Another Sundance is over, but now comes the good part for most of us. It’s time for the movies to leave Park City and head out into the world, where we can see them in theaters or streaming on Netflix. There weren’t a whole lot of deals at the festival this year, but we’ll try to update this calendar list if anything else turns up with distribution.
WATCH NOW ON NETFLIX
A Futile and Stupid Gesture (Premieres) – Will Forte portrays Doug Kenney in this star-studded comedy biopic tracing the history of National Lampoon (add to your list).
WATCH NOW ON SHOWTIME
Smoke Signals (Collection) – Sundance revisited this 1998 movie, which is out on video from various outlets but is currently easiest found on Showtime and its On Demand streaming platform.
The Trade (Special Events) – This five-part documentary miniseries from Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land) focuses on everyone involved in the business of heroin, and it just debuted its first episode on Showtime.
WATCH NOW ON VIMEO
Glucose (Shorts) – This surreal work by Jeron Braxton, who won the Short Film Jury Award for Animation, is available to stream right here:
COMING SOON TO NETFLIX
FEBRUARY
Seeing Allred (US Documentary Competition) – This documentary on women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred was actually acquired back in November ahead of its Sundance premiere, and it will be the first title available outside the festival, debuting to stream on February 9th (add to your list).
MARCH
Wild Wild Country (Special Events) – This six-part documentary series about the true story of a religious leader who built a utopian city in Oregon’s desert will arrive on Netflix on March 16th.
APRIL
Come Sunday (Premieres) – The latest from Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace) stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as an evangelical preacher who loses his followers when he preaches that Satan does not exist. Netflix is debuting the movie, which co-stars Lakeith Stanfield, Jason Segel, Martin Sheen, and Danny Glover, on April 13th.
TBD
The Kindergarten Teacher (US Dramatic Competition) – Sara Colangelo won the US Dramatic Directing Award for this film starring Maggie Gyllenhaal as a disinterested kindergarten teacher whose world is changed by a 5-year-old poet savant. Netflix will debut the movie sometimes in 2018.
Private Life (Premieres) – The new film by Tamara Jenkins (Savages) stars Kathryn Hahn as an author undergoing fertility treatment so she and her husband (Paul Giamatti) can get pregnant. Netflix is debuting the movie sometime this year but hasn’t revealed an exact date.
COMING SOON TO HBO
‘Believer’
SUMMER
Believer (Doc Premieres) – Grammy-winning Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds explores his Mormon church’s treatment of LGBTQ parishioners in this documentary, to be released on HBO sometime in the middle of the year.
TBD
Jane Fonda in Five Acts (Doc Premieres) – Susan Lacy’s film about Jane Fonda will be exclusively found on HBO and its streaming outlets later this year.
The Oslo Diaries (World Cinema Documentary Competition) – A look at the revolutionary 1992 peace talks between Israel and Palestine that would eventually be known as the Oslo Accords. HBO will release the film later this year in time for the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accords.
The Price of Everything (US Documentary Competition) – This documentary from Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect) looks at the contemporary art world and what various artists’ works are going for.
The Sentence (US Documentary Competition) – Rudy Valdez’s film was bought by HBO the same day it won the Audience Award for the US Documentary program. It’s a human-interest issue film focused on mandatory minimum drug sentencing and follows a mother of three serving 15 years in prison. The cable channel will premiere the doc later this year.
The Tale (US Dramatic Competition) – One of the buzziest, best-reviewed dramas of this year’s festival, Jennifer Fox’s memoir film surprised everyone by eschewing Oscar qualification and going to HBO (where it will likely be an Emmy contender at least). Laura Dern stars as Fox during a time when she confronted the sexual abuse she experienced as a teenage camper. HBO has yet to set a date.
