“Exhibiting Forgiveness” is an impressive first feature, boldly conceived and emotionally fraught, with masterful performances and powerful works of art woven into the narrative. It’s a film that confronts the multigenerational impact of addiction and abuse, and the way art can be personally transformative and therapeutic, even though the artist may struggle to communicate directly with those around them. If I’m “wrong” about that, I’m sorry, but that’s still a powerful takeaway.

Rodin lives in a big house with his wife, Aisha (Andra Day, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday) and their son, Jermaine (Daniel Berrier). It’s been a rough time for Tarrell, waking up in the middle of the night in mid-panic attack, trying to work out his feelings in the studio he shares with Aisha, a talented singer-songwriter. Despite their different disciplines they have a way to collaborate: Aisha sings a new song and Tarrell suggests adding the color yellow, which Aisha — and cinematographer Lachlan Milne (“Minari”) — divinely provides.

Tarrell has been trying to get his mother, Joyce (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), to move out of her old house and in with his family, but when they arrive she hasn’t packed. She’s also brought Tarrell’s estranged father, La’Ron (John Earl Jelks, “New Amsterdam”) back into the Tarrell’s life against his will. Tarrell and his mother were both abused by La’Ron, a former crack addict. Tarrell had every intention of introducing his father to Aisha for the first time at La’Ron’s funeral.

The message that “Exhibiting Forgiveness” iterates, over and over again, is that if you can’t forgive someone else you cannot be forgiven. And, frankly, Tarrell can be forgiven for rejecting that. La’Ron may be eager to reconnect, and even willing to explain how he became the disappointment he is, but he never explicitly asks for forgiveness. It’s only expected that Tarrell provide it, despite all the suffering La’Ron has caused. Joyce seems to have forgiven him, many times over, after many shocking betrayals. She has a light in her than Tarrell cannot understand, let alone find in himself.

And what, exactly, does Tarrell need to be forgiven for anyway? To hear Titus Kaphar’s film tell it, his understandable failure to forgive is a character flaw in itself. Or, at least, it’s an infected wound that desperately needs lancing. Holland dives head first into a role of such unusual depth and complexity it’s almost hard to process “Exhibiting Forgiveness” on a performance level. Holland, Jelks, and Ellis-Taylor are operating on astounding levels, in material that challenges and rewards, even if it cannot possibly satisfy.

Kaphar’s paintings aren’t a backdrop, and even when they are, they’re literally pushed into frame by the ghost of Tarrell’s past. In lieu of some perhaps much-needed therapy, Tarrell communicates with and through his artwork. Perhaps that’s why he’s so offended when people don’t “get” it, critics or buyers alike. He’s putting everything into those paintings. To misunderstand his work is to deny his feelings, his thoughts, his reality. He can’t even feel nostalgia; when he visits a public swimming pool from his childhood, now empty and grown over, all he sees are the chips of paint that adorn it.

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” defies certain structural conventions, interrupting narrative flows for extended dramatic moments, just like the unexpected re-introduction of La’Ron has disrupted a life Tarrell’s spent trying to move forward. Looking back is hard, it’s disruptive, it takes time. In those scenes Ellis-Taylor and Jelks provide majestic parallels to Holland’s haunted, even frightened performance. Tarrell cannot fathom coming to terms with the past they share. It disturbs him to even consider it.

Kaphar brings something special, narratively raw, but thematically refined to his first feature. It’s painful and it doesn’t necessarily heal, but it’s a full experience, exceptional in its craft, with performances that cannot be dismissed or be forgotten.

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” opens in theaters on Oct. 18.

The post ‘Exhibiting Forgiveness’ Review: André Holland Brings Passion to This Raw Family Drama appeared first on TheWrap.

The finalists are:

• Atlanta, Georgia
• Boulder, Colorado
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Park City/Salt Lake City, Utah
• Santa Fe, New Mexico

As part of a thorough evaluation of each potential location, the Sundance Institute assessed each city’s infrastructure, ethos and equity values, event capabilities to host the Festival, and how each finalist could sustainably serve and support the ever-growing Sundance Film Festival community of independent artists and audiences. Each finalist was required to demonstrate how they would welcome and continue to foster the diverse Sundance community and culture of independent creativity that is an integral part of the Institute and Festival experience. 

