Sundance U.S. Documentary Competition

Sundance 2024: Gaucho Gaucho is majestic, magnificent documentary portrait of Argentinian cowboys, cowgirls as stewards of tradition that defies modern society

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With the three documentaries that filmmakers Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw have brought to Sundance in the last six years, the viewer has been encouraged to slow down and luxuriate in the whole cinematic experience of visuals, subjects, music and sound design. In 2018, the directors took audiences to the final stock car racetrack of … Read more

Sundance 2024: Frida is sumptuous tribute to Kahlo, highlighting her durable status as a major cultural icon

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Seventy years after her death at the age of 47, Frida Kahlo remains as popular as ever in contemporary culture, with a durability that matches or even surpasses that of prominent artists of her time such as Georgia O’Keeffe.  The recipient of the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2024 … Read more

Sundance 2024: Superlative and gripping, Sugarcane takes viewers to elucidating plane of empathy, truth, reconciliation

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In North America, the horrific legacy of federal Indian residential and boarding schools has never been new to Indigenous communities. In the superlative and gripping documentary, Sugarcane, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, we learn just how profoundly ingrained the trauma of that legacy continues to affect every Indigenous person in British Columbia. The … Read more

Sundance 2024: Union makes for well-paced documentary film, packing zip, punch and drama into story about independent labor organizing

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In the 1930s, unions organized with tremendous success, eventually coming to represent more than one-third of the nation’s workforce by the mid-1950s. The same period saw unions able to shut down companies through strikes in order to force executives to the bargaining table. The General Motors strike in 1937, which autoworkers used to gain recognition … Read more

Sundance 2024: Porcelain War is extraordinary testament in new frame of documentary filmmaking about war combat, indispensable presence of art

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A title card in the opening of Porcelain War reads: “Nearly all the footage you are about to watch was shot by the subjects in this film.” This film is extraordinary not only for its thematic structure and cinematography that offers a unique perspective on what the gravity of relentless combat entails but also for … Read more

Sundance 2024: Mesmerizing and riveting, Love Machina blends love story into earnest belief in benevolent possibilities of technology

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After watching Love Machina (C41 Media), one of the films in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, one can truly hope that the benevolent vision of singularity which Martine and Bina Rothblatt espouse will come to fruition. Directed by Peter Sillen, the documentary traverses a lot of advanced technological territory — … Read more

Sundance 2024: Documentaries predominate list on deck for The Utah Review festival coverage

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Part II summarizes the films and programs from Sundance 2024 that are part of The Utah Review coverage. For Part I which is an overview of the state of the film industry in Utah, see here. One of the potential advantages in this year”s slimmer slate for the 2024 edition of the Sundance … Read more