The Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City after a two-year virtual hiatus and that means the in-person awards ceremony returned as well. Well, sorta.
20.01.2023 - 06:01 / deadline.com
The last time Mexican superstar Eugenio Derbez had a film at Sundance in 2021. The movie was CODA, and it not only swept all the top prizes at the fest that year, it went on to win three Oscars including Best Picture. He had a supporting role in that film as an inspirational high school music teacher, and now in Radical, which just had its world premiere at Sundance on opening night at the Eccles Theatre, he essays another inspirational teacher. This time it’s a true story and one in which he plays the lead role of Sergio Juarez.
Juarez (full name Sergio Juarez Correa) was the subject of a Wired magazine article by Josh Davis that detailed his rather incredible story as an unorthodox teacher in a poor Mexican border town called Matamoros. It is a forgotten poor city with little hope for its kids, particularly in the elementary school, where he uses a teaching method he stumbled upon seeing a TED Talks video in which the students lead the curriculum in learning what they want to learn, not what officials dictate through testing and other methods. Derbez takes on the role and dials down the comic persona for which he is so widely beloved now, not just in Mexico but the world over. As in CODA, he sheds any indication of that and demonstrates a strong dramatic talent that brings this man and his story to vivid life.
Yes, we have seen dozens of inspiring-teacher movies in the past — all the way from Goodbye Mr. Chips and To Sir, with Love to Conrack, The Marva Collins Story, Stand and Deliver, Dead Poets Society, Lean on Me and countless others. However this small, virtually unknown tale of a man determined to unlock the human potential of kids who likely never will beat the circumstances of their birthplace is unique and
The Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City after a two-year virtual hiatus and that means the in-person awards ceremony returned as well. Well, sorta.
The Sundance Film Festival has begun unveiling its Jury and Audience Award winners for 2023.
Three. Frustrating. Years. That’s how much time has passed since the Sundance Film Festival last held an in-person edition in Park City, Utah. (Put it this way: The opening night selection was the Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana, which chronicled the making of her 2018 album of Reputation. So, like, ancient history.) Blame the pandemic, of course. Because of safety fears, attendees couldn’t be in the room for the premiere of the eventual Oscar Best Picture winner, Coda, or cheer along for Questlove and the first screening of his own future Oscar pic, Summer of Soul. No sightings of a random Real Housewives star on the bustling Main Street. No napping during 8:30 AM screenings. No huffing and puffing walking in the snow in the frigid weather at high altitudes. No nothing.
Winter runway! Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway and more stars took over Sundance Film Festival 2023 — and made the event all about their stylish ensembles.
There is so much to appreciate about A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One. The film chronicles the lives of native New Yorkers from 1994-2005, which was a period of transition in NYC. The atmosphere began to change, as stop and frisk was over-utilized, gentrification was displacing the people of Harlem at rapid speed, and the culture of the city gave way to sterilization. Now there are even fewer resources available, the wage gap is beyond repair and it’s unaffordable. Rockwell drew inspiration from this and created a coming-of-age story about finding an identity and chosen family.
Theater Camp is a hilarious film by first time directors Molly Gordon (Booksmart), and Nick Lieberman. This was a collaborative effort between friends as it’s written by Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Nick Lieberman, and Noah Galvin. You can tell this is a labor of love because while it’s kooky, it’s full of vulnerability and earnestness.
The Persian Version, directed and written by Maryam Keshvarz stars Layla Mohammadi, and Niousha Noor as a mother and daughter at odds with one another.
EXCLUSIVE: Nielsen, the audience measurement, data and analytics organization unveiled today the findings of their case studies on Native content at a panel discussion in the Indigenous House at Sundance Film Festival, presented by , the Native woman-led social justice organization dedicated to building visibility and representation for Native peoples.
While introducing “Radical,” director Christopher Zalla (“Sangre de Mi Sangre”/”Blood of My Blood”) said it was a labor of love. In addition to that, he said it’s a “movie about what happens when kids are empowered.” And while the film definitely explores this in a well-crafted display of filmmaking, it also leaves a bit of a dark shadow in the minds of those allergic to the notion that your mind is all you need to succeed.
Written and directed by Nida Manzoor, Polite Society stars Priya Kansara (Bridgerton), Ritu Arya (Umbrella Academy) and Nimra Bucha (Disney+ Ms. Marvel). The Focus Features movie had its world premiere Friday in the Midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival.
Magazine Dreams is a drama and second feature directed by Elijah Bynum, which stars Jonathan Majors, Haley Bennett, Taylor Paige, and Harrison Page
So far nearly all the films I have been seeing for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival are based on true stories, from a teacher in Radical to a gay single father in San Francisco circa 70’s and 80’s to Michael J. Fox as himself, and now yet another iconic character gets his story told on the big screen. World Premiering at Sundance tonight is Cassandro, a wild story of the first openly gay wrestler in the ultra macho sport of Mexico’s Lucha Libre.