The Sundance Film Festival will take place in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah in 2025 and 2026. The location decision will apply to the Festival in 2027 and subsequent years.

According to the official release, members of the Sundance Institute selection committee will visit each of the finalist cities in the coming weeks to further explore the possibilities of hosting the Festival. 

“For over 40 years, Sundance has supported, sustained, and helped shine an essential spotlight on independent filmmakers and their work. As we very carefully consider this important decision for our Festival, we believe these six finalists allow us the best opportunity to not only secure a sustainable future for our Festival, but also to build upon its legacy while continuing to support the next generation of storytellers and highlight bold new works of art,” said Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute Board Chair, and Amanda Kelso, Sundance Institute Acting CEO, in an official statement.”We are grateful to all the communities who have expressed interest and been a part of the process, and we have valued the opportunity to learn about the uniqueness of each location. We look forward to the site visits in each of the finalist cities.” 

“Throughout this process, we engaged in thoughtful, lively, creative, and supportive conversations with Governors, Mayors, arts advocates, film commissioners, and other local leaders from locations across the country. We’ve been buoyed by the tremendous enthusiasm and submissions from cities around the country and deeply appreciate the energy that went into each proposal,” said Eugene Hernandez, Festival Director and Director of Public Programming, in a statement. “Getting to six finalists was a difficult decision. Each of these cities has a vibrant creative ecosystem, either expanding or established, and has enabled creativity to flourish in their cities through their support of the arts. These cities understand our ethos, are aligned with our key values, and have shown us interesting possibilities for partnership with our Festival — for our artists, audiences, and all who want to be a part of the Sundance Film Festival — and that makes us want to see more.”

The Institute will continue “to focus on completing a fair and comprehensive review of the six possible partners and will not be providing comments while the review process is taking place. Sundance Institute will provide more information once the location for the 2027 Festival has been selected,” according to the official release.

With the Festival’s current contract with Park City up for renewal starting in 2027, the RFP process is providing the Sundance Institute a responsible way to evaluate, consider, and build on its foundation of serving a growing global independent creative community.

A Sundance Film Festival potentially divorced from the snowy setting that the festival has made iconic, is an interesting proposition. It’ll be fascinating to see how the process shakes out and what city ends up with the celebrated festival.

The post Sundance Sets 6 Cities as Finalists to Host Festival in 2027 and Beyond appeared first on TheWrap.

But that may be because Vicente’s exit wasn’t triggered by a signature blow-up, a specific conflict or a particular programming failure, even though the Sundance Film Festival 2024 was smaller than in recent years, raised less money and sold fewer titles. 

Multiple insiders told TheWrap that Vicente’s exit followed a failure to articulate a clear and compelling vision for the festival at a critical inflection point for independent film. While facing the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CEO struggled to find common ground with an unwieldy board of directors, and was unable to nurture an internal culture of innovation, they said. Most damaging, she could not inspire donors at a time when independent film itself is being called into question.

“It wasn’t a good fit between her experience, her personal style, her abilities and that job,” said a former Sundance executive. “Sundance is an idea, and it is holding up a space in the sector that is under incredible duress.”

The problem isn’t the availability of funding, said the executive. Sundance remains beloved, but donors need a reason to invest. “There’s a massive amount of funding circling that organization, but they need vision. Not only from the CEO, but from the team. You have to paint a picture of what is happening. That’s not something she was good at.”

A person familiar with the board’s thinking said Vicente did a “lovely” job while facing difficult headwinds, noting that the Institute underestimated the impact of COVID, the loss of revenue from in-person festival ticket sales and the anxiety of donors. But they also noted that it was tough to galvanize a culture over Zoom meetings. 