COMING SOON TO EPIX
This Is Home (World Cinema Documentary Competition) – The latest from director Alexandra Shiva (How to Dance in Ohio), subtitled “a refugee story,” looks at the lives of Syrian families living in Baltimore. Winner of the audience award for the World Cinema Documentary program, the film sold to Epix, which will premiere it sometime this year.
COMING SOON TO STARZ
‘America to Me’
FALL
America to Me (Indie Episodic) – This 10-part documentary series from Steve James (Hoop Dreams), which is focused on black students at a high-achieving Chicago high school, will air on Starz in the fall.
COMING SOON TO CNN
TBD
RBG (Doc Premieres) – see theatrical plans, which come first, below.
Three Identical Strangers (US Documentary Competition) – see theatrical plans, which come first, below.
COMING SOON TO SHUDDER
TBD
Revenge (Midnight) – see theatrical plans, which come first, below.
COMING SOON TO YOUTUBE
TBD
Bodied (Special Event) – The winner of TIFF’s Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award, this dark comedy about the Oakland rap scene lists Eminem as its executive producer. A press release states that the film will see a theatrical release sometime this year before being released on YouTube Red.
COMING SOON TO OCULUS RIFT
TBD
SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime (New Frontiers VR Experiences) – Darren Aronofsky produced this VR title involving the music of the universe, and CityLights will put it out on Oculus Rift this year.
COMING SOON TO MUSEUMS
Zikr: A Sufi Revival (New Frontier Exhibitions) – This VR experience will allow people to join in with an Islamic ritual centered on singing and dancing. Dogwoof, a UK distributor known for its catalogue of documentaries, is attached and will distribute it to museums and art venues along with theaters.
COMING SOON TO THEATERS
MARCH
The Death of Stalin (Spotlight) – This historical satire from Armando Iannucci (Veep) about the final days of the Soviet dictator arrives in US theaters courtesy of IFC Films on March 9th.
Foxtrot (Spotlight) – Israel’s Oscar-shortlisted but not nominated drama centered around a military checkpoint will get a limited US release from Sony Pictures Classics on March 2nd.
What They Had (Premieres) – Blythe Danner is a woman with Alzheimer’s disease whose dysfunctional family — daughter (Hilary Swank), son (Michael Shannon), granddaughter (Taisa Farmiga), and husband (Robert Forster) — are brought together when she wanders out into a snowstorm. Bleecker Street Media is releasing the drama on March 16th.
APRIL
Beirut (Premieres) – This film by director Brad Anderson (The Machinist) and writer Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) stars Jon Hamm as a US diplomat who returns to Lebanon a decade after fleeing to help negotiate for a friend’s life. Bleecker Street Media is releasing this one in America on April 11th.
The Rider (Spotlight) – Sony Pictures Classics is releasing this drama, which is about a cowboy rethinking his life after a head injury, in theaters on April 13th. You can also catch the movie at SXSW.
Tully (Premieres) – Jason Reitman (Juno) re-teams with screenwriter Diablo Cody and their Young Adult actress Charlize Theron for this comedy about a mother gifted the help of a nanny (Mackenzie Davis). It hits theaters on April 20th.
You Were Never Really Here (Spotlight) – The latest from Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) stars Joaquin Phoenix as a veteran now working on tracking down missing girls. Amazon Studios is putting the movie in theaters on April 6th before it goes exclusively to stream on Prime Video.
MAY
Beast (Spotlight) – Michael Pearce’s feature film debut. This romantic thriller, which follows a relationship that takes a dark turn, will be released by 30West/Roadside Attractions sometime in May.
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (Premieres) – Gus Van Sant’s latest stars Joaquin Phoenix as cartoonist John Callahan and is being distributed by Amazon Studios, first to theaters on May 11th and later to stream on Prime Video.
A Kid Like Jake (Premieres) – Claire Danes and Jim Parsons play the parents of a boy who prefers Cinderella to G.I. Joe in this family drama also starring Octavia Spencer and Ann Dowd. The movie is set for release sometime in May.
