Festival Predictions

2019 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: #40. Liza Mandelup – Jawline (Docu)

Published on November 21, 2018

Featured as one of Filmmaker Mag’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2017, it’s the close proximity with her subjects (perhaps in the same philosophy or approach as Crystal Moselle) that should make Jawline an incredibly personal docu to watch out for. Liza Mandelup saw her project get backed by the Cinereach folks and was recently encouraged by support from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund and SF Film Fund Grant for the final stretch.

Gist: This intimate story about teenage connection in the digital age, follows Austyn Tester, a rising star in the live-broadcast ecosystem who had built his following with grassroots and big dreams. Propped up by fangirl lust and wide-eyed optimism, Austyn tries to escape his life in rural Tennessee against all odds.

Production Co./Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Lauren Cioffi, Sacha Ben Harroche, Hannah Reyer

Prediction: U.S. Documentary Competition.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). TBD (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).