A third person familiar with the organization cited conflicts among the programming staff, going back to a dispute over the documentary “Jihad Rehab” in 2022, which saw the director accused of being Islamophobic and the Sundance Institute accused of betraying her after it disavowed the film a month after it played the festival.

“She seemed in over her head,” this person said of Vicente. 

A Sundance executive disputed that Vicente’s leadership was lacking, noting that she worked to break down silos internally and unite the culture. But the executive did acknowledge that independent film is in “uncharted waters” and in a letter to Park City officials in September, Vicente herself noted “several years of declining revenue…that we still have not recovered from.”

Vicente declined to comment for this story, as did a spokeswoman for Sundance. 

As for those “uncharted waters,” the crisis facing Sundance goes hand in hand with the challenges facing independent film as the arthouse business shrinks and streamers seek more mainstream fare.

One leading producer lamented the loss of in-person bidding wars in the hallways of Park City hotels, and with them the fancy gifting suites for talent and their posses, offering everything from parkas to snow boots to vacations, that used to clog Main Street.

“They have to upgrade the whole event in my opinion,” said the producer, who attends Sundance every year but finds the status quo frustrating. “They have made it indie niche.” 

Money troubles 

Major festivals have experienced turbulence in recent years.

The Berlinale Film Festival pushed out its well-respected artistic director Carlo Chatrian last year; in response 200 filmmakers signed a petition requesting his reinstatement (that didn’t happen). The Toronto Film Festival lost its longtime patron, Bell Canada, after a 28-year relationship, last August. And the upcoming Hot Docs film festival in Canada was plunged into chaos in March after 10 programmers quit, alleging a “toxic workplace.” Artistic director Hussain Currimbhoy also left for what he said were “personal reasons.”

The programmer exodus at Hot Docs followed a March 8 statement by President Marie Nelson saying the organization faced a cash crisis. “We are currently facing a significant operational deficit that threatens our long-term sustainability,” Nelson said. “While we’re already seeing positive signs of recovery as audiences both old and new are returning to the cinema, and while we’ve taken steps to reduce our overhead without impacting our core programming, we are quickly losing runway and urgently need direct support to ensure our future viability.”

As the granddaddy of independent film festivals founded by Robert Redford in 1980, you might think Sundance would be an exception. 

It is not.  

According to available audited financial filings, the festival has lost money in two of the last three years for which there is data. It lost $6 million in 2021 after total revenue dropped to a scary ​​$34,554,834. Things picked up again in 2022, when Sundance reported $12 million in profit. But in the organization’s fiscal year 2023, which ends in August, it reported losses of $6.2 million thanks to revenues of $45,626,596 against costs of nearly $52 million. (The year 2024 is not yet available.) 

According to multiple insiders, the biggest financial blow came in 2022, when the festival had planned to return in person after a brutal year of COVID, only for the Omicron strain in the winter of 2021 to force Sundance to pivot to a remote-only version. 

Caught off guard, Sundance was ill-equipped to maximize revenue from a digital-only platform, even though that platform, created in 2021, had opened up the festival to a broader and younger audience than in the past. Update: A Sundance executive disputed that they were caught off guard, and were prepared to put the full program on line.

“The festival got cancelled at the last minute,” said the former Sundance executive. “They did it digitally, but they hadn’t invested in marketing and sales for digital. So those parts of revenue needed more ramp, because they were counting on the live [portion].”

Since then, this person said, budgets have been cut, including some Sundance lab programs, but there has been a paucity of new ideas to drive investment from donors. 

Two individuals told TheWrap that the festival has missed its donor targets in the last year.

Still, the audited financial statements reflect that “contribution revenue” went from a total of $47 million in 2022 to $32 million in 2023, with the largest category drops coming from Foundations and Government.

The ecosystem has changed. The festival doesn’t exist as a catalyst for sales.

a current Sundance executive

But the larger context of these financial issues is the crisis facing independent film as a whole. Sundance 2024 only accepted 83 feature films, compared to more than 100 the year before, a result, many believe, of the double strikes that crippled Hollywood in 2023. (It may also have been due to Sundance having fewer venues to screen movies.)

