Festival Predictions

2022 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Alex Thompson’s Rounding

Published on November 24, 2021

After receiving tons of accolades for his feature debut film Saint Frances, filmmaker Alex Thompson began the year shooting an under-the-radar sophomore feature in Chicago. A dramatic thriller with a hospital backdrop, Thompson cast the film pairing of Namir Smallwood (and actor making his debut and was schooled by the Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre) and Sidney Flanigan (who broke out in Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always). titled Rounding, Thompson reunited with cinematographer Nate Hursellers, and yes, Kelly O’Sullivan who co-wrote Saint Frances is also in the fold as a supporting player.

Gist: This follows a driven young medical resident (Smallwood) who transfers to a rural hospital for a fresh start. There, the demons of his past start to catch up to him when he becomes consumed by the case of a young asthma patient (Flanigan).

Production Co./Producers: Alex Thompson, Leah Gaydos, Keaton Wooden, Julianna Imel, James Choi, Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Eddie Linker and Alex Wilson.

Prediction: U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available.
MarVista Entertainment / Endeavor Content (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).