Sundance Film Festival Announces Its Festival Program

Published on December 5, 2019

Sundance Film Festival has announced its highly anticipated program for the 2020 event. With films from some of the worlds leading and most innovative filmmakers, the 2020 program brings together a diverse and disruptive collection of films that will likely define the end of life in the 2010’s as we move into the 2020’s.

118 Films Announced For 2020 Event

As one of the biggest and most important film festivals in the world, Sundance has canonized itself as a major film industry tastemaker, setting the bar for what film will look like throughout the remainder of the year. 2020’s program is no exception to that testament, as projects from some of the world’s leading filmmakers of today are part of the bill for the upcoming event.

Sifting through the list of the 118 films that were announced on December 4th by the festival, certain titles, filmmakers, and actors stand out almost immediately. At first glance, the list of films (which are ordered based on category, then alphabetically) draws attention to names like Kali Uchis and Tessa Thompson, as well as Sundance favorites like filmmaker Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson, Citizenfour).

Topics for the festival also range, with explosive documentaries on things like disinformation and its threat to democracy in A Thousand Cuts, to nuanced dramas about immigrant life in the United States in Blast Beat. The festival has, in recent years, focused on diversifying its lineup of films—both in its filmmakers and the topics of the films that are showcased.

More Diverse Than Ever

While many of the names coming to Sundance this year are regulars at the festival, the event focused on showcasing a more diverse array of films and filmmakers more than ever for the 2020 event. A record-breaking 15,100 films were submitted to the event, with 118 making the final cut in the program that was released this week.

“Independent artists create and enrich global culture. Their art, which we’re proud to present, can entertain – and much more: it can, illuminate, agitate, and empower,” said the festival founder Robert Redford in a press release. “This year’s Festival is full of films that showcase myriad ways for stories to drive change, across hearts, minds, and societies,” he continued.

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival features 118 films from 27 countries. 44 of the filmmakers are first-time filmmakers, representing Sundance’s biggest initiative ever to expose new filmmakers in the festival. Nearly half of the filmmakers being showcased in the event this year are women, with 38% of the filmmakers being people of color. 12% of the filmmakers are LGBTQ+, representing one of Sundance’s most diverse festivals to-date. Click here to read the entire program lineup.

Julia Sachs is a former Managing Editor at Grit Daily. She covers technology, social media and disinformation. She is based in Utah and before the pandemic she liked to travel.

Read more

More GD News