A lack of sufficient quality films in the pipeline was surely an offshoot of the strike, but also a likely outcome of the shriveling marketplace for them to be sold. It is common for only a fraction of the films that appear at Sundance to be sold to distributors, but as the costs of producing a film have dropped, the appetite by streamers seems to have dropped to near zero. 

This year TheWrap called the Sundance marketplace “sluggish” after reporting that the streamers made clear they were not interested in edgy, independent filmmaking. Perhaps a dozen films were bought, but very few by the large streamers. Instead, Focus Features bought the crowd-pleasing “Didi,” which opens this summer, among a slew of purchases by arthouse distributors like Neon, A24 and Sony Classics. Netflix acquired worldwide rights to the horror film “It’s What’s Inside” for $17 million. 

The winner of the top prize at Sundance, “In the Summers,” about two sisters and their relationship with loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, does not have distribution.

It’s a far cry from 2021, when Apple paid $25 million for the crowd-pleasing Sundance hit “CODA” and took it all the way to the Oscar for Best Picture. In 2023 Netflix paid $20 million for the psychosexual thriller “Fair Play,” which did not make the same impact. 

Some producers blame Sundance for programming films that aren’t mainstream in their appeal. “They need a major rethink on the programming front,” said the leading producer who declined to use their name. “So few deals — nothing big showed, and the indie distribution business is already suffering.”

This producer noted that the big buyers no longer needed to come in person, as the films are available online. “They need to add more commercial films and stop this lunacy of putting the movie online which lets buyers not have to come and creates no bidding wars which was really the excitement of being there.” 

Regardless of the reason, the distribution hole impacts the entire ecosystem of independent film — from producers to filmmakers to distributors. “If you expect Sundance to continue to be a place where films get bought at an 85% buy rate for a lot of money, you haven’t talked to those streamers,” said the former Sundance executive. “They are not interested in independent films.”

Said a current Sundance executive: “The ecosystem has changed. The festival doesn’t exist as a catalyst for sales.”

Meanwhile, Sundance’s ability to continue to hold the festival in Park City is also up in the air. The contract with Park City expires in 2026, and Sundance has been looking at alternatives as hard costs for the festival continue to rise, as has housing during the festival for attendees and filmmakers, making the festival out of reach for the people it is made for. 

In September, Sundance asked Park City officials to extend the contract renewal deadline from March 1 to October of this year. “We have new executive leadership, we have had several years of declining revenue triggered by a global pandemic that we have still not recovered from,” Vicente wrote in a letter to the mayor and city council. “There are many uncertainties but also great possibilities this moment presents.”

Woke tensions

Far left-driven political turmoil has beset media outlets and arts organizations in recent years, and it hit Sundance hard in 2022, just after Vicente took over as CEO following her exit as co-head of the Toronto International Film Festival.

In January 2022, Vicente had been CEO for only three months when a documentary then-called “Jihad Rehab” (the title was later changed to “The UnRedacted”) screened in competition at the festival, held online that year due to COVID. 

The film, directed by Meg Smaker, is about a rehabilitation center for Islamist jihadis in Saudi Arabia. Smaker had learned to speak Arabic and spent five years convincing the Saudi government to allow her access to the center to make the film. But even before it premiered at Sundance to strong reviews, it had been attacked on social media by a group Muslim filmmakers (the majority of whom hadn’t yet seen it), who wrote Sundance to object that the film took up space that could have gone to Muslim, and/or ‘MENASA’ (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) filmmakers to tell non-terrorism related stories, and for allegedly “endangering its subjects.”

Two Sundance Institute staffers later resigned over the film, after which Vicente and festival director Tabitha Jackson issued a statement apologizing for it, saying, “In this case it is clear that the showing of this film hurt members of our community — in particular, individuals from Muslim and MENASA communities — and for that we are deeply sorry.”

