Our Favorite Films from Sundance 2020
OVER 120 FEATURE FILMS and countless more shorts screened at Sundance this year. As always, that’s way more films than you can cram into one trip, though our 30 Into the Noise attendees certainly made a valiant effort to get to as many of them as possible! However, out of the films we did get to see, 12 have stuck with us since we returned from Park City to the hustle and bustle of our daily lives.
If you care about diverse stories that provoke empathy and transformation, you’ll want to keep an eye out for these film:
Charm City Kings
This coming-of-age drama takes audiences inside the little-known Baltimore dirt bike subculture as Mouse, a middle-schooler who wants to become a veterinarian but gets increasingly drawn into the criminal world of drug-running biker gangs. Few films can offer you both a high-energy chase scene featuring pulse-pounding dirt bike tricks and a gripping drama filled with fully-realized characters played by a stellar supporting cast including Meek Mill and Teyonah Parris—but Charm City Kings does just that. Before the film comes out, be sure to watch the 2013 documentary that inspired it, 12 O’Clock Boys, too!
Crip Camp
This spirited documentary shares the true story of Camp Jened, a camp for disabled teens in the 1970s whose campers-turned-activists shaped the future of disability rights in America. With a treasure trove of archival footage, this inspiring true story weaves together campers’ personal stories with the history of the disability rights movement and will leave you feeling inspired to create change.
Dick Johnson is Dead
In the face of her father’s increasing dementia, director Kirsten Johnson crafts a loving, defiant and often very funny elegy of sorts across this film’s 89 minutes. Johnson’s last film—the inventive and award-winning Cameraperson—premiered at Sundance in 2016, and Dick Johnson is Dead feels like a natural progression from that film, showcasing a father-daughter relationship that chooses to deal with the reality of death in an utterly original fashion.
Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen
Featuring interviews with a boatload of trans culture-makers, from Laverne Cox and Lilly Wachowski to Mj Rodriguez and Chaz Bono, this documentary powerfully explores the history of trans individuals on screen—and how that representation has influenced our assumptions, biases and stereotypes about trans people. At a time when our government seems intent on erasing trans lives, this timely documentary is a must-see.
Kajillionaire
Describing this crime comedy as “offbeat” is putting it lightly. Kajillionaire looks at what happens when opposites collide, as an absurd family of low-level con artists invites an effervescent stranger into their next scheme. Starring Evan Rachel Wood as the repressed and quiet daughter of the crime family and Gina Rodriguez as her ebullient opposite, Kajillionaire’s strangeness may alienate some audiences—but it’s guaranteed to be a cult classic with its off-kilter tone and playful idiosyncrasies.
Minari
This semi-autobiographical and heartwarming tale from director Lee Isaac Chung got a standing ovation at Sundance. Following a Korean-American family who moves from the West Coast to a small town in Arkansas in the 1980s, this film treats each character with sensitivity, warmth and understanding. You’ll fall in love with the Yi family, laughing and crying with them as they seek out their very own American Dream.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Already winning praise at festivals around the world, Never Rarely Sometimes Always is another timely tale full of compassion and sensitivity. After a Pennsylvania teenager becomes pregnant, she and her friend must travel to New York City for an abortion—but don’t let the seemingly straightforward plot fool you. This quiet, evocative story, centered around the brilliant performances of its two female leads, feels utterly real in every detail and will stick with you long after the credits end.
Nine Days
This might be the most unique, original film of the year. Starring an excellent Winston Duke and filled with unforgettable, gorgeous visuals, we can’t recommend this life-affirming film enough. Writer and director Edson Oda creates a supernatural world where different souls—played by the likes of Zazie Beetz, Tony Hale, and more—are interviewed and tested for the privilege of being born into a human body. The story boldly poses deep questions about the meaning of life and what we’re all doing here on this little blue planet and dares the audience to reconsider our entire worldview.
Save Yourselves!
When Jack and Su leave their painfully hip NYC abode for a tech-free, internet-free weekend in a remote cabin, they end up missing the news that aliens have attacked the planet. This hilarious sci-fi feature skewers millennial anxiety about technology and Brooklynite hipsterdom with a high-concept premise and a tight script that keeps the jokes coming at a near-constant rate.
Uncle Frank
A laugh-out-loud road trip story that will nonetheless leave you in a puddle of tears by its end, Uncle Frank is a literal journey of acceptance that takes us from the boho world of gay New York to a rural Christian community in South Carolina. Paul Bettany gives an outstanding performance in the titular role as a gay man who must journey home to the South for a funeral—and come out to his conservative family as well. If you loved writer-director Alan Ball’s HBO show Six Feet Under, which might just be the tearjerker to end all tearjerkers, you’ll love this film.
Coming soon to Amazon Prime Video.
Welcome to Chechnya
Directed by award-winning LGBTQ documentarian and reporter David France, this harrowing doc focuses on the ongoing anti-gay purges in Chechnya and features real interviews with LGBT refugees from the region. The film follows several of these individuals’ journeys into a terrifying, unknown future as they flee government forces and violently homophobic citizens. It’s by no means a pleasant viewing experience, but it’s absolutely necessary viewing that should inspire all of us to take action.
Zola
Anyone who’s on Twitter has been waiting for this film for a while, and they won’t be disappointed by the end result. Based on the unlikeliest of source materials—a viral series of 148 tweets from the then-unknown Twitter user Aziah King—this film is just as compelling as the tweets that inspired it. Filled with strippers, murder, and melodrama in backwater Florida, the movie cleverly translates its online origins to the big screen as dialogue is lifted directly from tweets, emojis included. Don’t miss this one—but be sure to read the original tweet thread first.
Dive Into the Noise with Level Ground at Sundance 2021! The Sundance Film Festival happens every year at the end of January, but Level Ground starts planning our Into The Noise trip much sooner. To join us, subscribe to the Level Ground newsletter and look for an email in July about putting down a deposit.