Sundance 2024

Do you remember when tech start-ups would find you a place to stay for the night, or locate a taxi just a minute away, or deliver you a burger? Just to make the business of living that little bit easier. Well, now start-ups are dealing in death, enabling grieving folk to communicate with AI-generated versions of their deceased loved ones, via web chat or VR. “[People] don't believe in God anymore…but at the same time, they can't deal with the fact that death is finite,” co-director Moritz Riesewieck tells BDE. “And these tech companies have a big chance to fill this gap.”

The party atmosphere and spirited pageantry of the 2022 campaign for the Filipino presidency play in stark counterpoint to the vitriol, bitterness and oppression displayed by departing President Rodrigo Duterte as he bluntly and offensively dismisses the chances of his former Vice President Leni Robredo as she bids for the post.

An insightful, generous and supportive reframing of transmasculine sexuality, Jules Rosskam’s Sundance documentary Desire Lines astutely blends first-person interviews (with transmen who are attracted to men) alongside a fictional storyline that poses nuanced questions and helps to deliver a compassionate examination both of the history of transsexuality and private desires.

The documentary about life in drought-ridden Kenya is told from three very different perspectives; the indigenous Kenyan farmers, the conservationists struggling to protect the land and the white ranchers who have been there for generations. “From the beginning, when we conceived the idea, we were really talking about how to achieve a result where an audience would be able to shift perspective,” Greek-born co-director Matziaraki tells BDE of the film. She is joined by producer Toni Kamau.

A powerful, provocative and ultimately moving film from journalist-turned-filmmaker Shiori Ito, Black Box Diaries charts her brave and determined investigation into her own sexual assault as she attempts to prosecute her high-profile and very-well connected offender, despite a lack of formal interest from the police.

His parents used to regret how much time their terminally ill son Mats spent gaming. But after his death, they found that Mats, as ‘Private Detective Ibelin’, had been a much-loved member of a large and deeply loyal online community. Sure to be a crowd-pleaser, Ibelin is an accessible and moving account of the freedom, love and consolation that can be found in a digital world – especially for those of us in need of support in an offline world of sorrow and grief.

Twenty docs are selected for Sundance’s World Cinema and US Documentary Competitions, while non-fiction features prominently in Next, Premieres and Episodic. “Curation is Sundance’s secret sauce and we’re energized by the range of films, stories and artists we’ve watched and selected from around the world,” comments Eugene Hernandez, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming.