The elusive “Golden Ticket”. Beginning next Wednesday (December 4th) in a wave of four announcements, is when the official word comes out. Plenty of filmmakers are already in the know, but some will find out over the course of this Thanksgiving weekend. Having covered the festival and fest circuit for some time now, we’re already aware that worthy films that were indeed submitted will be excluded from the ’14 edition. Thousands of filmmakers won’t get the phone call, and while it can bruise dreams, this is not a rejection of quality…but rather, a preference from a programmer/programming team which reflects a larger mandate. John Cooper, Trevor Groth et al. have a difficult job and the way I see it, it’s the equivalent to draft day for a major professional sport – where a team in a given turn doesn’t go for the consensus pick, but instead fill out their roster need or go for the diamond in the rough. Sundance is all of this. Last week, we got the jump on our predictions list of possible Sundance titles for the 2014 edition (including dark horse selections/other titles for consideration) and here’s our comprehensive checklist below which will be updated next week and during the two following quarters this year.
1. A Blind Eye – Kirsten Johnson: Premiere: (TBD)
2. Aloft – Claudia Llhosa: Premiere: (TBD)
3. An African Spring – Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi: Premiere: (TBD)
4. The Angriest Man in Brooklyn – Phil Alden Robinson: Premiere: (TBD)
5. Animal Rescue – Michael R. Roskam: Premiere: (TBD)
6. Aztec Warrior – Scott Sanders : Premiere: (TBD)
* The Better Angels – A.J. Edwards: Sundance! Section: New Frontier
8. Black Dog, Red Dog – James Franco: Premiere: (TBD)
9. Boulevard – Dito Montiel: Premiere: (TBD)
10. Bukowski – James Franco: Premiere: (TBD)
11. Cantuckee – Kimberly Levin: Premiere: (TBD)
12. The Captive – Atom Egoyan: Premiere: (TBD)
13. Cesar Chavez: An American Hero – Diego Luna: Premiere: (TBD)
14. Children – Jaffe Zinne: Premiere: (TBD)
*. Cooties – Cary Murnion & Jonathan Milott: Sundance! Section: Park City at Midnight
16. Desert Cathedral – Travis Gutiérrez Senger: Premiere: (TBD)
17. Disruption – Pamela Yates: Premiere: (TBD)
*. Drunktown’s Finest – Sydney Freeland: : Sundance! Section: NEXT
*. E-Team – Katy Chevigny & Ross Kauffman: Sundance! Section: U.S. Documentary Competition
20. Electric Slide – Tristan Patterson: Premiere: (TBD)
21. The Ever After – Mark Webber: Premiere: (TBD)
22. Every Secret Thing – Amy Berg: Premiere: (TBD)
23. Evolution of a Criminal – Darius Clark Monroe: Premiere: (TBD)
24. Exists – Eduardo Sanchez: Premiere: (TBD)
25. Finding Fela! – Alex Gibney: Sundance! Documentary Premieres
*. Fishing Without Nets – Cutter Hodierne: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
27. Gabriel – Lou Howe: Premiere: (TBD)
*. God’s Pocket – John Slattery: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
29. Goodbye to All That – Angus MacLachlan: Premiere: (TBD)
30. Grass Stains – Kyle Wilamowski: Premiere: (TBD)
31. The Great Invisible – Margaret Brown: Premiere: (TBD)
*. The Guest – Adam Wingard: Sundance! Section: Park City at Midnight
*. Happy Christmas – Joe Swanberg: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
34. Happy Valley – Amir Bar-Lev: Sundance! Documentary Premieres
35. The Heist – Louie Psihoyos: Premiere: (TBD)
*. Hellion – Kat Candler: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
37. Home – Nicholas McCarthy: Premiere: (TBD)
*. I: Origins – Mike Cahill: Sundance! Premieres
*. Infinitely Polar Bear – Maya Forbes: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
*. Jamie Marks Is Dead – Carter Smith: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
*. Laggies – Lynn Shelton: Sundance! Premieres
42. Lee – Chloé Zhao: Premiere: (TBD)
*. Life After Beth – Jeff Baena: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
44. Life Partners – Susanna Fogel: Premiere: (TBD)
*. Listen Up Philip – Alex Ross Perry: : Sundance! Section: NEXT
*. Little Accidents – Sara Colangelo: Sundance! Premieres
*. Love is Strange – Ira Sachs: Sundance! Premieres
*. Low Down – Jeff Preiss: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
*. Marmato – Mark Grieco: Sundance! Section: U.S. Documentary Competition
50. Me Him Her – Max Landis: Premiere: (TBD)
51. The Message – Avi Lewis: Premiere: (TBD)
52. North of Hell – Anthony Burns : (Prediction: Premieres) Premiere: (TBD)
*. The One I Love – Charlie McDowell: Sundance! Premieres
54. Paradise Lost: The Untold Story of Pablo Escobar’s Treasure – Andrea Di Stefano: Premiere: (TBD)
55. Parts Per Billion – Brian Horiuchi: Premiere: (TBD)
*. Ping Pong Summer – Michael Tully: Sundance! Section: NEXT
*. The Raid 2 – Gareth Evans: Sundance! Documentary Premieres
*. Rich Hill – Andrew Droz Palermo & Tracy Droz Tragos: Sundance! Section: U.S. Documentary Competition
59. Rosewater – Jon Stewart: Premiere: (TBD)
*. Rudderless – William H. Macy: Sundance! Premieres
61. Second Coming – Debbie Tucker Green: Premiere: (TBD)
*. The Skeleton Twins – Craig Johnson: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
*. The Sleepwalker – Mona Fastvold: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
64. Snowpiercer – Bong Joon-ho: Premiere: (TBD)
65. Stage Fright – Jerome Sable: Premiere: (TBD)
66. Strong Island – Yance Ford: Premiere: (TBD)
67. Uncertain – Ewan McNicol & Anna Sandilands: Premiere: (TBD)
68. Unlocking the Cage – Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker: Premiere: (TBD)
69. Untitled Chris Messina Drama: Premiere: (TBD)
70. Untitled Noah Baumbach Public School Project: Premiere: (TBD)
71. Untitled – Laura Poitras’ Surveillance Documentary: Premiere: (TBD)
*. War Story – Mark Jackson: Sundance! Section: NEXT
*. White Bird in a Blizzard – Gregg Araki: Sundance! Premieres
74. Why Now?! – Adam Rapp: Premiere: (TBD)
*. Whiplash – Damien Chazelle: Sundance! Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
76. Wild Canaries – Lawrence Michael Levine: Premiere: (TBD)
77. Wish I Was Here – Zac Braff: Premiere: (TBD)
78. X/Y – Ryan Piers Williams: Premiere: (TBD)
79. You Can’t Win – Robinson Devor: Premiere: (TBD)
80. Night Moves – Kelly Reichardt: Venice & TIFF 2013.
Last Updated: December 9th
