Festival Predictions

2021 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Adam Leon’s Italian Studies

Published on November 18, 2020

When 2021 kicks off, Vanessa Kirby will be in Poland working on Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist while in the streaming world (and whatever arthouses that do remain open) we’ll be taking in the Lido offerings of Pieces of a Woman and The World to Come. One title that might pop up at Sundance is a project the actress filmed before the Venice Film Festival comp pair. Adam Leon broke out big with his debut, the rare SXSW followed by Cannes (Un Certain Regard) Gimme the Loot (2012) and then 2016’s Tramps (we got to interview him at TIFF) before lassoing this third project which the plotline has been kept away from the curious public. Italian Studies saw Leon hit the pavement with early Safdie Bros cinematographer Brett Jutkiewicz and production wrapped in March of 2019. Kirby was a big supporter of this project – she’s also an executive producer.

Gist: Unknown.

Production Co./Producers: Animal Kingdom’s Brad Becker-Parton, Andrea Roa and Joshua Astrachan, Jamund Washington, Topic Studios’ Gabby Green, Jason Reif.

Prediction: U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available.

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).