A couple of weeks ago, I made the annual pilgrimage to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, the festival’s last year there after a 45 year run. Next year, film lovers will gather in Boulder, CO, for the festival’s new home. This year’s trip to Sundance was made possible, in part, by an organizational mini-grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission, which you can learn more about here. I am grateful for not only this mini-grant but for the great work that the MAC does in nurturing arts organizations and supporting artists across our state.
I was able to screen close to two dozen films out of Sundance with an eye to bringing some of these films to Mississippi over the next year. In no particular order, here are my top seven films from this year’s festival:
Joybubbles is an amazing documentary that tells the story of Joybubbles (née Joe Engressia), who discovers he can manipulate the telephone system by whistling a magic tone. Born blind and yearning for connection, his early obsession unwittingly lays the groundwork for a subculture that shapes the future of hacking and technology. Come for the phone hacking, but stay for the meditation on the need for an importance of human connection and interaction.
Soul Patrol is another documentary that just floored me. “From deep behind enemy lines, a hidden chapter of American military history is uncovered, prompting the question of whether reckoning with the past can bring peace to those who lived it. The Vietnam War’s first Black special operations team reunites to tell their story.” I think director J. M. Harper is one of the best documentarians working today, and his love, care, and respect for his subjects here shines through in every moment.
In Rock Springs, “after the death of her father, a grieving young girl moves to an isolated house in a new town with her mother and grandmother, only to discover there is something monstrous hidden in the town’s history and the woods behind their new home.” Director Vera Miao mines a horrific true story (echoes of which still ring far too loudly today) and draws on Chinese mythology and the manipulation of time to give viewers a truly beautiful and haunting experience.
In Run Amok, a teenage girl stages an elaborate musical about the one day her high school wishes it could forget. I can promise you you’ve never seen anything quite like this film. I think there was a five minute sequence where I forgot to breathe. For my money, lead Alyssa Marvin gives the performance of the festival.
In The Musical, when a frustrated playwright and middle school theater teacher finds out his ex-girlfriend has started dating his nemesis, the school’s principal, he decides to ruin the principal’s chances of winning the Blue Ribbon of Academic Excellence. This one is dark, but it’s also hilarious, if you’re not easily offended.
The Friend’s House is Here focuses on Tehran’s underground art scene, where two young women build a blissful world of freedom and sisterhood. But when their creative circle is exposed, they must fight to save each other. The definition of art’s (music, theater, cinema, etc) power to unite us (both in the narrative itself and by the communal act of watching together). This is an utterly necessary film that deserves as wide a theatrical experience as it can get.
Finally, Josephine won both the Grand Jury and Audience awards this year, and rightfully so. It’s a film of bold storytelling and creative visuals that repeatedly took my breath away. After 8-year-old Josephine accidentally witnesses a rape in Golden Gate Park, she acts out in search of a way to regain control of her safety while adults are helpless to console her. If you can endure the inciting incident, you are in for some remarkable performances and big, big questions.