Smaker, who found her film pulled from every other film festival after the Sundance release, felt betrayed. Programmers internally questioned the process. Meanwhile, almost no one had actually seen the film.  The board, which includes prominent Hollywood figures like former Disney production chief Sean Bailey and producer Jason Blum, was dismayed by the negative attention. 

“They didn’t expect to be hit so hard,” said the former executive, referring to the board. “They didn’t know who to believe in terms of the situation. They were seeing letters from hundreds of artists saying Sundance has betrayed us by playing this (movie)… And programmers saying, ‘We stand by it.’ The board didn’t know what to do.” 

It was an early black mark on Vicente’s leadership. Jackson exited Sundance as festival director within a few months. From there, Vicente had to work to regain the confidence of her team and the board. Fast forward two years later and what was described as “long, hard conversations” with the board, she resigned.

**** 

Whether or not Vicente was the right fit, the Sundance Film Festival will need to find a way to regroup and reimagine. Some people interviewed by TheWrap feel that Vicente’s replacement, Amanda Kelso, now acting CEO, is the right choice. Kelso has been on the board for four years, and was involved in the transition to an online festival during the early days of the pandemic.  

Several said that identifying a vision and reinvigorating the mission of the festival was the most important priority. 

As a programmer from another festival observed: “Festivals run on passion, the passion of the audience and the passion of the festival team. Once you crack that, once you break it open and the team can see you really don’t think they are important at all, it’s over.”

Steve Pond and Kristen Lopez contributed to this article.

The post At Sundance, Behind the Exit of CEO Joana Vicente Looms a Larger Crisis appeared first on TheWrap.

Wang was recently nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short for “Nai Nai & Wài Pó,” in which he followed his grandmothers as they went about their lives together. The short doc won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at SXSW as well as the Audience Prize at TheWrap’s ShortList Film Festival.

Set in 2008, “Didi 弟弟,” stars Izaac Wang” as a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American teen enjoying the last month of summer break before he goes off to high school. In that month, he learns all the things he didn’t learn in middle school: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom.

Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, and Chang Li Hua also star in “Didi 弟弟,”, which Wang produced with Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters, and Valerie Bush. After its Sundance premiere, the film won the festival’s U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast.

Focus Features, which recently released Zelda Williams’ feature debut “Lisa Frankenstein,” will next release Ethan Coen’s “Drive Away Dolls” later this month. Other films on Focus’ 2024 slate include Morgan Neville’s stop-motion Lego animated documentary “Brick By Brick,” Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders,” and Kobi Libii’s “The American Society of Magical Negroes.”

The post Focus Sets Sundance Coming-of-Age Film ‘Didi’ for July Release appeared first on TheWrap.

On a Jan. 22 inclusivity panel at the festival, titled “Championing Change: The Power of Inclusive Filmmaking,” presented by TheWrap, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and NFP, Sealey said that she hopes audiences learn from her drama’s hero, Melody (Phoebe-Rae Taylor), that “everybody communicates in a different way.”

The filmmaker, who’s previously known for 2021’s “No Man of God” and here worked with screenwriter Daniel Stiepleman to adapt Sharon M. Draper’s 2010 novel of the same name, admitted that there “was a big learning curve for me” to get it right. 

“I remember early on in my research phase, the Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity, they did do a lot of asking people with disabilities, like, what do you want to see more?” she recalled, “What largely came out of that was people with disabilities wanted to see movies that centered on them as human beings and not just on their disability.” 

Sealey added that those consultants also emphasized a desire to see stories that “focused on them not only as human beings, but also wasn’t always about pitying them, and also wasn’t always about them only being only worthy or only valuable because they were superhuman.”

In the case of Melody, she’s a sixth grader who “is very smart,” but Sealey was conscious of adapting the novel in a way that framed her as being “special” for more than just “because she’s a genius.”

“She’s a human being. She’s just like anybody else – she has thoughts, feelings, fears. And so that was what my approach with the film was like. This is like any other tween girl, she just happens to be nonverbal. She happens to use a wheelchair,” Sealey said. “Her having cerebral palsy is a part of how she moves through the world. Her being nonverbal is a part of the way she moves through the world, but it’s not everything about her.”

