Festival Predictions

2019 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: #83. Martha Stephens – To the Stars

Published on November 23, 2018

Martha Stephens‘ fourth feature film follows in the footsteps of Land Ho! (Sundance ’14). With filming having taken place in May, starring Shea Whigham, Malin Akerman, Kara Hayward, Jordana Spiro, Liana Liberato, Tony Hale, Adelaide Clemens and Madisen Beaty, To the Stars features an Oklahoma backdrop in the 1960s.

Gist: A 1960s coming-of-age tale, this centers on the powerful friendship forged between a shy farmer’s daughter (Kara Hayward) and a reckless new girl in town (Liana Liberato).

Production Co./Producers: Kristin Mann (Midnight Special), Laura D. Smith-Ireland (It Follows).

Prediction: Premiere category with interest from SXSW.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). TBD (international).

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).