Festival Predictions

2018 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Nia DaCosta’s Little Woods

Published on November 15, 2017

Possibly belonging to a Frozen River and Sin Nombre type of harrowing universe where there are no real alternatives, Nia DaCosta‘s directorial debut will surely plunge future viewers into an anguished filled realism. The New York City based filmmaker began photography on Little Woods this past January with Tessa Thompson and Lily James toplining, and supporting perfs from James Badge Dale, Luke Kirby and Lance Reddick. Pitched as a modern western, the successfully coined Kickstarter project has had a lot of support, DaCosta was part of the Sundance Screenwriter and Director labs back in 2015, the New York Film Festival, the San Francisco Film Society and the Time Warner Foundation supported the artist.

Gist: This tells the story of two sisters, Ollie (Tessa Thompson) and Deb (Lily James), who are driven to work outside the law to better their lives. For years, Ollie has illicitly helped the struggling residents of her North Dakota oil boomtown access Canadian health care and medication. When the authorities catch on, she plans to abandon her crusade, only to be dragged in even deeper after a desperate plea for help from her sister.

Production Co./Producers: Buffalo Picture House’s Gabrielle Nadig (King Jack), Rachael Fung.

Prediction: U.S. Dramatic Comp is the most logical bet.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. CAA (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).