Festival Predictions

2017 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Alexandre Moors’ The Yellow Bird

Published on November 30, 2016

Once a genre that was box office poison and an area that indie film did not want to address either, there has a resurgence off the war film. Based on the novel by Kevin Powers and a screenplay signed by R.F.I. Porto and David Lowery (yes that David Lowery), principal photography on The Yellow Bird took place in Morocco and wrapped in January this year. Alexandre Moors’ directorial debut (Blue Caprice) was chilly, distilled and perfectly executed real life tale into the mind of the psychologically disturbed. This features Tye Sheridan, Jack Huston, Alden Ehrenreich, Jennifer Aniston and Toni Collette.

Gist: Two young soldiers, Bartle (21) and Murph (18) navigate the terrors of the Iraq war under the command of the older, troubled Sergeant Sterling. All the while, Bartle is tortured by a promise he made to Murph’s mother before their deployment.

Production Co./Producers: Mark Canton, Courtney Solomon, Jeffrey Sharp, Karim Debbagh, Jennifer Aniston, Kristin Hahn.

Prediction: Premieres category.

U.S. Distributor: Warner Bros.

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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).