2016 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Ira Sachs’ Little Men

Steve Karmen’s 70s radio jingle certainly comes to mind when considering the body of work from the likes of Scorsese, Spike Lee, Woody Allen. We can certainly add the name of Ira Sachs to this aural signifier/list. After Keep the Lights On (’12) and Love is Strange (’14) the future third volume in Sachs’ proposed trilogy of films also takes place in New York City and once again includes the notions of family and a certain displacement. Recently reading just how attached Sachs is to Sundance as both a patron and filmmaker, we’d think the natural route is for another Park City premiere but don’t be surprised if we receive the “silent treatment”. One of the most anticipated American indie films of ’16, Little Men (formerly known as Thank You for Being Honest) is a children’s family drama starring newcomers Michael Barbieri and Theo Taplitz alongside Greg Kinnear, Paulina García, Jennifer Ehle, Theo Taplitz, Michael Barbieri, Talia Balsam, David Krumholtz, Alfred Molina and Yolonda Ross. Problem is, picture was locked only within the last 48 hous so it’s a distinct possibility that Sachs, a favorite among French cinephiles could be headed to Cannes instead.

Gist: Co-written by Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, Theo Taplitz and Michael Barbieri play new best friends whose bond is tested by their parents’ battle over the dress shop lease. When they become pawns in that battle, they vow to stop talking to the adults as a form of protest. Kinnear and Ehle will play a married couple who inherit a Brooklyn home, while Garcia plays a single mother who runs the dress shop downstairs.

Production Co./Producers: Sachs, Lucas Joaquin (The Heart Machine), Faliro House’s Christos Konstantakopoulos (Chevalier), Jim Landé and Laura Teodosio (Love is Strange).

Prediction: Premieres section or this will aim for a Cannes world premiere.

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

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