Dana Kendall

Round out your summer movie watching with the latest Sundance Film Festival selections to hit theaters and streaming platforms this month.

With Ms. Purple, director Justin Chon has written another powerful love letter to Los Angeles (after 2017’s Gook)—this time taking place in a Koreatown karaoke room, where hostess Kasie caters to rich businessmen while struggling to provide for her bedridden father on her own, until she begrudgingly seeks help from her estranged brother.

Among the many documentary releases, Ursula Macfarlane’s highly anticipated Harvey Weinstein exposé Untouchable is premiering on Hulu. Interviews with former colleagues, friends, reporters, and accusers of the film mogul reveal how he got away with alleged rampant sexual harassment and abuse for decades—and how the industry at large is implicated in the scandal.

If you’d rather see a disturbing story of the fictional variety, watch Monos, a tale of child soldiers who hold an American engineer hostage until an attack forces them to abandon their base. With a talented young cast, an eerie soundscape, and a brilliant score, Alejandro Landes’s visionary third feature took home a World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award at the 2019 Festival.

Check out these and all the other Sundance-supported films getting released in September.

Sept. 2

Untouchable, directed by Ursula Macfarlane (Hulu)

Sept. 6

Ms. Purple, directed by Justin Chon (limited)

Sept. 13

Monos, directed by Alejandro Landes (limited)

Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements, directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky (limited)

A deeply personal portrait of three lives and the discoveries that lie beyond loss—a deaf boy growing up, his deaf grandfather growing old, and Beethoven the year he was blindsided by deafness and wrote his iconic sonata.

The Sound of Silence, directed by Michael Tyburski (limited)

A successful “house tuner” in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people’s homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can’t solve.

Sept. 16

The Game Changers, directed by Louie Psihoyos (limited)

James Wilks, an elite special forces trainer and winner of The Ultimate Fighter, embarks on a quest for the truth in nutrition and uncovers the world’s most dangerous myth.

Sept. 18

Midnight Traveler, directed by Hassan Fazili (limited)

When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he is forced to flee with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing their uncertain journey, Fazili shows firsthand the dangers facing refugees seeking asylum and the love shared by a family on the run.

Sept. 20

Where’s My Roy Cohn?, directed by Matt Tyrnauer (limited)

Roy Cohn personified the dark arts of American politics, turning empty vessels into dangerous demagogues—from Joseph McCarthy to his final project, Donald J. Trump. This thriller-like exposé connects the dots, revealing how a deeply troubled master manipulator shaped our current American nightmare.

Sept. 27

The Death of Dick Long, directed by Daniel Scheinert (limited)

Dick died last night, and Zeke and Earl don’t want anybody finding out how. That’s too bad, though, ’cause news travels fast in small-town Alabama.

The Report, directed by Scott Z. Burns (limited)

The story of Daniel Jones, lead investigator for the U.S. Senate’s sweeping study into the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program, which was found to be brutal, immoral, and ineffective. With the truth at stake, Jones battled tirelessly to make public what many in power sought to keep hidden.

Sister Aimee, directed by Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann (limited, NY/LA)

In 1926 America’s most famous evangelist is a woman. And she’s looking for a way out. Fed up with her own success, she gets swept up in her lover’s daydreams about Mexico and finds herself on a wild road trip towards the border. Based on true events. Mostly made up.