The world’s hippest film festival is coming to the UK capital from 2-5 June, and passes go on sale Thursday 5 May, with individual tickets available from Monday 9 May.
Here, heat’s film editor Charles Gant presents his picks from the Sundance London line-up, which will all be playing at the swanky Picturehouse Central cinema near Piccadilly Circus...
Winter’s Bone
The Hunger Games franchise propelled Jennifer Lawrence to international stardom, but here is the film that helped snag her that crucial casting.
This is one of three titles in this year’s “Road to Stardom” selection – classic movies that premiered at Sundance in Park City, Utah, going on to launch their casts and filmmakers on the road to fame.
This one won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2010, then earning four Oscar nominations (including one for J-Law) a year later.
Jen stars as a Missouri teen in an Ozark Mountain community, on whose young shoulders big responsibilities rest. Her mettle is tested when she attempts to track down her missing drug dealer father, and save her family’s home, which has been put up as surety for his bail.
Goat
Ben Schnetzer was our favourite thing about the gay Brit flick Pride a couple of years ago. He stars here as Brad, who is trying to join a fraternity at a fictitious US college under the guidance of his brother (Nick Jonas).
Distressing initiation rituals ensue, so it’s just as well that Nick is on hand to pretty up the screen – and James Franco is a bonus treat as a former fraternity member who can’t let go of the lifestyle.
Wiener-Dog
Two decades ago, Heather Matarazzo played the gawky teenage star of Todd Solondz’s inspired US indie Welcome To The Dollhouse. That character, Dawn Wiener, was nicknamed “Weiner Dog”. Now comes the belated sequel, in which the brilliant Greta Gerwig plays Dawn, now a veterinarian’s assistant. Weiner-Dog is really four short stories, interlinked by the presence of a Dachshund dog, who pops up in all of them. For fans of the famously bleak Solondz (Happiness), this is surely a must-see.
Indignation
This one is adapted from a brainy novel (by Philip Roth) and is written and directed by James Schamus, who was Ang Lee’s creative partner on films including Brokeback Mountain.
However, the first thing that grabbed our attention here is the presence of Logan Lerman, the Percy Jackson star who demonstrated fine acting range in films such as Fury (with Brad Pitt and a World War II tank) and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.
Indignation is set in 1951 at a university in Ohio, and Lerman stars opposite Sarah Gadon (Princess Elizabeth in A Royal Night Out).
Tallulah
We’ve loved Ellen Page ever since her breakthrough in US indie comedy Juno. That one was all about her unplanned teen pregnancy, and giving her baby up for adoption.
Now in Tallulah, she is entrusted with a toddler when a wealthy, negligent mother mistakes her for a hotel maid.
The directorial debut of Orange Is The New Black writer Sian Heder, it’s inspired by the filmmaker’s own stint working as a babysitter in a Los Angeles hotel.
Go to sundance.org/London for more info, and how to buy festival passes or individual tickets.