The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival takes place every January in Park City, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah; and at the Sundance Resort, and acts as a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival consists of competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, Midnight, Sundance Kids, From the Collection, Premieres, and Documentary Premieres. Many films premiering at Sundance have gone on to be nominated and win Oscars such as Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role.
John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega, known professionally as John Boyega, is a British actor and producer. He first rose to prominence in Britain for his role as a teenage gang leader in the comedy horror film Attack the Block (2011), and had his international breakthrough playing Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). He received the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2016, and the Trophée Chopard at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Whiplash is a 2014 American psychological drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle, starring Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, and Melissa Benoist. It focuses on an ambitious music student and aspiring jazz drummer (Teller), who is pushed to his limit by his abusive instructor (Simmons) at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory in New York City.
Dear White People is a 2014 American satirical dark comedy-drama film written, directed and co-produced by Justin Simien. The film focuses on escalating racial tensions at a fictitious, prestigious Ivy League college from the perspective of several black students. It stars Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson, Kyle Gallner, Teyonah Parris, Brandon P. Bell, Brittany Curran, Marque Richardson and Dennis Haysbert.
The Battered Bastards of Baseball is a 2014 documentary film about the Portland Mavericks, a defunct minor league baseball team in Portland, Oregon. They played five seasons in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, from 1973 through 1977. Owned by actor Bing Russell, the Mavericks were an independent team, without the affiliation of a parent team in the major leagues. The title is from a line in Jim Bouton's 1970 book Ball Four: "Us battered bastards of baseball are the biggest customers of the U.S. Post Office, forwarding-address department."
God Help the Girl is a 2014 British musical romantic drama film written and directed by Stuart Murdoch of the band Belle and Sebastian. It follows three friends who form a band in Glasgow. The film was preceded by the album God Help the Girl in 2009.
The Case Against 8 is an American documentary film, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. Directed and produced by Ben Cotner and Ryan White, the film documents the legal battle to overturn California's Proposition 8, focusing in particular on behind-the-scenes footage of David Boies and Theodore Olson during the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case.
Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory is a 2014 American documentary film directed and produced by Michael Rossato-Bennett. The film premiered in the competition category of U.S. Documentary Competition program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. It won the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary at the festival. The documentary explores diseases that impair neurological function, such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia, and proposes a treatment option that is claimed to improve a patient's quality of life. It discusses that the elderly community are on the decline in social status and that western society neglects old age to idealize youth. It includes a series of interviews with individuals of neurology, geriatrics, and music. The documentary tells the story of patients and their experience with music therapy and creating personalized playlists for elderly patients with dementia and Alzheimer's disease based on their music preferences.
E-Team is a 2014 American documentary film co-directed and produced by Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman. The film premiered in the competition category of U.S. Documentary Competition program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. Rachel Beth Anderson and Ross Kauffman won the Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary at the festival, as well as the Candescent Award.
The Overnighters is a 2014 American documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jesse Moss. It premiered on January 18, 2014, as part of the U.S. Documentary Competition section of the Sundance Film Festival, and it won the festival's Special Jury Prize. The film also won a prize at the Miami International Film Festival, at which it was screened on March 13, 2014.
Rich Hill is a 2014 American documentary film co-produced and directed by Andrew Droz Palermo and Tracy Droz Tragos about Rich Hill, Missouri. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for a documentary.
Watchers of the Sky is a 2014 American documentary film directed by Edet Belzberg. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014 in the U.S. Documentary Competition. It won the two awards at the festival. It went on to win the Jonathan Daniels Award at the Monadnock International Film Festival and the Ostrovsky Award for Best Documentary Film at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
20,000 Days on Earth is a 2014 British musical documentary drama film co-written and directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. Nick Cave also co-wrote the script with Forsyth and Pollard. The film premiered in-competition in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on 20 January 2014. It won two Awards at the festival.
Sepideh – Reaching for the Stars is a 2013 Persian-language Danish documentary film written and directed by Berit Madsen. The film premiered in-competition at the 2013 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam on November 24, 2013.
Nick Offerman: American Ham is a 2014 American stand-up comedy film, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. It is written by the American actor, writer and carpenter, Nick Offerman. The film had its world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2014. The special was removed from Netflix in December 2017.
Justin Simien is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. His first feature film, Dear White People, won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. It was later adapted into the Netflix series of the same name (2017–2021). Simien has also been named to Variety's 2013 "10 Directors to Watch" list.
Damien Sayre Chazelle is a French-American filmmaker. He directed the psychological drama Whiplash (2014), the musical romantic drama La La Land (2016), the biographical drama First Man (2018), and the period film Babylon (2022).
My Happy Family is a 2017 Georgian drama film directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß. It was screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and had its world premiere in the Forum section at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. Ekvtimishvili and Groß were awarded Best Director at the Sofia International Film Festival, where their film was entered in the International Competition section. The movie was added to Netflix in December 2017 internationally and resided there until December 2022.
Jonathan Schwartz is an American film producer and former entertainment lawyer, known for producing independent features. Schwartz's credits include Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), Douchebag (2010), Like Crazy (2011), Smashed (2012), Nobody Walks (2012), Breathe In (2013), Imperial Dreams (2014), and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2017). Through his production label, Super Crispy Entertainment, most of Schwartz's works have screened, won awards and secured distribution at the Sundance Film Festival. Throughout his career, he has collaborated extensively with producer Andrea Sperling, director Drake Doremus and actor-producer Logan Lerman.
