FD’s 2018 Sundance Festival roundup

January’s Sundance Film Festival has finally announced its lineup: the 2018 catalog of both American and international film is packed full of a variety of stories from documentaries to dramas. Plenty of names are in the mix to win the competition categories from U.S. Documentary to World Cinema Dramatic. Veteran actor and activist Robert Redford, founder of the Sundance Institute, says he’s proud of the 2018 lineup and the “artfully told stories that provoke thought, drive empathy and allow the audience to connect, in deeply personal ways, to the universal human experience.”

Check out the list below to see the film categories to grace the Sundance Film Festival, running January 18 – 28, 2018 in Park City, Utah. We’ve picked three out of each category you won’t want to miss!

U.S. Drama

Blaze (directed by Ethan Hawke): A reimagining of the life and times of Blaze Foley, unsung songwriting legend of the Texas Outlaw Music movement; he gave up paradise for the sake of a song. Cast: Sam Rockwell, Alia Shawkat, Josh Hamilton, Charlie Sexton

Burden (directed by Andrew Heckler): After opening a KKK shop, Klansman Michael Burden falls in love with a single mom who forces him to confront his senseless hatred. After leaving the Klan and with nowhere to turn, Burden is taken in by an African-American reverend and learns tolerance through their combined love & faith. Cast: Garrett Hedlund, Forest Whitaker, Andrea Riseborough, Tom Wilkinson, Usher Raymond

Eighth Grade (directed by Bo Burnham): Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school – the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year – before beginning high school. Cast: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson

Also showing: American Animals, Blindspotting, I Think We’re Alone Now, The Kindergarten Teacher, Lizzie, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Monster, Monsters and Men, Nancy, Sorry to Bother You, The Tale, Tyrel, Wildlife.

U.S. Documentary

Dark Money (directed by Kimberly Reed): “Dark money” contributions, made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, flood modern American elections – but Montana is showing Washington, D.C. how to solve the problem of unlimited anonymous money in politics.

Kailash (directed by Derek Doneen): As a young man, Kailash Satyarthi promised himself that he would end child slavery in his lifetime. In the decades since, he has rescued more than eighty thousand children and built a global movement. This intimate, suspenseful film follows one man‘s journey to do what many believed was impossible.

The Sentence (directed by Rudy Valdez): Cindy Shank, mother of three, is serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for her tangential involvement in a Michigan drug ring years earlier. This intimate portrait of mandatory minimum drug sentencing’s devastating consequences, captured by Cindy’s brother, follows her and her family over the course of ten years.

Also showing: Bisbee ’17, Crime + Punishment, Hal, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, This Evening, The Devil We Know, Inventing Tomorrow, Kusama – Infinity, The last Race, Minding the Gap, On Her Shoulders, The Price of Everything, Seeing Allred, Three Identical Triplets

World Cinema Drama

Dead Pigs / China (directed by Cathy Yan): A bumbling pig farmer, feisty salon owner, sensitive busboy, expat architect, and disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly modernizing Shanghai. Based on true events. Cast: Vivian Wu, Haoyu Yang, Mason Lee, Meng Li, David Rysdahl

Yardie / United Kingdom (directed by Idris Elba): Jamaica, 1973. When a young boy witnesses his brother’s assassination, a powerful Don gives him a home. Ten years later he is sent on a mission to London. He reunites with his girlfriend and their daughter, but then the past catches up with them. Based on Victor Headley’s novel. Cast: Aml Ameen, Shantol Jackson, Fraser James, Sheldon Shepherd, Everaldo Cleary

Un Traductor / Canada, Cuba (directed by Rodrigo Barriuso and Sebastián Barriuso): A Russian Literature professor at the University of Havana is ordered to work as a translator for child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster when they are sent to Cuba for medical treatment. Based on a true story. Cast: Rodrigo Santoro, Maricel Álvarez, Yoandra Suárez

Also showing: And Breathe Normally, Butterflies, The Guilty, Holiday, Loveling, Pity, The Queen of Fear, Time Share

World Cinema Documentary

Anote’s Ark / Canada (directed by Matthieu Rytz): How does a nation survive being swallowed by the sea? Kiribati, on a low-lying Pacific atoll, might disappear within decades due to rising sea levels, population growth, and climate change. This exploration of how to migrate an entire nation with dignity interweaves personal stories of survival & resilience.

Genesis 2.0 / Switzerland (directed by Christian Frei and Maxim Arbugaev): On the remote New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, hunters search for tusks of extinct mammoths. When they discover a surprisingly well-preserved mammoth carcass, its resurrection will be the first manifestation of the next great technological revolution: genetics. It may well turn our world upside down.

Our New President / Russia, U.S.A. (directed by Maxim Pozdorovkin): The story of Donald Trump’s election told entirely through Russian propaganda. By turns horrifying and hilarious, the film is a satirical portrait of Russian media that reveals an empire of fake news and the tactics of modern-day information warfare.

Also showing: A Polar Year, The Cleaners, MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A, Of Fathers and Sons, The Oslo Diaries, Shirkers, This Is Home: A Refugee Story, Westwood, A Woman Captured