JUNE
American Animals (US Dramatic Competition) – Bart Layton follows up his hit 2012 documentary The Imposter with a unique heist film starring Evan Peters and Ann Dowd. The Orchard has partnered with MoviePass for the North American release, which is set for June 1, while STXinternational has UK rights. You can also catch it at SXSW.
Hereditary (Midnight) – A creeping terror takes over a family after the death of their grandmother in this horror film, and A24 is looking to release the film theatrically on June 8th.
Sorry to Bother You (US Dramatic Competition) – Boots Riley’s fantastical Oakland-set comedy stars Lakeith Stanfield as a telemarketer with a sudden magical power to sell. Also starring Tessa Thompson and Armie Hammer, the movie will be put out by Annapurna Pictures sometime on June 29th.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Doc Premieres) – Focus Features is putting out this documentary about Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, in theaters on June 8th. The film can also be found before that at SXSW.
JULY
Generation Wealth (Doc Premieres) – This documentary from Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) looks at materialism in America and is due in theaters from Evergreen Pictures on July 20th before eventually going on to stream on Prime Video. You can also catch it at SXSW.
SUMMER
Juliet, Naked (Premieres) – This sweet comedy from director Jesse Peretz (Our Idiot Brother) and producer Judd Apatow stars Rose Byrne as a woman who follows up a 15-year relationship with a music nerd (Chris O’Dowd) by starting a long-distance romance with his singer-songwriter idol (Ethan Hawke). Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions plan to released the film in theaters sometime midyear.
Skate Kitchen (Next) – The fiction feature debut of Crystal Moselle (The Wolfpack) is about a Long Island teen who joins up with a group of skateboarding girls in New York City. Magnolia picked up North American rights to the drama, which co-stars Jaden Smith, and aims for a summer theatrical release.
FALL
Wildlife (US Dramatic Competition) – Paul Dano’s directorial debut stars Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal as a couple whose marriage is coming apart before the eyes of their teenage son. IFC picked up the movie for a fall release with an awards push.
TBD
Assassination Nation (Midnight) – Sam Levinson’s timely midnight movie about a town losing its mind will be put out by Neon this year.
Blindspotting (US Dramatic Competition) – Lionsgate picked up this Oakland-set buddy comedy, which opened the festival. The company will distribute this year via Codeblack Films and Summit Entertainment.
Colette (Premieres) – Keira Knightly stars in this period piece from Wash Westmoreland (Still Alice) about a popular author whose husband receives credit for the work. Bleecker Street and 30 West will put the drama in theaters in North America while Lionsgate has the UK rights and Hanway Films has the rest of the international territories.
Eighth Grade (US Dramatic Competition) – Comedian Bo Burnham’s feature film debut focuses on the struggles of a middle school girl. A24 will be distributing the film, but first you can see it at SXSW.
The Guilty (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) – Winner of the audience award for its program, this Danish thriller about a police officer trying to help find a kidnapped woman from his dispatch room will be put out in North America by Magnolia. You could also catch it in Denmark starting June 14th.
Hearts Beat Loud (Premieres) – Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons star as a father and daughter who start a music act together before she begins college. Gunpoweder & Sky will be putting the movie out in North America while Sony has the rights for the rest of the world.
The King (Special Events) – Eugene Jarecki’s new documentary following a musical road trip in tribute to Elvis will be put in cinemas by Oscilloscope.
Kusama: Infinity (US Documentary Competition) – Magnolia has acquired the US rights to this documentary about legendary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
Leave No Trace (Premieres) – This drama from Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone) about a father and daughter living off the grid in Portland is based on the Peter Rock novel “My Abandonment” and will be distributed by Bleecker Street in the US, while Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions will handle international distribution.
Lizzie (US Dramatic Competition) – Chloe Sevigny plays notorious axe murderer Lizzie Borden, who killed her father and stepmother in 1892, in this feature by Craig William Macneill. Kirsten Stewart and Kim Dickens also star, with Saban Films set to release the movie.
