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The Sundance Film Festival, held annually in January, serves as a launching pad for some lesser-known, small-budget, yet high-quality independent films to draw the attention of distributors and streaming platforms. These films, further bolstered by their exposure at several other international film festivals throughout the year, may even gain additional recognition during the next Oscar awards season and generate a new wave of buzz. Those who are new to these films might be surprised, "Ah! Another gem from last year's Sundance!"
For instance, "20 Days in Mariupol" and "Eternal Memory," which premiered at Sundance in January 2023 secured nominations for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars (the 96th Academy Awards will take place on March 11, 2024). Another example is "CODA," which premiered at Sundance in January 2021, went on to win the Oscars’ Best Picture at the end of March 2022.
So, what are the independent films worth anticipating at this year's Sundance? In my previous review, I recommended seven films related to Latin America. Now, let me introduce you to 11 upcoming independent films from around the world, including Obama’s daughter’s directorial debut.
- Ibelin (Highly recommended!)
Sundance 2024: Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary, Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary/Gothenburg Film Festival 2024: Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary
Mats Steen on a wheelchair and his character Ibelin in "World of Warcraft" represent two facets of a Norwegian youth. In real life, Mats is an unfortunate young man who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy shortly after birth. Despite his family's best efforts to nurture him as he grows, they can't prevent Mats from gradually reducing to a skeletal frame in his wheelchair. He resists his unfair fate tenaciously until the prime of his youth at 25 when he becomes a handful of ashes buried in the soil. In the virtual world, Ibelin is a captivating leader with blonde hair and blue eyes, who is burly and kind. While completing numerous quests, Ibelin genuinely helps other characters in the Starlight Guild, and even has his first kiss and a platonic relationship along the way.
This is the main story of the documentary "Ibelin," a fusion of reality and fiction. It stands completely apart from the trend in recent years of breaking boundaries between narrative fiction and documentary filmmaking. Its director Benjamin Ree deliberately delineates the clear boundaries between reality and fiction in his masterpiece. Home videos and live interviews constitute the reality, while the animated game represents the fictional aspect. Of course, in the world of Ibelin and wheelchair-bound Mats who has control over him, the game world is also the absolute reality of life.
All the visual and textual materials about Mats are publicly accessible to the director. These materials are derived from a stream of home videos and mobile footage, Mats' publicly written blog entries, a short documentary about the importance of specialized equipment for disabled individuals in which he participated, and most importantly, the character logs within the "World of Warcraft" game. These character logs, when printed on A4 paper, would amount to a 42,000-page document. They document everything from the geographical coordinates of the in-game scenes, Mats' mission descriptions and his chat records with other players. The game itself doesn't have this storage function; it entirely relies on the player guild, which in this case, is the Starlight Guild where Ibelin belongs to that has responsible players who get along harmoniously.
Ree frequently meets with Ibelin's guild friends both online and offline. Given their roles as players and the emotional connection with their departed friend, the texts produced by these guild members have become reminiscent of a movie script. For example, there is a line that goes, "Ibelin picked up a smooth small stone, threw it into the sea, and watched it skip across the water."
Yes, I'm aware of videos on various streaming platforms that delve into the storylines of the game. Ree collaborated with two YouTubers who specialize in researching "World of Warcraft" and creating animations. They meticulously categorized the 42,000 pages of logs and collectively crafted all the in-game animated scenes. The earnest participation of the members of the Starlight Guild also ensured the emotional depth and factual accuracy of this collective memory of Mats.
On his death anniversary every year, family members gather in the cemetery to reminisce about Mats. By the pond in "World of Warcraft," the heroes of the Starlight Guild gather in remembrance of Ibelin, kind soul who once inspired them. At the film festivals, the audience, accustomed to the intertwining of reality and fiction, sits before the screens, perhaps also reflecting on some long-lost old friend from online forums or the gaming world.
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2.Kneecap
Sundance 2024: Audience Award: NEXT
Because of my multiple deep explorations of Ireland with a special focus on Celtic music, I have developed a mysterious sense of self-confidence about this island. I even wrote several articles to emphasize that Ireland has no hip-hop. Why? Because this green island is just too skilled at crafting melodies. When this film came out, I was proven wrong.
Kneecap is a rap group formed by two young troublemakers from Belfast and a high school teacher. They insist on expressing their strong sentiments about the country achieving independence using pure Irish language and a significant amount of profanities. Moving from underground performances to mainstream media, while they face criticism from the education sector for stigmatizing the already declining Irish language, they promote it through their engagement with non-mainstream culture.
One of the young men is the son of a missing former Republican Army martyr, with the heroic father surprisingly played by Michael Fassbender. Naturally, the young man holds a strong and defiant attitude as a Catholic nationalist. Even when he is arrested by the British security police for causing trouble, he insists he cannot speak English. During an intimate moment with his Protestant unionist girlfriend, as she exclaims "Northern Ireland," the young man responds, "North of Ireland."
That's how the film seamlessly intertwines a radical nationalistic stance on independence with sexuality and politics. This attitude is evident from the very beginning when the protagonist Liam is born. A Catholic priest secretly baptizes him in a dense forest, and a beam of divine light descends from the sky, which is later revealed to be a searchlight from a helicopter belonging to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the police force in Northern Ireland.
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Sundance 2024: World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Craft
In these past two years, Indian animal documentaries released at Sundance have been quite impressive. Previously, there was "All That Breathes," focusing on a Delhi-based charity organization rescuing fallen eagles. This time, there's a more artistic piece titled "Nocturnes," centered around the disputed region in the eastern Himalayas between India and China. It follows a group of researchers chasing, observing, measuring, and categorizing hawk moths. The specific area covered is the homeland of two ethnic minorities, the Buguns and Sherdukpens.
The hawk moth has survived on Earth for 80 million years, predating even the dinosaurs. They vary in size, with larger ones found at higher altitudes and smaller ones at lower altitudes. Animal scientists, along with a local team that is engaged at the eleventh hour, dedicate six months to two years, enduring all weather conditions, to monitor the shape of the moon. They set up brightly lit screens at different altitudes to attract hawk moths. These sleepless, bitterly cold nights are lyrically captured by the camera, composing a captivating "nocturne."
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Sundance 2024: Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic
Is Jesse Eisenberg trying to inherit Woody Allen's legacy of Jewish neuroticism culture? At a young age, he embarked on a journey to discover his own cultural roots and conveniently made a road trip film. Of course, Eisenberg's relatively modest and honest attitude is unlikely to turn this Polish travel story into a wild and crazy machine gun that crazily pelts the audience with intellectual jokes, as Allen would have done.
For the most part, the film, much like its title suggests, conveys real pain. This pain comes from Eisenberg's companion along his journey: his own younger brother. One minute he's at the graveyard of a World War II concentration camp, solemnly criticizing professional tour guides for having historical knowledge but lacking emotions; and the next minute, he boldly takes train without a ticket. His sensitive nature indeed adds emotional depth to the brothers' journey to find their roots but also ensures that they feel restless and uneasy throughout this customized trip. Small stones, which are often placed on Jewish tombstones as a form of the tradition known as matzevah, become the film's MacGuffin. The brothers take them from the doorstep of their grandmother's ancestral home and bring them back to their home in New York.
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Sundance 2024: World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
This year's Sundance seems to be the year of Norwegian films and they are all centered around family. While they collectively appear to be cold and independent individualistic entities, Norwegians also share universal mutually supportive family bonds.
"A New Kind of Wilderness" aims to explore the "new" by emphasizing the balance between family education focused on the wild natural environment and school education emphasizing interpersonal relationships. The documentary begins with beautifully toned natural scenes, captured by the photographer’s late mother. Unfortunately, she dies at a very young age and is survived by her British husband and four daughters. However, she leaves behind extensive audio and video journals, seamlessly integrated into this emotionally intense family documentary. She is both forever remembered and portrayed as if she is still present. The film, with a slow and gradual pace, beautifully depicts the ideals of homeschooling and the necessity of traditional schooling.
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Sundance 2024: U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
This out-and-out Ukrainian war documentary made it into the Sundance U.S. Documentary category because it is produced by an American company and credited with New York's renowned cinematographer Brendan Bellomo as first director. Meanwhile, the other credited director and two screenwriters are Ukrainian artists living in the war-torn city of Kharkiv. It is both their meticulously crafted and raw chaotic footage, edited by Bellomo, that shapes this emotionally charged, starkly passionate anti-aggression documentary. This film might follow the path of last year's Sundance feature from Ukraine, "20 Days in Mariupol," and make its way to the Oscars next year.
After watching "Porcelain War," one would appreciate the multifaceted skills required to be a screenwriter and director in a war zone. Back in his underground shelter, Slava Leontyev,one of the creators, works as a painter who colors finished porcelain pieces for his comrades. When he steps out of the shelter, he transforms into a Special Forces instructor, guiding young recruits on selecting sniper positions. On the front lines, he becomes a ruthless warrior controlling drones to attack Russian forces. Whether it's coloring, sniping, or drone targeting, they all require extraordinary patience. It is with this patience that these "artist soldiers" persist with a clear sense of love and hatred on the war-torn battlefield of Eastern Ukraine.
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7.Dìdi
Sundance 2024: Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic
Before the start of discussions held by the Asia Society Northern California at Sundance, director Sean Wang serendipitously received a notification from the Academy that his another family work, "Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó," was nominated for Best Documentary Short. Just like its English title, this feature drama "Dìdi," also insists on using Chinese pinyin with tone marks, possibly reflecting a rare sense of identity confidence among Bay Area Chinese Americans.
