Festival Predictions

2013 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale

Published on November 20, 2012

Among Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of 2012, Ryan Coogler saw his feature debut fast-tracked beginning with this year’s Sundance Institute January Screenwriters Lab and then it moved directly into production this past July in Los Angeles. Fruitvale found a supporter in producer Forest Whitaker, Coogler collaborated with Cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Sound of My Voice) and joining lead actor Michael B. Jordan, we find Chad Michael Murray, Kevin Durand and Octavia Spencer. This true story should be prepped in time for a Dramatic Comp showing.

Gist: Fruitvale is the true story of Oscar Grant (Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

Production Co./Producers: Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang

Prediction: U.S. Dramatic Competition

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Related Topics:2013 Sundance Film Festival, Fruitvale, Ryan Coogler

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).