Lu Over the Wall (Kids) – GKIDS will put out this Japanese animated film involving a young boy and a mermaid sometime this year in the US.
Mandy (Midnight) – One of the most talked-about films from Sundance stars Nicolas Cage as a man forced to face violent attackers and supernatural creatures. XYZ Films produced and is set to self-distribute the film.
Monsters and Men (US Dramatic Competition) – Neon also acquired this drama about a black man killed by a police officer told three ways. The film won a Special Jury Award for Outstanding First Feature.
Night Comes On (NEXT) – This drama about a young woman’s journey after she’s released from juvenile detention tied for this year’s NEXT Innovator Prize.
Puzzle (Premieres) – Oscar-nominated producer Marc Turtletabu (Little Miss Sunshine) directed this drama about a suburban mother who develops a passion for jigsaw puzzles, which changes her life. Sony Pictures Classics picked this one up for theatrical release.
RBG (Doc Premieres) – Magnolia Pictures with Participant Media will handle the theatrical release of this Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary, and CNN will broadcast the film sometime afterwards.
Revenge (Midnight) – Coralie Fargeat’s feature debut is about a woman who takes revenge on her married lover and his friends when she’s left for dead during a hunting trip. Neon will put the timely movie into theaters in the US, then it goes on to Shudder.
Search (NEXT) – This thriller plays out completely on computer screens with John Cho playing a father trying find out what happened to his missing daughter. Winner of the Audience Award for the NEXT program and the tech-focused Alfred P. Sloan Prize, Search will be distributed by Sony this year.
Sweet Country (Spotlight) – Samuel Goldwyn Films has US distribution rights for this Australian Western about an Aboriginal man on the run after shooting a white man in self defense.
Three Identical Strangers (US Documentary Competition) – Tim Wardle presents the unbelievable story of separated triplets who discovered each other by chance as young men. Neon is attached to the doc, which received a Special Jury Award for Storytelling, and will release theatrically before CNN airs the television premiere.
UNKNOWN (BUT HOPEFULLY COMING SOON)
‘Bisbee ’17’
And Breathe Normally (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) – Isold Uggadottir won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award for this film about two women in Iceland whose lives intersect.
Bisbee ’17 (US Documentary Competition) – The latest film by Robert Greene (Kate Plays Christine) is about an Arizona mining town reckoningh with the deportation of 1200 immigrant miners a century earlier by re-creating this dark time in their history.
Blaze (US Dramatic Competition) – Ethan Hawke directed, wrote and produced this look into the life of country singer Blaze Foley. Benjamin Dickey, who plays the titular Blaze, won a Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting.
Burden (US Dramatic Competition) – Garett Hedlund stars in this movie based on the true story of a man’s time within the Ku Klux Klan. The film won the US Dramatic Competition’s Audience Award.
Butterflies (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) -Tolga Karaçelik’s film about three siblings who are strangers but come together to bury their estranged father won the Grand Jury Prize for the World Dramatic program.
Chef Flynn (Doc Premieres) – This documentary about a 10-year-old culinary prodigy has no distributor but can next be found at SXSW.
‘Clara’s Ghost’
Clara’s Ghost (NEXT) – Writer/director Bridey Elliott also co-stars with sister Abby Elliott, father Chris Elliott, and mother Paula Niedert Elliott in this family comedy that does indeed involve a ghost.
Crime + Punishment (US Documentary Competition) – This documentary about brave minority police officers exposing an illegal quota practices received a Special Jury Award for Social Impact.
Damsel (Premieres) – This Old West dramedy stars Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson and is currently without a distributor but is heading next to the Berlin Film Festival followed by SXSW.
Dead Pigs (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) – This film about various characters whose lives intersect outside of Shanghai received a Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting.
