Festival Predictions

2018 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Anthony Mandler’s Monster

Published on November 15, 2017

A heavyweight music video helmer for close to two decades, Anthony Mandler‘s list of creds reads like Jack Kerouac’s Famous ‘On the Road’ scroll. Rihanna, Lana del Rey (see vid below) might not be part of the make-up of this directorial debut, but the producer creds and future soundtrack and score alone have a wow factor to it. The same applies to the ensemble. Lensing on Monster began in October of 2016 in New York City with Kelvin Harrison Jr, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Ehle, Mikey Madison, Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky and Nas. The drama is based on the novel by Walter Dean Myers, and we could perhaps relate this drama to last edition’s showing of Crown Heights.

Gist: Written by Colen C Wiley and Janece Shaffer, this is based on the novel by Walter Dean Myers and tells the story of an elite Harlem high school student charged with murder and facing a complex legal battle.

Production Co./Producers: Bron Studios‘ Aaron L. Gilbert (The Birth of a Nation), Get Lifted’s Mike Jackson (La La Land), Charlevoix’s Edward Tyler Nahem (Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love), Tonik’s Nikki Silver and Tonya Lewis Lee (The Giver).

Prediction: U.S. Dramatic Comp only logical slot.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. WME Global (domestic/international).

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).