Festival Predictions

2019 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: #85. Babak Anvari – Transgression

Published on November 23, 2018

Another Sundance alumni who broke out big at the fest with Under the Shadow, Babak Anvari quickly lined up a pair of projects with this psychological horror film first in line. Principal photography on the untitled project commenced back in April in New Orleans with Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, Zazie Beetz and Karl Glusman to boot. With Annapurna stamping this with a March release, perhaps Sundance is in the cards.

Gist: Based on book The Visible Filth by Nathan Ballingrud, the story follows a New Orleans bartender whose life begins to unravel after a series of disturbing and inexplicable events begins to happen when he picks up a phone left behind at his bar.

Production Co./Producers: Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison (Vice), AZA Films’ Christopher Topp, Two & Two Pictures’ Lucas Toh.

Prediction: Premieres section.

U.S. Distributor: Annapurna Pictures – March 29, 2019 release.

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).