Walter Thompson-Hernández, Kogonada and Makoto Nagahisa are just some of the alluring unique filmmaker talents working on the type of cinema that you can’t always easily define as one thing. Working from a project he workshopped in the Sundance labs, Walter Thompson-Hernández brings us If I Go Will They Miss Me. Columbus director Kogonada moves back from Hollywood to Indiewood for a return to Park City with zi. He broke out with We Are Little Zombies (read review) at Sundance in 2019, Makoto Nagahisa returns with a feature length project called BURN starring Nana Mori. Here are the nine films projects working in fiction and non-fiction and everything in-between:
Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] / U.S.A., Denmark (Directors and Producers: Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, Producers: Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington, Jacque Clark, Franny Alfano) — Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online for public.
BURN / Japan (Director and Screenwriter: Makoto Nagahisa, Producers: Yasuo Suzuki, Kazunori Seki, Takeyasu Koganezawa) — When runaway teen Ju-Ju is embraced by a tribe of misfit youths in Kabukicho, she finds belonging for the first time — until betrayal and despair twist her haven into a prison, and she’s left with one way to take back control. Cast: Nana Mori. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for public.
Ghost in the Machine / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Valerie Veatch) — The untold origins of artificial intelligence lie not in machines but in power, revealing the fantasies behind the hype that got us here and where we go next. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online for public.
If I Go Will They Miss Me / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Walter Thompson-Hernández, Producers: Josh Peters, Saba Zerehi, Ben Stillman) — Twelve-year-old Lil Ant struggles to connect with his father when he begins to see surreal, almost spectral visions of boys drifting around his neighborhood. Their presence reveals a link between father and son, laying bare the threads that bind family, legacy, and place. Cast: Danielle Brooks, J. Alphonse Nicholson. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for public.
The Incomer / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Louis Paxton, Producers: Shirley O’Connor, Emily Gotto) — On a remote Scottish isle, siblings Isla and Sandy hunt birds and talk to mythical beings while fighting off outsiders. Their lives change when Daniel, an awkward official, arrives to relocate them. Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin, Grant O’Rourke, Emun Elliott, Michelle Gomez, John Hannah. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for public.
Jaripeo / Mexico, U.S.A., France (Directors: Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig, Producer: Sarah Strunin) — A journey to Michoacán’s hypermasculine rodeos descends into the subconscious of memory, queer desire, and longing, leading to a reckoning with the wounds and beauty of a home left behind. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online for public.
Night Nurse / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Georgia Bernstein, Producers: Edwin Linker, Liane Cunje, Veronica Barbosa, Lucy Rogers) — As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient. Cast: Cemre Paksoy, Bruce McKenzie, Eléonore Hendricks, Colleen Rose Trundy, Mimi Rogers. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for public.
TheyDream / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: William David Caballero, Screenwriters and Producers: Erin Ploss-Campoamor, Elaine del Valle, Producer: Brad Jones) — After 20 years of chronicling his Puerto Rican family, a director and his mother face devastating losses. Through tears and laughter, they craft animations that bring their loved ones back to life, discovering that every act of creation is also an act of letting go. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online for public.
zi / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Kogonada, Producers: Chung An, Christopher Radcliff, Benjamin Loeb, Haley Lu Richardson, Michelle Mao, Jin Ha) — In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her night — and possibly her life. Cast: Michelle Mao, Haley Lu Richardson, Jin Ha. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online for public.
