Festival Predictions

2019 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: #57. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre – Mustang

Published on November 22, 2018

Having gone into production in November of 2017 and not having a festival berth in 2018 meant that the Sundance 2019 was part of the long game after-all for Mustang. With a full year in post production, French actress Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre has gone through the entire “Sundance” process – having her short film Rabbit (2014) presented there, earning slots at both Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs – we interviewed the filmmaker back in 2016). Connie Britton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Josh Stewart, Bruce Dern, Gideon Adlon and Jason Mitchell star.

Gist: Written by Clermont-Tonnerre, Brock Norman and Mona Fastvold, Roman Coleman (Schoenaerts), a violent convict is given the chance to participate in the rehabilitation-therapy program training wild mustangs. Roman forms a strong bond with a particularly difficult horse, which forces him to confront his harsh past and innermost demons.

Production Co./Producers: Alain Goldman (J’accuse)

Prediction: U.S. Dramatic Comp.

U.S. Distributor: Focus Features.

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).