Our Sundance Film Festival preview series continues. Yesterday we talked about the US Dramatic, World Dramatic, and Next section. Today we'll go on a quick tour of the documentaries playing in the US Docu and World Docu competitions, as well as the Docu Premieres section. That's a whopping 42 films making at least their US debut in Park City, but we can only touch on a few.
Joshua: Teenager Vs. Superpower
Finders Keeper executive producer and #chicagogirl director Joe Piscatella takes us inside Hong Kong's democracy movement through the story of its impressive young figurehead.
World Docu
Casting JonBenet
It's been JonBenet mania this past year with mini-series and exposés galore. This latest docu from Ukraine is Not a Brother director Kitty Green looks to take a very different view of the crime via casting sessions in the murdered girl's native Boulder, Colorado. If that technique sounds familiar, it's because Green used the same tactic in her acclaimed short Casting Oksana Baiul.
US Docu
Long Strange Trip
The Tillman Story/Happy Valley director Amir Bar-lev gives thanks with this 235-minute documentary about The Grateful Dead.
Docu Premieres
Plastic China
Not only does China create a huge percentage of the world's plastic, they also import it. This docu from Jiu-liang Wang (Beijing Besieged by Waste) tells that story via a little girl living in a community devoted to doing the dirty work.
World Docu
City of Ghosts
This Raqqa, Syria-set doc is the latest from Matthew Heineman of Cartel Land fame.
US Docu
Chasing Coral
Jeff Orlowski follows-up his acclaimed Chasing Ice with this look at the loss of the ocean's coral. Pretty self-explanatory, I'd say.
US Docu
An Inconvenient Sequel
This time Davis Guggenheim takes a producer role while Bonni Cohen (Rape of Europa) and Jon Shenk (The Island President) follow-up their Audrie & Daisy with a look at whatever happened to that awesome powerpoint.
Docu Premieres
Tokyo Idols
Kyoko Miyake's (Brakeless) latest docu tells both sides of the phenomenon of Japan's young girl idol profession and the Otaku men who worship them. Check out our trailer debut here.
World Docu
The Workers Cup
The world was shocked when Qatar was granted the 2022 World Cup. Adam Sobel's feature debut tells the story of the squalid conditions that migrant workers building the stadiums have been forced to live and work under since.
World Docu
Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Trials of a Free Press
The very public Hulk Hogan vs Gawker trial plays the backbone for Brian Knappenberger's examination of how billionaire activists like Peter Thiel are putting the first amendment under threat. Knappenberger has made such notable issue docs in the past as We Are Legion and The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz.
US Docu
Icarus
Bryan Fogel's (Jewtopia) documentary directorial debut takes us deep into the Russian Olympic doping scandal.
US Docu
Give Me Future: Major Lazer in Cuba
Music video director Austin Peters examines the youth movement under way in Cuba via a giant concert by dance music superstars Major Lazer.
Docu Premieres