Sundance is upon us. The festival, which kicked off yesterday in Park City, Utah, is known for springboarding both sleeper hits and cultural phenomenons like Get Out, Whiplash, and Past Lives. The 2024 lineup—featuring both in-person and virtual screenings for a second time—promises to deliver with lead performances from Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding and Love Me, Pedro Pascal's Freaky Tales, and Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain.
Amidst the Hollywood star power, this year’s festival takes a particular interest in artists, their lives, and their enduring impact. From intimate portraits of living legends to studies on those making art in the midst of war, art world mainstays like Titus Kaphar and hit documentarians like Chris Smith are bridging the gap between the realms of visual art, music, and filmmaking. As Sundance begins its screenings, we’ve rounded up our top picks from the festival circuit.
Titus Kaphar holds many titles: painter, sculptor, MacArthur Fellow. Over the past few years, he's added filmmaker to the list, directing New Yorker short I Hold Your Love and Oscar short-listed documentary Shut Up and Paint. At Sundance, the decorated multi-hyphenate will premiere his feature-length debut, Exhibiting Forgiveness. Interlaced with themes of generational trauma, family ties, and addiction, the film—starring André Holland and Andra Day— follows a Black artist when he receives an unexpected visit from his estranged father.
Brian Eno has always broken the creative mold: this documentary about his illustrious career is no different. Filmmaker Gary Hustwit and creative technologist Brendan Dawes collaborated to create a movie-going experience as distinct as Eno himself; bespoke software manipulates the footage, combining both unseen cuts and straight-from-the-vault music into countless variations. Each screening experience is completely different. A visionary approach for a visionary musician, Eno is sure to delight and defy expectations.
Artist and cultural icon Frida Kahlo continues to captivate seven decades after her death. For the first time, she’s telling her own story. Directed by Carla Gutierrez, editor of Sundance-premiered films RBG and When Two Worlds Collide, this documentary pulls from Kahlo’s essays, interviews, letters, and even diary entries to create an intimate portrait of a much beloved, ever-fascinating creative mind.
Formed by a bunch of Kent State art students mixing kitsch and art rock, Devo was often considered a “joke” band by the press. Filmmaker Chris Smith—known for Jim & Andy, Sr., and Fyre—captures everything from their tragic impetus after the Kent State Massacre to their tongue-in-cheek humor. The film gives due respect to the group's success and more daring “de-evolution” philosophies. Mixing band member interviews with performance footage, DEVO embraces the frenetic, free-wheeling passion that made the group a standout.
“We’re ordinary people in an extraordinary situation,” says Slava Leontyev, co-director and one of the stars of Porcelain War. The film, also directed by Brendan Bellomo (Beasts of the Southern Wild), follows Ukrainian artists who chose to stay in their home country during Russia’s invasion. While crafting their “porcelain beasts,” the artists capture both the fragility and moments of relief of creating amid the horrors of war.
Although he began his career singing backup for Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, and David Bowie, singer-songwriter and producer Luther Vandross was destined to become a solo sensation. Luther: Never Too Much takes its title from the artist’s number one R&B hit and delves into the man behind the “Velvet Voice.” Dawn Porter’s directorial effort shines with archival performance and studio footage.