Genesis 2.0 (World Cinema Documentary Competition) – Maxim Arbugaev and Peter Indergand received a Special Jury Award for Cinematography for this film by Arbugaev and Christian Frei about the discovery of mammoth remains in the Arctic and the possibility of bringing the animal back from extinction.
‘Hal’
Hal (US Documentary Competition) – A documentary about movie director Hal Ashby.
Hale County This Morning, This Evening (US Documentary Competition) – This lyrical documentary, described as an “emotive impression of the Historical South,” received a Special Jury Award for Creative Vision.
Half the Picture (Doc Premieres) – This documentary about the low number of women directors working in Hollywood is without distribution but will be at SXSW next.
I Think We’re Alone Now (US Dramatic Competition) – This post-apocalyptic drama stars Peter Dinklage as the literal last man on earth — that is, until he meets Grace (Elle Fanning). The film received a Special Jury Award for Excellence in Filmmaking.
Kailash (US Documentary Competition) – An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim produced this film about Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and his movement to rescue children from slavery. The Derek Doneen-helmed feature won the Grand Jury Prize for the US Documentary program.
Lords of Chaos (Midnight) – Rory Culkin stars in this true crime tale set amidst the rise of Black Metal in Norway in the 1980s.
Madeline’s Madeline (NEXT) – This film about a theatre workshop project that goes too far has no US distributor yet but can next be found at the Berlin Film Festival.nig
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. (World Cinema Documentary Competition) – Stephen Loveridge and M.I.A. received a Special Jury Award for this film about the famous Sri Lankan artist and musician.
Minding the Gap (US Documentary Competition) – This doc about three young friends who escape from unhappy homes in the Rust Belt received a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (US Dramatic Competition) – After a teen girl is caught with another girl on prom night, she is shipped off to conversion therapy in this film starring Chloë Grace Moretz. The latest from filmmaker Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behavior), it was the winner of the US Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize.
‘Nancy’
Nancy (US Dramatic Competition) – Christina Choe won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for this film (also directed by Choe) about a woman (Andrea Riseborough) who believes she was kidnapped as a child and that she might be the long lost daughter of a couple she meets.
Of Fathers and Sons (World Cinema Documentary Competition) – Filmmaker Talal Derki follows up his 2014 Sundance winner, The Return to Homs, with this film that took the same honor, the Grand Jury Prize for the World Documentary program. For Of Fathers and Sons he returned to Syria and posed as a pro-jihadist documentarian in order to chronicle the life of a radical Islamist family.
On Her Shoulders (US Documentary Competition) – Alexandria Bombach (Frame by Frame) won the US Documentary Directing Award for this film about a young woman who survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS.
Ophelia (Premieres) – Daisy Ridley stars as the title character in this re-imagining of “Hamlet.”
Our New President (World Cinema Documentary Competition) – Filmmaker Maxim Pozdorovkin and Matvey Kulakov received a Special Jury Award for Editing for this doc presenting Donald Trump’s election through the lens of Russian propaganda.
The Queen of Fear (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) – Valeria Bertuccelli, who co-directed this film in which she plays an actress anxious about her one-woman show, received a Special Jury Award for Acting.
‘Shirkers’
Shirkers (World Cinema Documentary Competition) – Sandi Tan won the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award for this film about her own recovery of a film she shot 20 years earlier in Singapore.
Time Share (Tiempo Compartido) (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) – Julio Chavezmontes and Sebastián Hofmann received a Special Jury Award for Screenwriting for the script to Hofmann’s film about two men who need to save their family from a sinister American timeshare conglomerate.
Tyrel (US Dramatic Competition) – This drama about the only black guy at an otherwise very white weekend birthday party was constantly being compared to Get Out during the festival.
We the Animals (NEXT) – This imaginative coming-of-age film from Jeremiah Zagar, who is mostly known for documentaries, tied for the NEXT Innovator Prize.
Additional research and reporting by M.K. Abas.
Related Topics: Sundance
