Festival Predictions

2018 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Andrew Bujalski’s Support The Girls

Published on November 16, 2017

If Andrew Bujalski lands at the fest with his third straight film, we’ll officially call him a fixture. On the seen since 2002’s Funny Ha Ha, SXSW was first home to the filmmaker with 2005’s Mutual Appreciation and 2009’s Beeswax, and then Park City lassoed 2013’s Computer Chess (read review) and 2015’s Results. Known for his playful insight in the human condition, Support the Girls sees Regina Hall and Haley Lu Richardson at the top of the deck in this sabotage comedy which sorta feels like a more palpable version of The Good Girl. Re-teaming with long time cinematographer Matthias Grunsky, this was shot in Austin this past May.

Gist: This centers on Lisa Conroy (Hall) who may not love managing the restaurant Double Whammies, but she loves her employees more than anything, not only Danyelle (McHale), and Maci (Richardson) her closest friends, but also her extended family. Unfortunately, the cheap, curmudgeonly owner Ben Cubby (Le Gros) doesn’t care nearly as much, and confronts Lisa when he learns that she’s using the restaurant to raise money for Shaina (Kramer), an employee in legal trouble related to an abusive boyfriend. To get even, the girls decide to sabotage the restaurant on the night of a major mixed martial arts fight.

Production Co./Producers: Houston King Productions’ Houston King, Burn Later Productions‘ Sam Slater (Lemon).

Prediction: Premieres.

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).