Festival Predictions

2017 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Matt Porterfield’s Sollers Point

Published on November 28, 2016

Part of the mini Baltimore/Maryland clique of filmmaker contributors adding significant contributions to the American indie scene, Matt Porterfield lined auds up with personalized cinema offerings of Hamilton (2006), Putty Hill (2011) and I Used To Be Darker (2013 – a Sundance NEXT section entry). Production on Sollers Point began in July and he employed the services of thesps McCaul Lombardi, Jim Belushi, Imani Hakim, Wass Stevens and Kazy Tauginas.

Gist: This tells the story of Keith (Lombardi), a small-time drug dealer under house arrest at the home of his father (Belushi) in Baltimore. He re-enters a community scarred by unemployment, neglect and deeply entrenched segregation. There, he pushes back against his surrounding limitations as he tries to find a way out of his own internal prison.

Production Co./Producers: Ryan Zacarias (Entertainment), Alexandra Byer (Dark Night), Jordan Mintzer (I Used to Be Darker)

Prediction: U.S. Dramatic or NEXT section. Berlin Film Festival could also premiere the pic. Cannes or Locarno are not out of the equation either.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). The Bureau Sales (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).