext? for the industry, chiming harmoniously with the festival’s ethos. “We’ve always celebrated talented women and their stories, and I think that the current climate has really driven an appetite for that,” says Cooper.

Never Goin’ Back

“Women behaving badly” is the sell on slacker comedy Never Goin’ Back, based on the real-life experiences of director Augustine Frizzell. The movie follows high school drop-outs Jessie and Angela (Maia Mitchell and Camila Morrone), whose beach holiday descends into chaos following a burglary. Slacker comedies have been dominated by the guys for decades and it’s time, finally, for women to get their goof on.

Skate Kitchen

It might sound less like a touching drama and more like a hipster pop-up restaurant in Shoreditch — the kind of place that would serve negronis in kneepads — but Skate Kitchen from filmmaker Crystal Moselle takes an endearing look at friendship and skateboarder culture in New York. “It celebrates brilliant women who are independent, feisty and have a whole lifestyle that Moselle captures perfectly,” says Picturehouse’s Clare Binns.

The Tale

The festival’s opening film is the Tale, starring the irrepressible Laura Dern as a women forced to re-examine the memory of an abusive relationship. The movie also stars Elizabeth Debicki and Ellen Burstyn and is based on Jennifer Fox’s own story. “Fox is an incredibly articulate director,” says Clare Binns. “On its own merits it’s a great film and an important subject. I’ve never seen Laura Dern as good.”

Yardie

It’s only appropriate that a film festival in the capital should have a London-centric tale to tell and Idris Elba’s directorial debut is just the ticket. “Yardie fuses a heartfelt coming-of-age story with a vivid gangster story, against the atmospheric background of Kingston, Jamaica in the 1970s and London in the 1980s,” says Cooper. “Both eras were times of radical flux in each city, and the moods and questions that Idris evokes feel shockingly current.”

Aml Ameen, Shantol Jackson and Stephen Graham star in the movie, which makes its UK debut at the festival and is already being lauded as one of the most visceral and compelling British films of the year.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Chloē Grace Moretz stars as a young woman forced into a gay conversion centre in this adaptation of Emily M Danforth’s novel. The movie shines a light on reprehensible attitudes towards homosexuality in the early 1990s, but director Desiree Akhavan manages to bring warmth into the bleakest of situations. “It’s a serious subject but approached with humour,” says Binns. “I think people are going to be very excited to see what Akhavan does after [2014 breakthrough] Appropriate Behaviour, too.”

Eighth Grade

He might be better known for his experimental musical comedy than his movies but stand-up Bo Burnham has started strongly with his debut Eighth Grade. The film presents an exploration of adolescent angst and suburban sterility, experienced through the gaze of 13-year-old Kayla (Elsie Fisher). The movie eschews cliché as the young protagonist attempts to end her disastrous eighth grade year on a high.

Generation Wealth

Take a cold, hard look at the American dream in Lauren Greenfield’s follow-up to the award-winning documentary the Queen of Versailles. Generation Wealth presents a revealing snapshot of gauche wealth, throwaway celebrity culture and an image-obsessed society in the US, and the impact these have around the world. Starting out as a historical study, Clare Binns says Generation Wealth “turns into a very personal film about the director and her relationship with fame.” Post a selfie in the movie theatre at your peril.

Shorts

The 2018 UK Short Film Programme includes Fry-Up, about a North London family’s last day together, and Tomisin Adepeju’s The Right Choice, which focuses on a couple attempting to create the perfect designer baby. The Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour meanwhile is led by the Short Film Grand Jury Prize-winning Matria from Álvaro Gago.

Events

This year’s highlights include the Big Culture Shift, which will see Half the Picture director Amy Adrion lead a panel discussion on inclusivity and representation in Hollywood. Film-makers Jennifer Fox, Debra Granik and Desiree Akhavan will also be offering insight into their careers and their experiences in the industry as part of the Triple Threat event. Watch out for a surprise screening, too — details to be released.

Sundance Film Festival: London is at Picturehouse Central, W1 (picturehouses.com/sundance) from May 31-June 3. Festival passes are available now and individual tickets go on sale April 30