In telling Melody’s story – which costars Rosemarie DeWitt, Luke Kirby, Judith Light and Michael Chernus – Sealey said that inclusivity was practiced in front of and behind the camera. 

“The inclusivity part was really about not only including people with disabilities in the cast, in the crew, in the creative process, consultants, writers, all of that,” she said. “But, also, just about how we look at people with disabilities, trying not to treat them as objects, trying not to treat them just as their disability, but treating them as a human being.”

“It’s about her finding her voice, but it’s also more importantly about the rest of us learning how to listen and understanding that everybody communicates in a different way,” she said. “Some of us use our voice, some of use our hands, some of us use a computer – we all communicate differently.”

Sealey was joined on the Monday morning panel by “Frida” documentarian Carla Gutierrez, Funny Or Die founder Henry Muñoz and Brown Girls Doc Mafia founder Iyabo Boyd, all of whom spoke to the importance of inclusivity in their own work, their reservations about the state of DEI initiatives in Hollywood today and more. 

Watch the full panel — as moderated by The Curvy Critic, Carla Renata — in the video above.

Check out all our Sundance coverage here

The post ‘Out of My Mind’ Director Says Learning ‘Everybody Communicates in a Different Way’ Was Key to Making Her Disability Drama | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

The documentary was in a competitive bidding situation as three companies puts bids in.

The documentary garnered the Audience Award in the Documentary Competition category and was voted the overall Festival Favorite. The production of “Daughters” spanned eight years before its debut at Sundance.

“Daughters” co-director Dawn Neely Patton serves as the CEO of Girls For A Change, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for young Black women. Working alongside Patton is co-director Nicole Rae, an acclaimed director known for music videos, commercials and films commissioned by the United Nations and Gates Foundation.

Rae has received nominations at the prestigious Cannes Young Lions awards. “Daughters” marks the first feature-length documentary for both Patton and Rae.

The documentary was produced by Lisa Mazzotta, Natalie Rae, Justin Benoliel, Mindy Goldberg, Sam Bisbee, Kathryn Everett, Laura Choi Raycroft, James Cunningham. Paul Rachman served as co-producer.

The execuive producers are Kerry Washington, Pilar Savone, Angela Patton, Joel Edgerton, Jessica Seinfeld, Hallee Adelman, Lydia Kives, J.M. Harper, Lance Acord, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Wendy Neu, Dom Thomas, Morgan Clement, Jessica Taneja, Bryn Mooser, Shane Riley, Harland Weiss, Donovan M. Boden, Isil Gilderdale, Emily Harris

The deal was brokered by CAA and Submarine  on behalf of the filmmakers.

Variety first reported the news of Netflix’s acquisition of “Daughers.”

The post Netflix Acquires ‘Daughters’ Out of Sundance appeared first on TheWrap.

“Thelma” stars Squibb in her first leading role, as the title character, a grandmother who gets conned by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson (Fred Hechinger) and sets on an action-packed odyssey across Los Angeles to reclaim what is hers.

The film also features the final performance from the legendary Richard Roundtree, who plays Thelma’s friend who accompanies her on her journey. Parker Posey, Clark Gregg and Malcolm McDowell round out the cast. The film marks the feature debut of director Josh Margolin, who also wrote the screenplay.

“Brilliantly marrying Magnolia’s love of action, revenge, and grandmothers, ‘Thelma’ is totally unique yet universally irresistible,” said Magnolia Pictures co-CEOs Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley in a statement. “The team at Magnolia is beyond excited to bring Josh Margolin’s thrilling and loving caper to audiences across the country.”

“This has all been a dream come true — to get to make this movie, to premiere it at Sundance, and now to release it in theaters with Magnolia,” said Margolin.  “I’ve admired their films for years and feel truly lucky to be partnering with them. We’re so excited to share ‘Thelma’ with everyone!”

