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When HFPA journalists interviewed Diane Keaton in 2001 about the movie Sister Mary Explains It All, where she played a nun, she talked about religion, heaven and hell. “I have not had much contact with nuns, except to see them in Fellini films, but Sister Mary didn’t think that the Catholic Church really held up on its promise, which was that it would never change.

Conscience (Conciencia’) stars Ruben Zamora, Carla Nieto and Barbara De Regil.  It is Sergio Peña’s opera prima, and it narrates the intimate story of a writer who finds himself in a deep state of emotional confusion and, while he is starting a new relationship, he continues to fight and be tormented by memories of a past love affair.

The Guit brothers, Harpo and Lenny, are bringing their directorial debut movie, Mother Schmuckers, to the 2021 virtual edition of Sundance as the first ever Belgian entry to the famed Midnight Section devoted to genre and extreme cinema. Set in Brussels, the story follows two brothers, Issachar (Maxi Delmelle) and Zabulon (Harpo Guit – also co-director), both in their twenties, who have not quite emotionally evolved into manhood.

Golden Globe nominee Walter Bernstein, who died in Manhattan aged 101, was one of the last survivors of the blacklist, the McCarthy era's witch hunt that destroyed the Hollywood careers of writers, actors, and other industry folks in the 1950s. Bernstein not only rebuilt his career but used his experience to craft an award-winning movie about his travails and survival.

One of the benefits and pleasures of watching films from foreign lands is the invitation to visit the unique stories, vistas, languages and traditions of unfamiliar places and cultures. The Hater, the current film by Jan Komasa, does not provide this.

If you have ever experienced the deep serenity and powerful joy of hugging a tree, this movie might be for you. More than that, Toorbos is a brilliant film that takes you to the South Africa’s Knysna forest of the 1930s; an unusual and rarely shown landscape and time in the life of the African nation.

The Legend of the White Snake is one of the Four Great Folktales in Chinese literature. It is about a beautiful snake spirit who falls in love with a human named Xu Xian.

Giorgio Diritti's Hidden Away (Volevo nascondermi) is about Italian visionary artist Antonio Ligabue, one of the most important “naif” artists of the 20th century. Born in 1899 (he died in 1965), Ligabue started painting and sculpting in the early 1920s, while supported by the City Hospice for Beggars in Reggio Emilia and the region of the Po river delta, on the banks of which he often lived.

The ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has forced significant changes to the 2021 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, along with the rest of the world. But for the fourth consecutive year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) presented its panel this year titled: “Women Breaking Barriers: An Industry Shift” panel – in an exclusively virtual presentation on Saturday, January 30.

As with all film festivals, the opening night film is a coveted spot and helps set the tone for audience expectations. For the 2021 online edition of the Sundance Film Festival, that function fell to the drama Coda, written and directed by Sian Heder.