Covering Sundance virtually was exciting because of the stacked slate they made available to online viewers. From female-directed standouts like Josephine to the lyrical mythology of If I Go Will They Miss Me, there was something for every kind of festivalgoer. And with the festival moving next year to Boulder, Colorado, it marks the final year in its hometown and the first since the tragic loss of its founder, Robert Redford. Now we just have to wait for the next weeks, months, and even years to see which of these films gets bought up and put into theaters for all to enjoy.
While the online category of films is fewer than the in-person version of Sundance, the quality of the films is just as impressive. Filled with debut features and first-time performances that remind us of the power of independent cinema. Here are 5 standouts from the festival that exemplify the importance of filmmaking through their impactful stories and ambitious choices.
5. Night Nurse – Georgia Bernstein
If there were one single word to describe Georgia Bernstein’s debut feature Night Nurse, it would be “unpredictable.” A young nurse, Eleni (Cemre Paksoy), gets a new job at a retirement home, where her assigned patient, Douglas (Bruce McKenzie), requires more care than she expected. When the two begin to show less professional interest in one another, Douglas brings her into his world of scam calls and drug parties, where they both get lost in the situation, only for jealousy to arise when Douglas turns his attention to other young women in his nurse entourage. Bernstein draws on many of the genre’s best, using voyeurism to make us question whether we should be witnessing what she shows us. It’s an exciting film whose psychosexual nature keeps each moment more engaging than the last.
4. Silenced – Selina Miles
There’s something profoundly inspiring about Silenced, even as it’s terrifying. And with a title like that, Selina Miles’ documentary about a post-#MeToo world is suffocating. Featuring stories from women like Brittany Higgins and Amber Heard, who recount the trials that made them the internet’s punching bag. With international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson tying the stories together through a shared struggle against defamation laws. Miles uses well-researched statistics from women across the globe, showing how low false report numbers are and how the legal system was made to question victims more than anything. It was emotional to watch as women of all ages talk about their abuse and how the progression and regression of women’s rights come in waves—an unfortunate historical repetition that needs to end.
3. Lady – Olive Nwosu
There’s a lot to love from Lady, from its use of music from Sade to its ability to transport us into the streets of Lagos. Olive Nwosu directs and writes this peek into the life of Lady (Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah), a female cab driver working to save money to start fresh in Sierra Leone, specifically Freetown. As she deals with the patriarchal constraints of her home and the rising costs of gas, she has to face the past that she does her best to ignore. An old friend, Pinky (Amanda Oruh), reenters Lady’s life after years of being estranged; now a sex worker, Pinky needs her friend now more than ever. Nwosu’s debut shows the importance of community through female friendship and how deep the bond goes when things get tough. She focuses on how Lagos is in turmoil, with citizens calling for a revolution, reflected in the spirit of Lady, who finds that women must advocate for one another if they want to see change.
2. Josephine – Beth de Araújo
Children don’t get to be children long enough, especially little girls. Beth de Araújo’s crime drama Josephine focuses on the life of 8-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves), who witnesses a brutal sexual assault. A depiction of sexual assault that is extremely hard to watch, making it an unshakable thought throughout the remainder of the film. A perspective that films rarely explore is how these crimes impact the children who are exposed to them, when they don’t have the language to even describe what they’ve seen or the knowledge of the acts. Araújo isn’t trying to answer all the questions the film poses, but it offers a realistic view of how families navigate uncharted waters. Reeves’ performance is captivating, with her genuine confusion and sense of morality making it easy to see your childhood self in her.
1. If I Go Will They Miss Me – Walter Thompson-Hernández
One of the most poetic films from Sundance this year is If I Go Will They Miss Me, based on the short film of the same name by writer and director Walter Thompson-Hernández. Revolving around Lil Ant (Bodhi Dell), an imaginative young boy with a love for Greek mythology, and his fractured relationship with his father, Big Ant (J. Alphonse Nicholson). Both are connected by their names and the visions they see, but they cannot communicate with one another. Thompson-Hernández swept me off my feet with the fantastical aspects of Lil Ant getting lost in his art and in his view of his father. A deeply honest portrayal of how hard it is to heal lost time and how a father wants to shield his son from a world that wants to keep him grounded.