"Dìdi" can be considered to be another lively Asian-themed film. However, it reasonably reveals why Asian Americans, especially those in the Bay Area, are so loud. This can be attributed to strict native parenting, persistent excessive motherly love, and an extremely involutional environment of ethnic competition. Thus, growing up carefreely with his peers, this representative protagonist, who is a rebellious child in his adolescence, is so hesitant to admit his Asian identity, and is also hesitant in establishing close relationships with girls. With this in mind, the transition from insecurity about to confidence in ethnic identity might explain the choice of an English title for the film.
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Following the 2018 documentary "Japan's Secret Shame," the pioneer of the #MeToo movement in Japan and prominent journalist Shiori Ito presents another film about her own sexual assault case. She is acutely aware that as a journalist, making a documentary about her own case may violate journalistic ethics. However, the urgency to challenge the strong authority of her violator and the conservative Japanese judicial system drives her to share her story. Through the protagonist's moments of solitude amid her busy life, viewers can also perceive that beneath her beautiful smiles and playful demeanor in the face of adversity, there lies an indelible pain from the violation, enhancing the emotional connection with and sparking greater empathy in the audience.
This well-known case, which has attracted social attention for many years, concludes with Ito's difficult victory on December 18, 2019. The documentary consistently focuses on the numerous hearings leading up to it and the publication process of her memoir "Black Box." However, Ito has not found closure. Ironically, her assaulter, who is an influential figure in the journalism industry and a close associate of Shinzo Abe, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, did not face the expected social consequences. On July 8, 2022, Abe was assassinated, and the first news report about it was delivered by Yamaguchi. To Ito, this turn of events makes her documentary seem like a helpless tragicomedy.
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As a traveler, I have a list of destinations I least want to visit, and at the top of it is Bhutan. The reason is that I strongly dislike the mandatory minimum daily spending imposed by this mountainous country on tourists, as well as the king's unique self-coined "Gross National Happiness Index." Since there is no competition from other countries on the rankings, Bhutan naturally becomes the "happiest country in the world."
However, Bhutanese films of the past two years, whether it's the narrative film "Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom" or the latest documentary "Agent of Happiness," have made me greatly admire and appreciate filmmakers' reflections on the "Gross National Happiness." Of course, the main director of this documentary is Hungarian, and with the curiosity of a foreigner, he objectively describes how this "Gross National Happiness Index" is measured, adopting a perspective that is neither harsh nor overly praising.
This was done by over 100 survey agents who tirelessly traveled to urban and rural areas across the entire country, compiling, sorting out and interpreting data from over 100 questions that were divided into five categories. Aside from numerical questions like "How many cows do you have at home?" or "How many motorcycles do you own?", it remains challenging to achieve scientific precision with self-quantifying questions like "Do you get angry easily?" or "Do you feel lonely?" where respondents need to provide a self-rating on a scale of 1 to 10. The finely woven film materials allows viewers to see the satisfaction of mountain dwellers with their lives, the confusion about life and death among urban residents, and the Nepali immigrants who are not eligible for inclusion in the statistics due to the lack of Bhutanese citizenship. Somehow, one of the survey agents happens to be a Nepali immigrant and naturally, and he is curious to know how he will score on the scale of happiness.
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It's a coming-of-age drama movie about a smart girl who is wheelchair bound and suffers from aphasia. In order to interact with more peers, she insists on attending a regular school and participating in the National Whiz Kids Competition. Clearly, it's a very inspirational and heartwarming story.
The film provides the non-verbal girl with a smooth voiceover. At first, one might think that some new powerful technology allows her to speak, but later, the voiceover explains, "I can use anyone's voice to speak; right now, it's Jennifer Aniston's voice." This makes it clear that it's just the girl's inner voice, and a somewhat unrealistic dream. Of course, in reality, Aniston did lend her voice and helped with the voiceover. Accompanying the clever girl's daydream is the long-awaited hit song "Dreams" by the Cranberries.
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11.The Heart
Of course, "The Heart" may not qualify as the best documentary of the beginning of 2024, but it's worth mentioning because it marks the directorial debut of Malia Ann Obama, the 25-year-old eldest daughter of Barack Obama. Given her father's former presidency and his post-retirement enthusiasm for producing socially relevant documentaries, viewers can't help but wonder if she comes with valuable resources. However, this is a simple short film that doesn't require special effects or celebrities, and it doesn't need her to leverage her identity as a descendant of a politician to gather resources.
The story itself is decent, revolving around loss, parting, attachment, and big ambitions. The title indeed serves as the MacGuffin for this short film, so I won't spoil it here.serves as the MacGuffin for this short film, so I won't spoil it here.
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