2014 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Gregg Araki’s White Bird in a Blizzard

The Living End (1992). Totally F***ed Up (1993). The Doom Generation (1995). Nowhere (1997). Splendor (1999). Mysterious Skin (2005). Smiley Face (2007). Kaboom (2011). VIP jacket wearing Gregg Araki has been breaking into Park City mode for more than the eight films mentioned. An integral part of the moving into his third decade, White Bird In A Blizzard is a French funded thriller and much like Kaboom, this is a welcome switch of pace for the filmmaker. Production began in November of 2012, so this is in the can as we say and will come equipped with Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Angela Bassett, Gabourey Sidibe, Christopher Meloni, Shiloh Fernandez and Dale Dickey.

Gist: When Katrina Connors’ mother walks out on her family, Kat is surprised but not shocked; the whole year she has been “becoming sixteen” – falling in love with the boy next door, shedding her babyfat, discovering sex – her mother has been slowly withdrawing. As Kat and her impassive father pick up the pieces of their daily lives, she finds herself curiously unaffected by her mother’s absence. But in dreams that become too real to ignore, she’s haunted by her mother’s cries for help. Finally, she must act on her instinct that something violent and evil has occurred – a realization that brings Kat to a chilling discovery.

Production Co./Producers: Araki, Why Not Productions’ Pascal Caucheteux and Sebastien Lemercier (Rust and Bone), Pavlina Hatoupis.

Prediction: Certified Premieres category status with plenty of bidding

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

[related]2014 Sundance Film Festival Predictions[/related]