- Festivals
Sundancing 2020: Women Lead the Way
The Farewell and Parasite were such successes. One such project could be Sin Señas Particulares (Identifying Features) which deals with the current hot button issue of the US-Mexico border and a lost child. The film is directed by Fernanda Valadez. Another topic that could draw buyers is Yalda, A Night for Forgiveness about a young Iranian woman sentenced to death for the murder of her abusive husband. Or Cuties about a group of Senegalese girls hoping to win a dance competition.
Sundancing in Park City (clockwise from top left): The Glorias, Wendy, Cuties, Hillary, and Downhill. sundance film festival
normal’>Downhill, a remake of the Swedish film Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, The Father with Anthony Hopkins, and Promising Young Woman with Carey Mulligan who plays a vengeful feminist in Emerald Fennel’s film about the #MeToo era. Up for grabs, however, is Kajillionaire, directed Miranda July with Evan Rachel Wood and Gina Rodriguez. And the psycho-drama Shirley by Josephine Decker with Elisabeth Moss playing a horror writer. Among the other most anticipated films of this year’s festival are The Glorias by Julie Taymor, in which Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander play Gloria Steinem at different ages. Bette Midler, Janelle Monáe, Lorraine Toussaint and Timothy Hutton round out the cast. Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci star in Wendy is a Peter Pan-like story about a girl and her brothers fleeing to a lonely island where time stands still.
Hillary, Hillary Clinton talks openly about Monica Lewinsky, her marriage, failed campaign and women in politics. One comment she makes on former and current presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is sure to cause some controversy: “Nobody wants to work with him.” And speaking of controversy: Oprah Winfrey pulled her support from the Russell Simmons doc On The Record less than two weeks before the festival and Simmons’ victims (he is accused of raping 20 women) are more than rattled. Oprah’s withdrawal has prompted harsh criticism by advocates who call it “Ron Howard are as much part of it as topics like ‘Power of Story’ and the HFPA’s very own ‘Women Breaking Barriers’ with Keri Putnam, Kerry Washington, Julie Taymor, Frankie Shaw and Lisa Jackson which is co-produced by Sundance TV and will be live-streamed on this site.