The Sundance Film Festival has just announced the full slate for its 2021 edition, which will take place January 28 through February 3, 2021, combining online screenings with physical screenings at satellite locations across the country. Among the selection of 72 feature-length films, representing 29 countries, there are some directed by Latin American filmmakers.
In the U.S. Documentary Competition, three films by Latinx directors will have their world premiere: Rebel Hearts by Brazilian-born Pedro Kos, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It by Puerto Rican Mariem Pérez Riera’s Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, and Users by Mexican-born Natalia Almada.
In Rebel Hearts a group of pioneering nuns bravely stand up to the Catholic Church patriarchy, fighting for their livelihoods, convictions and equality against an all-powerful Cardinal. From marching in Selma in 1965 to the Women’s March in 2018, these women have reshaped our society with their bold acts of defiance.
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It follows the Puerto Rican star who defied both her humble upbringing and relentless racism to become one of a select group who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award. Over a seventy year career, she has paved the way for Hispanic-American performers by refusing to be pigeonholed into one-dimensional stereotypes.
In Users, a mother wonders, will my children love their perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother? She switches on a smart-crib lulling her crying baby to sleep. This perfect mother is everywhere. She watches over us, takes care of us. We listen to her. We trust her.
Two South American films will have their world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition: the Argentine film The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet / El perro que no calla by Ana Katz, and the Brazilian film The Pink Cloud, written and directed by Iuli Gerbase. Starring Daniel Katz, Julieta Zylberberg, Valeria Lois, Mirella Pascual, and Carlos Portaluppi, Katz’s film follows Sebastian, a man in his thirties, who works a series of temporary jobs and he embraces love at every opportunity. He transforms, through a series of short encounters, as the world flirts with possible apocalypse. Cast:
In The Pink Cloud, starring Renata de Lélis and Eduardo Mendonça, a mysterious and deadly pink cloud appears across the globe, forcing everyone to stay home. Strangers at the outset, Giovana and Yago try to invent themselves as a couple as years of shared lockdown pass. While Yago is living in his own utopia, Giovana feels trapped deep inside.
Participating in the Next competition, dedicated to pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling populate this program, is the U.S.-Mexico co-production Son of Monarchs by director Alexis Gambis. Starring Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Alexia Rasmussen, Lázaro Gabino Rodríguez, Noé Hernández, and Paulina Gaitán, the film tells the story of a Mexican biologist living in New York who returns to his hometown, nestled in the majestic monarch butterfly forests of Michoacán, after his grandmother’s death. The journey forces him to confront past traumas and reflect on his hybrid identity, sparking a personal and spiritual metamorphosis.
The New Frontier section will feature the projects 4 Feet High VR from Argentina and France by lead artists: María Belén Poncio, Rosario Perazolo Masjoan, Damian Turkieh, and Ezequiel Lenardón; The Changing Same: Episode 1 by Latinx filmmaker Michèle Stephenson , and Joe Brewster, Yasmin Elayat; Prison X – Chapter 1 : The Devil and The Sun by Bolivian filmmaker Violeta Ayala, and Alap Parikh, Maria Corvera Vargas, Roly Elias.