Our own review of “Thelma’ out of Sundance called the movie “a totally pure delight that gives June Squibb a much-deserved leading role” with Margolin’s script described as “breezy and sharp in equal measure.”

Magnolia is planning a wide theatrical release though a release date wasn’t announced.

The post Sundance Breakout ‘Thelma’ Acquired by Magnolia appeared first on TheWrap.

Compared to last year’s relatively sluggish market, sales activity could spike before Sundance wraps on Sunday if buyers want to leverage the excitement and momentum coming out of Park City. There are currently offers on the table for numerous titles, and just Saturday news broke that Warner Bros. is in talks to take the doc “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” for $15 million

Here’s a roundup of all the 2024 Sundance deals made so far, and we’ll be updating the list as more deals close.

My Old Ass

Amazon’s MGM Studios is in final negotiations to acquire Megan Park’s second film, “My Old Ass,” which stars Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella. The deal is for a robust $15 million. In her review of “My Old Ass,” TheWrap’s Ariana Martinez wrote that the coming-of-age dramedy “blends the YA journey with elements of sci-fi fantasy through fresh-faced 18-year-old Elliott (Stella) as she rings in adulthood by coming face-to-face with her 39-year-old self (Plaza).” The film was a charmer, playing to a standing ovation at its Sundance premiere.

Presence

Neon picked up the worldwide distribution rights to Steven Soderbergh’s unique ghost story film “Presence” on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Written by David Koepp, the film tells the story of a family who move into a house, only to discover it may or may not be haunted. It’s a story we’ve seen countless times before, but what sets “Presence” apart is it’s told entirely from the point of view of the ghost. Shot in secret over 11 days, the film stars Lucy Liu and “This Is Us” alum Chris Sullivan. In his review for TheWrap, Chase Hutchinson said the film plays “as both a haunted house story and a family drama about what happens when we drift away from those closest to us.”

Ghostlight

IFC Films and Sapan Studio acquired the North American rights to “Ghostlight,” the second film from “Saint Frances” directors Alex Thompson & Kelly O’Sullivan, on Thursday. The film stars Keith Kupferer as Dan, a melancholic construction worker who unexpectedly joins a local theater’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” When the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life, he and his family are forced to address a recent tragedy.

A Real Pain

In the first major deal of the festival, Searchlight Pictures acquired the global rights to the dramedy “A Real Pain,” directed by Jesse Eisenberg and starring newly minted Emmy winner Kieran Culkin for a reported $10 million. The deal closed on Sunday, early in the fest.

Eisenberg stars in the film alongside Culkin as a pair of cousins who have trouble getting along — David (Eisenberg) is a polite and responsible father and husband, while Benji (Culkin) is more free-spirited, but blunt. The two go on a trip to Poland after the death of their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, tracing the steps of her struggle to survive. In his review for TheWrap, Chase Hutchinson called Culkin a “force of nature” in the “hilarious” and “heartfelt” dramedy.

Kneecap

Sony Pictures Classics acquired director Rich Peppiatt’s musical biopic parody “Kneecap,” although deal terms were not disclosed.

The film follows “self-proclaimed ‘low-life scum’ Liam Óg and Naoise, along with school teacher JJ, who become a political symbol and the defiant voice of Ireland’s restless youth. As they struggle to make their mark on the world, and family and relationship pressures threaten to pull the plug on their dreams, the trio weave a narrative that transcends music.” Michael Fassbender also appears in this offbeat comedy, which won the Audience award at Sundance in the NEXT category.

It’s What’s Inside

Netflix acquired worldwide rights to horror film “It’s What’s Inside” for $17 million on Monday. The film is written and directed by Greg Jardin and centers on a pre-wedding party that descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase.

The film, which played in the Midnight section at the festival, stars Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Devon Terrell, Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, Nina Bloomgarden and David Thompson.

Ibelin

Netflix picked up the documentary feature “Ibelin” on the Friday of the festival’s opening weekend, the day after the film’s premiere. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the film went on to win the Audience award from Sundance in the World Documentary category.

