Sundance Film Festival 2025 has announced its program: 87 films and a new work by Ukrainian director Chernov
Kyiv • UNN
The Sundance Film Festival has presented a list of 87 feature films to be screened in January 2025. Among them are a new film by Ukrainian director Mstislav Chernov and documentaries on acute social and political topics.
The Sundance Film Festival announced on Wednesday 87 feature films that will premiere at the 2025 festival. The event starts on January 23 in Park City, Utah, UNN reports with reference to AP.
Details
The Sundance Film Festival falls in January, along with the inauguration of Donald Trump. At the 2017 festival, after Donald Trump's first inauguration, Main Street was full of celebrities. This year, no such plans have been announced.
"Sundance as a festival has survived as a gathering place through inaugurations every four years, through different cultural and political moments," said festival director Eugene Hernandez. "We have a program that engages with the world and at the same time offers an escape.
The documentaries will deal with politicized topics such as history, transgender rights, "stand your ground" laws, imprisonment, the right to die, and book bans. According to Kim Yutani, the festival's program director, the festival does not prepare programs by topic and has no mandates on topics.
"I think what you see in the program are stories told with real authenticity. There is an innovative quality to many of these films," said Jutani. "And the idea of freedom of expression is equally important to us.
Current issues in documentaries
Following his Oscar-winning film 20 Days in Mariupol, Ukrainian director Mstislav Chernov presents 2000 Meters to Andriivka, a film about a Ukrainian platoon on a mission to liberate a village from Russian occupation. This is a joint project of AP and PBS Frontline.
The film Free Leonard Peltier tells the story of an indigenous activist who spent most of his life in prison after being convicted of the 1975 murders of two FBI agents in South Dakota. In July, he was denied parole.
In addition, Hernandez covered Barry Levinson and Robert May's Bucks County, USA, a series about political divisions in small-town America and the friendship between two teenage girls despite their opposing views.
There are also several documentaries about famous musicians and actors, including SLY LIVES! by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, "Marley Metlin: No Longer Alone" by Shoshanna Stern, ‘It Never Ends, Jeff Buckley’ by Amy Berg, and ‘Pee Wee as Himself’ by Matt Wolf. Egans Bretton also looks at the roots of house music in "Move Ya Body: The Birth of House".
More than 40% of the films selected from nearly 16,000 submissions are directorial debuts, such as Love, Brooklyn by Rachel Abigail Holder with Andre Holland.
Utah also honored Rashad Firth's Ricky, where Stefan James will play an ex-convict trying to rebuild his life. Another well-known debut is Sorry, Baby, directed by Eva Victor and produced by Barry Jenkins.
"There are scenes in this movie that I've never seen before," said Yutani. "It was a real eye-opener.
Recall
The American Film Academy has included three Ukrainian films in the list of contenders for the Oscars 2025. Among them are La Palisade, The Porcelain War, and Peaceful People.
