The 2016 Sundance Film Festival is well underway, but if you're not there and feel a terrible pain like you're missing out on a bunch of great movies, we do have good news for you. You will be able to see those movies! Well, some of them at least. (Watch all our interviews from this year's festival here.)
There are over 100 movies that premiere at Sundance each year, and while a few of them do already have distributors and release dates in place, that's usually not the case. In fact, most movies that premiere at Sundance are hoping to grab enough attention at the festival to snag a highly coveted distribution deal. Often these deals take months to happen, but distributors do try to lock down some of the more buzzed-about titles as soon as possible. So here's a list of everything that's been picked up at Sundance so far.
This list has been updated as of January 27, 2016.
Author: The JT Leroy Story
Bought by: Amazon
Directed by: Jeff Feuerzeig
Starring: Laura Albert
What it's about: A documentary about a punk rocker who invented an author who ended up taking the literary world by storm in the early 2000s.
The Birth of a Nation
Bought by: Fox Searchlight for theatrical and home video.
Directed by: Nate Parker
Starring: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union, Penelope Ann Miller
What it's about: The true story of an American-born slave who lead the biggest slave rebellion in American history.
Complete Unknown
Bought by: Amazon Studios.
Directed by: Joshua Marston
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates, Danny Glover, Michael Chernus
What it's about: A man (Shannon) abandons his own birthday party to chase a strange woman (Weisz) into the city night after he becomes convinced he knows her, even though she won't admit that he does.
The Fits
Bought by: Oscilloscope Laboratories for theatrical and home video.
Directed by: Anna Rose Holmer
Starring: Royalty Hightower, Makyla Burnam, Inayah Rodgers
What it's about: A coming-of-age drama about a young tomboy who trades boxing for a dance team.
The Fundamentals of Caring
Bought by: Netflix for worldwide subscribers. Theatrical rights are available.
Directed by: Rob Burnett
Starring: Paul Rudd, Craig Roberts, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Ehle, Megan Ferguson, Frederick Weller
What it's about: A comedy about a man (Rudd) who becomes the caregiver for a teenager with muscular dystrophy (Roberts), taking him on a road trip wherein they each learn to appreciate life a little more.
Indignation
Bought by: Lionsgate Summit Entertainment for theatrical and home video.
Directed by: James Schamus
Starring: Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tracy Letts, Linda Emond, Danny Burstein
What it's about: A drama about a young man in 1950s America who avoids the draft for the Korean War by going to college, only to discover that he can't really please anyone in his life.
Love & Friendship
Bought by: Roadside Attractions for theatrical, Amazon Studios for its subscribers.
Directed by: Whit Stlimman
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell, Tom Bennett, Stephen Fry
What it's about: An adaptation of an unpublished novella by Jane Austen, it's a comedy about an aristocrat (Beckinsale) who moves in with her in-laws in order to lay low and hide from rumors. While there, she recruits a friend (Sevigny) to help her find a husband for her daughter.
Manchester by the Sea
Bought by: Amazon
Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan (Margaret, You Can Count on Me)
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Gretchen Mol
What it's about: An uncle (Casey Affleck) leaves Boston to return to his hometown and help raise his 16-year-old nephew after his brother's unexpected death.
Morris from America
Bought by: A24 for theatrical and home video.
Directed by: Chad Hartigan
Starring: Markees Christmas, Craig Robinson, Carla Juri, Lina Keller
What it's about: A boy (Markees Christmas) moves to Germany with his father (Craig Robinson) and falls in love with a local girl.
Resilience
Bought by: Brainstorm Media
Directed by: James Redford
Starring: A handful of real-life doctors.
What it's about: A documentary exploring the link between heart disease and childhood abuse and trauma.
Sand Storm
Bought by: Beta Cinema
Directed by: Elite Zexer
Starring: Lamis Ammar, Ruba Blal-Asfour, Haytham Omari, Khadija Alakel, Jalal Masarwa
What it's about: A woman living in a Bedouin village in Israel navigates complex social and religious relationships when her husband takes on a second wife and her daughter becomes involved with a forbidden boy.
Tallulah
Bought by: Netflix for U.S. subscribers. Theatrical rights are available.
Directed by: Sian Heder
Starring: Ellen Page, Allison Janney, Tammy Blanchard, Evan Jonigkeit, Uzo Aduba
What it's about: A young woman (Page) decides to "rescue" a baby from a negligent mother only to realize that maybe she's not as equipped to raise a child as she thought so she turns to her mother (Janney) for help.
Under the Shadow
Bought by: Netflix for worldwide subscribers. Theatrical still available.
Directed by: Babak Anvar
Starring: Narges Rashid, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Ray Haratian, Arash Marandi
What it's about: Set in Iran in 1988, a mother is left to look watch over her child as the Iran-Iraq war intensifies. As if that's not stressful enough, the mother and child soon experience a type of haunting from an ancient spirit called a djinn.
Weiner
Bought by: IFC for theatrical and VOD; Showtime for television.
Directed by: Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
Starring: Anthony Weiner
What it's about: A documentary that tracks rising politician Anthony Weiner's fall from grace following a highly publicized sexting scandal.
