Sundance 2010: The Romantics, The Kids are Alright & It’s a Wonderful Afterlife Added to Line-Up

As I mentioned before, Sundance is a place where female filmmakers get to shine, and the festival has just announced that a trio in Gurinder Chadha, Galt Niederhoffer and Lisa Cholodenko (which I had placed high in my predictions for the upcoming edition) will be added to the line-up in the Premieres section. Honestly I’m surprised to see The Romantics get a slot, because I could have sworn I just looked at some pics from the set — it’ll be a made dash in the editing room for sure for the first time filmmaker and vet Plum Pictures producer. I was beginning to think that Cholodenko’s The Kids Are Alright would be added as the secret “mystery screening” of the festival, but know I’ll feed the rumor mill and say it’ll be the mock docu that Casey Affleck and Phoenix made over the summer.

The Kids Are Alright is scripted by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, amidst the modern day backdrop of the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks, the story begins with a glimpse into the convergent lifestyles of a lesbian couple, Nic and Jules (A.Benning, J.Moore) along with their two teenage children, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser. Nic is a successful gynecologist who loves her wine and Jules is an aspiring landscape designer, trying to get her new business off the ground.

The Romantics is based on Galt Niederhoffer’s own novel, seven close friends reunite for the wedding of two of their friends. Problems arise because the bride and the maid of honor have had a long rivalry over the groom. Pic above: Kaite Holmes and Josh Duhamel.

It’s A Wonderful Afterlife follows a British-Asian mother whose obsession to marry off her daughter comically leads to serial murder. Shabana Azmi, Goldy Notay, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Sally Hawkins star.