Los Angeles (AFP)
The Sundance Film Festival unveiled its program on Tuesday, the first of its kind to present films made during the pandemic and evoking this unprecedented health crisis, some of which could end up at the Oscars.
To adapt to the restrictions linked to the coronavirus, Sundance will be held this year online (from January 28 to February 3) but also through screenings organized in drive-ins and small independent cinemas, from California to New York by the way. by the mountains of Utah where it is usually hosted.
Among the most anticipated premieres will be "Life in a Day 2020", a sequel to the 2011 documentary by Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald to paint "the global portrait of life on our planet".
The film uses thousands of video footage shot by members of the public during a single day in July 2020, at the heart of the pandemic.
The filmmakers received some 300,000 contributions from participants in the project and "these windows into their lives are truly extraordinary," Kim Yutani, director of the festival's programming, said the project is "a huge undertaking" to AFP.
"This is the tenth anniversary of the project, and it is a particularly significant year", she underlines.
Sundance will also present "In the Earth", a horror film about a virus shot over two weeks last August by Ben Wheatley as well as the documentary "In the Same Breath" which claims to explore the Chinese government's attempts to "transform covering up the pandemic in Wuhan as a triumph for the Communist Party ".
Racism and discrimination suffered by black people will also be at the heart of the festival in this year marked by giant demonstrations against police violence.
"Summer of Soul", the first film directed by the black American musician Questlove (The Roots), deals with the little known festival "Black Woodstock" which was organized, with success, in Harlem in 1969.
For her debut behind the camera, British actress Rebecca Hall will present her film "Passing", inspired by a 1929 short story about two African-American women in New York who are grappling with questions about their race and gender.
Among the 72 feature films showing this year are also "Prisoners of the Ghostland", a film combining action and supernatural with Nicolas Cage, and "The Sparks Brothers", a biopic by Edgar Wright devoted to the cult musical duo formed by the Sparks for over fifty years.
The Oscars calendar having been turned upside down by the pandemic, like all Hollywood activities, the films presented this year as part of Sundance may be eligible for the 93rd edition organized at the end of April.
Sundance will finally show "Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir", a film directed by James Redford, son of legendary actor and festival co-founder Robert Redford.
Filmmaker and environmental activist, James Redford died of cancer at the age of 58 last October.
© 2020 AFP