2015 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Robert Eggers’ The Witch

Robert Eggers appears to be soaked in horror, noir fairy-tale lore. His Filmmaker Magazine 25 New Faces profile over at Filmmaker Mag informs us that the final October weekend that just passed would have been an event for the Brooklyn based prod designer. For his previous outings as a director, he turned to Hansel and Gretel and Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart for his short form debuts and created an original stage adaptation of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. A Sundance Institute Cinereach Feature Film Fellow, The Witch (formerly titled “The Witch of New Canaan Woode”) was shot this past April/May in slightly north of the border – Ontario seconds for a circa 1630-looking New England in this pic.

Gist: 1630s. Sam, a newborn baby, has disappeared without a trace. William’s eldest daughter, Thomasin, 14, has become idle and temperamental. Caleb, 12, often wantonly glances at Thomasin and believes he hears the voice of God. The little twins, Jonas and Mary, make up strange nursery rhymes and play with the family’s billy goat all day. Mother Katherine believes she has lost faith. Is God punishing them? Is it the devil? Is it truly a witch? Is it one of the family members who is possessed? The animals die, the food is scarce, the family members turn against themselves. And the remaining ones are susceptible to the Witch of New-Canaan Woode.

Production Co./Producers: Parts and Labor’s Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy (Love Is Strange), and Red Code Productions’ Jodi Redmond.

Prediction: No-brainer selection for Park City at Midnight, with an outside chance for New Frontier section if it comes across like The Better Angels.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. WME (domestic). K5 Int. (international)

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