2018 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Emma Forrest’s Untogether

A journalist turned author, turned scribe (she was on the Blacklist for LIARS (A-E) in 2009) turned helmer, Emma Forrest wrote and directed her feature debut back in October of 2016. The stars aligned in a robust cast of Jamie Dornan, the first time screen pairing from Jemima Kirke and Lola Kirke, ex-hubby Ben Mendelsohn, Alice Eve, Jennifer Grey, Scott Caan and Billy Crystal. Untogether digs into addiction and will likely benefit tremendously by having cinematographer Autumn Durald (The Reflektor Tapes) lensing. On the project, and pre-separation, Forrest said this “is about the desire we all have to be seen, really seen. Sometimes we get lucky and find a partner who fulfills that criteria. Sometimes we get even luckier and meet someone who shows us that who we truly are … is not what we’d convinced ourselves.”

Gist: This follows the affair between Andrea (Jemima Kirke), a former teen prodigy turned heroin addict who is trying to be a writer now that she’s sober, and Nick (Dornan), a writer who’s found success with his memoir of war-time bravery, which sees him showered in wealth and women. Meanwhile, Andrea’s little sister, Tara (Lola Kirke), finds her solid relationship with her older boyfriend, Martin (Mendelsohn), shaken when she is drawn to a charismatic rabbi with an even larger age gap.

Production Co./Producers: Scott LaStaiti (Jane Got a Gun), Luke Daniels (Yoga Hosers), Brandon K. Hogan

Prediction: U.S. Dramatic Comp or Premieres or Tribeca Film Fest or TIFF.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). Green-Light International (international)