Festival Predictions

2017 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Stacie Passon’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Published on November 29, 2016

She’s one of our favorites and thankfully it hasn’t been too long a wait between her tough as nails dramatic debut Concussion (starring the incredibly talented Robin Weigert), and her sophomore feature. Filming took place this past August with True Detective’s Alexandra Daddario and Taissa Farmiga on an adaptation of the 1962 story by Shirley Jackson. Shot in Ireland, We Have Always Lived in the Castle appears to have some bite to it.

Gist: Based on the book by Shirley Jackson, written by Passon and Mark Kruger, this focuses on an isolated family, which has already lost four members to poisoning, that uses rituals and talismans to keep itself away from hostile townspeople. Into this scenario arrives a distant cousin, intent on maliciously securing the family’s fortune and whose arrival sets in motion the uncovering of family secrets.

Production Co./Producers: Jared Goldman (Wilson), Robert Mitas (Beyond the Reach)

Prediction: Premieres section.

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).