Comedy also has its place on this year’s Sundance slate, including the feature-length Hot Water and three selections in the Episodic Fiction Pilot Showcase. A boilerplate road comedy but anchored with some unique features to captivate the audience’s attention, Hot Water is a Sundance feature-length narrative debut for director and screenwriter Ramzi Bashour. Utahns also … Read more
The septet of juried offerings in the second track of the Sundance Short Film program reiterate the strength of this year’s slate in this cinematic format, particularly in the quality of acting across the board. Seniors, directed by Adam Curley, shows promise as a comedic feature-length film. It is the morning of the day when … Read more
With different subjects and geographical locations, three Sundance Film Festival documentaries are masterfully crafted contemplations of our greatest contemporary moral and ethical responsibilities, when considered together. ONE IN A MILLION One In A Million (directed by Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes) is an exceptional documentary. The documentary chronicles the experiences of Isra’a from her preteen … Read more
After making her Sundance debut in the Midnight Short Program with the short narrative Prime, also her first film as a director, Meagan Coyle says she still eats meat and she still feels bad about it. Prime is a deliciously sardonic comedy about how ethical consumption is defined, the privilege of those who champion its … Read more
The ‘Not AI’ motif comes through robustly in the urgent tone of the punk aesthetic approach that propels Valerie Veatch’s documentary Ghost in the Machine. Previously, her Sundance-premiering films Me @ The Zoo (HBO) and Love Child 사이버 사랑 (HBO) examined how new technologies reshape our conceptions and perceptions identity, power and culture. In her … Read more
Superbly demonstrated in an octet of animated films as part of this year’s 2026 Sundance short film program, a viewer should never underestimate the emotional power that can be expressed through animation. The films comprised a first-class cinematic tasting menu.The opener, 1981, rightly tickled the audience. This naughty and very witty death-of-innocence story, inspired by … Read more
After casting producers interviewed hundreds of Girl Scouts for the making of the Cookie Queens documentary and whittled down the list, director Alysa Nahmias interviewed dozens as potential subjects for what has turned out to be an enchanting upbeat story for Sundance audiences. “I asked the kids if they could sell cookies anywhere in the … Read more
Whatever collaborating powers that can make it happen, The Lake documentary, which has received a full-bodied positive response at its Sundance premiere, should be made available for viewing by every single Utahn, including the 104 members of the Utah Legislature’s two chambers. Directed by Abby Ellis, the film approaches the Great Salt Lake’s existential crisis, … Read more
When Karen Andrews died on the last day of 2022, her 80-word obituary was a pithy plainspoken account of the award-winning Utah painter’s life. The bulk of it read: She had a magnetic personality & was honest & kind to a fault! She loved God, painting, making jewelry, candles, pottery, the artist Mark Rothko, the … Read more
The time for the 10th edition of Emerge, Repertory Dance Theatre’s annual showcase of original choreography by company dancers and staff, coincided beautifully with the company’s season-long celebration of its 60th anniversary. When RDT was founded with a Rockefeller Foundation grant in 1966, it included a commitment that the company’s artists would develop choreography. Emerge … Read more