Festival Predictions

2016 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Chad Hartigan’s Morris from America

Published on November 25, 2015

His sophomore film received a ton of fanfare after premiering at Sundance’s NEXT section (and the first edition of the NEXT Weekend event) back in ’13, and there is no reason to think that this comedic schnitzel travelogue wouldn’t follow suit. Chad Hartigan‘s This Is Martin Bonner landed the filmmaker the coveted John Cassavetes Award at the 2013 Indie Spirit Awards, and his follow-up landed a nicely mixed bunch of actors (Craig Robinson, Carla Juri) including a newbie child protag (newcomer Markees Christmas). Production on Morris From America took place in Germany thus summer. This will indeed be ready for Park City.

Hartigan’s Martin Bonner, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival
Gist: This is a coming-of-age tale about a 13-year-old hip-hop-loving American boy Morris (Christmas) who moves to Heidelberg with his father (Robinson) and is forced to navigate the trials and tribulations of adolescence in a foreign place. Juri plays Morris’ German tutor and chief confidant.

Production Co./Producers: Sara Murphy (Land Ho!), Adele Romanski (Black Rock), Martin Heisler and Gabriele Simon. Executive producers: Michael B. Clark (Louder Than Bombs), Alex Turtletaub (People Places Things).

Prediction: Premieres category.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). TBD (international)

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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).