The thing about the Sundance Film Festival – or any film festival, for that matter – is that it can be a fool’s errand to try and predict the trajectory of a movie beyond the initial wave of critics’ reactions and reports of multimillion distribution deals. Sure, CODA was a hit upon its premiere at the fest in 2021, but was anyone at that time thinking it would go on to become the first Sundance movie and a movie from a streaming service to win the Best Picture Oscar? On the other hand, an untold number of films have made a splash only to be buried and forgotten upon release months later.
But one thing I love about Sundance is that if you see enough movies, there are always going to be some gems and genuine surprises to stumble upon, particularly when it comes to emerging filmmakers and performers. And then you hope that at the very least they find an enthusiastic…