“Ibelin” centers on Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer, who died of a degenerative muscular disease at the age of 25. His parents mourned what they thought had been a lonely and isolated life, when they started receiving messages from online friends around the world.

Skywalkers: A Love Story

Netflix also picked up the documentary “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” which played to acclaim in the U.S. Documentary Competition category. The film stars Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus as a daredevil couple who journey across the globe to climb the world’s last super skyscraper and perform a bold acrobatic stunt on the spire.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

This deal isn’t yet closed, but Warner Bros. Discovery is in final negotiations to take the crowdpleasing documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” for $15 million. The film charts the life of Christopher Reeve, including his tenure as “Superman” and the accident that made him paralyzed from the neck down. Warner Bros. seems a solid fit given it could leverage its DC brand for the doc’s marketing.

The post Deal List: All the 2024 Sundance Sales So Far appeared first on TheWrap.

Seven years in the making, “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” stars Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus as a couple who journey across the globe to climb the world’s last super skyscraper and perform a bold acrobatic stunt on the spire. The real-life couple made a surprise appearance at the premiere in Park City last Thursday night.

The deal comes in the wake of several other Sundance deals made as the festival comes to a close this weekend. Warner Bros. is in talks to acquire the Christopher Reeve documentary “Super/Man” for a reported $15 million.

On Friday, it was announced that Amazon’s MGM Studios was in final negotiations to acquire Megan Park’s second film, “My Old Ass,” which stars Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella, according to an insider with knowledge. The deal is for $15 million. And IFC Films and Sapan Studio acquired the North American rights to “Ghostlight,” the second film from “Saint Frances” directors Alex Thompson & Kelly O’Sullivan which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, on Thursday.

Jeff Zimbalist, Maria Bukhonina, Chris Smith and XYZ’s Head of Documentary Tamir Ardon produced the film, while Nick Spicer, head of XYZ Films, is an executive producer.

XYZ Films also has another high profile documentary at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, actress Lucy Lawless’ directorial debut “Never Look Away,” which details the story of photojournalist Margaret Moth.

The deal for the film was negotiated by Nate Bolotin and Pip Ngo for XYZ Films on behalf of the filmmakers.

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Directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing, the film chronicles the struggle of the grassroots Amazon Labor Union (ALU) as it attempts to unionize the JFK8 Amazon facility. ALU president Chris Smalls joined the directors to talk to TheWrap executive editor Adam Chitwood, where they discussed Amazon’s aggressive efforts to undermine the union drive.

“It shows how Amazon and the NYPD work together,” Smalls said at TheWrap’s Sundance Portrait and Interview Studio presented by NFP, referring to his on-camera arrest captured in the film. “It shows how policing is used to create fear and doubt, and not just to unionize. When you’re going up against corporations, someone being arrested that’s leading a movement will create fear for other people to step up. So that was the purpose of Amazon calling the police on me.”

Director Stephen Maing called it “utterly shocking to watch it play out,” but said it illustrates the vast resources Amazon is willing to leverage to block the organizing effort.

“Amazon is a company that has no qualms about spending over $4 million on an anti-union campaign,” Maing added. “And then on top of that, using the NYPD, you know, as an extension of the force that they were going to, you know, try and compel the ALU to submit under.”

Despite Amazon’s aggressive tactics, the ALU defied the odds by becoming the first Amazon facility in the U.S. to vote to unionize The ALU is also recognized by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  However, Smalls says the company still refuses to come to the bargaining table nearly a year later.

“Amazon is still refusing to negotiate,” Smalls said. “Because of the slow process of the NLRB in this country, we’re waiting for a bargain order still. And once we get that bargain order, we’re ready to negotiate Day 1.”

The filmmakers say they were drawn to document this struggle because of its implications for the future of labor in America. Only 6% of private sector workers currently belong to a union.

“It was very obvious from the beginning that this was an opportunity to document a struggle that was not just about this one company, it’s about the future of work, it’s about the future of labor organizing,” co-director Story said.

Check out all TheWrap’s Sundance coverage here.

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