Festival Predictions

2024 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Dev Patel’s Monkey Man

Published on November 14, 2023

Netflix will indeed have a presence at Sundance this year and could showcase a good trio of films and one item that could break into the line-up (especially since, to our surprise, it did not surface on the fest circuit in 2023) is actor Dev Patel‘s directorial debut. Described as a “John Wick in Mumbai,” Monkey Man has yet to be dated and has already gone through quite the challenge flying into the storm of the pandemic and having to relocate, but it’s been in post since 2022 and will be ready. Written by Paul Angunawela, John Collee and Patel, the action-thriller stars Patel, Sharlto Copley, Sobhita Dhulipala and Sikandar Kher. Cinematographer Sharone Meir (2014’s Whiplash) is onboard here.

Gist: A recently released ex-felon living in India struggles to adjust to a world of corporate greed and eroding spiritual values.

Production Co./Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Dev Patel, Samarth Sahni, Jomon Thomas.

Prediction: Premieres.

U.S. Distributor/: Netflix.

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).