From deep dives into the fraught history of safe abortion access and the backstories of comedy legends, to inventive takes on fantastic horrors and authentic coming-of-age stories the 2022 Sundance Film Festival is once again brimming with films by talented storytellers and artists. Within this year’s lineup, we’re honored to be stacked with cutting-edge projects by women and non-binary filmmakers that highlight everything from social media apps influence on culture and politics, to the climate crisis and the militarization of police.

These films — screening at the Fest from January 20–30, 2022 — expand the lens of storytelling and perspectives to more accurately represent our world and our future. This list, which you should pour over below, is one of the many results of the Sundance Institute’s year-round mission to amplify the voices of storytellers and audiences across ethnicities, genders, abilities, sexual orientations, and geographic regions—work we do in part through our Women at Sundance and Outreach & Inclusion programs. 

Packages are on sale for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival now and single film tickets will be available starting in early January. Check out the full list of films by women and non-binary filmmakers below and make sure to favorite the films that speak to you to make sure you don’t miss them.

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION

892 United States; Director: Abi Damaris Corbin; Screenwriters: Abi Damaris Corbin, Kwame Kwei-Armah; Producers: Ashley Levinson, Salman Al-Rashid, Sam Frohman, Kevin Turen, Mackenzie Fargo

When Brian Brown-Easley’s disability check fails to materialize from Veterans Affairs, he finds himself on the brink of homelessness and breaking his daughter’s heart. No other options, he walks into a Wells Fargo Bank and says, “I’ve got a bomb.”

Alice United States; Director/Screenwriter: Krystin Ver Linden; Producer: Peter Lawson; Cast: Keke Palmer, Common, Jonny Lee Miller, Gaius Charles 

When a woman in servitude in 1800s Georgia escapes the 55-acre confines of her captor to discover the shocking reality that exists beyond the tree line… it’s 1973. Inspired by true events.

Master United States; Director/Screenwriter: Mariama Diallo; Producers: Joshua Astrachan, Brad Becker-Parton, Andrea Roa; Cast: Regina Hall, Zoe Renee, Talia Ryder, Talia Balsam, Amber Gray 

Three women strive to find their place at an elite New England university. As the insidious specter of racism haunts the campus in increasingly supernatural fashion, each fights to survive in this space of privilege.

Nanny United States; Director/Screenwriter: Nikyatu Jusu; Producers: Nikkia Moulterie, Daniela Taplin Lundberg; Cast: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker, Leslie Uggams 

Aisha is an undocumented nanny working for a privileged couple in New York City. As she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in Senegal, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together.

Palm Trees and Power Lines United States; Director: Jamie Dack; Screenwriters: Jamie Dack, Audrey Findlay; Producers: Leah Chen Baker, Jamie Dack; Cast: Lily McInerny, Jonathan Tucker, Gretchen Mol 

Seventeen-year-old Lea spends her summer aimlessly tanning with her best friend, tiptoeing around her fragile mother, and getting stoned with a group of boys from school. This monotony is disrupted by an encounter with Tom, a man twice her age, who promises an alternative to Lea’s unsatisfying adolescent life.

Watcher United States; Director: Chloe Okuno; Screenwriter: Zack Ford; Producers: Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Derek Dauchy, John Finemore, Aaron Kaplan, Mason Novick, Sean Perrone; Cast: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Ciubuciu Bogdan Alexandru 

A young woman moves into a new apartment with her fiancé and is tormented by the feeling that she is being stalked by an unseen watcher in an adjacent building.

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Aftershock United States; Directors/Producers: Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee 

Following the preventable deaths of their partners due to childbirth complications, two bereaved fathers galvanize activists, birth workers, and physicians to reckon with one of the most pressing American crises of our time – the U.S. maternal health crisis.

Descendant United States; Director: Margaret Brown; Producers: Essie Chambers, Kyle Martin, Margaret Brown

Clotilda, the last ship carrying enslaved Africans to the United States, arrived in Alabama 40 years after African slave trading became a capital offense. It was promptly burned and its existence denied. After a century shrouded in secrecy and speculation, descendants of the Clotilda’s survivors are reclaiming their story. *

Fire of Love United States; Director: Sara Dosa; Producers: Shane Boris, Ina Fichman, Sara Dosa 

Intrepid scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: unraveling the mysteries of volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded. A doomed love triangle between Katia, Maurice, and volcanoes, told through their archival footage.

Free Chol Soo Lee United States; Directors: Julie Ha, Eugene Yi; Producers: Su Kim, Jean Tsien, Sona Jo, Julie Ha, Eugene Yi 

After a Korean immigrant is wrongly convicted of a 1973 San Francisco Chinatown gang murder, Asian Americans unite as never before to free Chol Soo Lee. A former street hustler becomes the symbol for a landmark movement. But once out, he self-destructs, threatening the movement’s legacy and the man himself

The Exiles United States; Directors: Ben Klein, Violet Columbus; Producers: Maria Chiu, Ben Klein, Violet Columbus 

Documentarian Christine Choy tracks down three exiled dissidents from the Tiananmen Square massacre in order to find closure on an abandoned film she began shooting in 1989.

The Janes United States; Directors: Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes; Producers: Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin

In the spring of 1972, police raided an apartment on Chicago’s South Side. Seven women were arrested. The accused were part of a clandestine network. Using code names, blindfolds, and safe houses, they built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions. They called themselves Jane.

Jihad Rehab United States; Director: Meg Smaker; Producers: Meg Smaker, Bryan Storkel

A group of al-Qaida members are transferred from Guantanamo to a secretive rehabilitation center for Islamic extremists.

TikTok, Boom. United States; Director: Shalini Kantayya; Producers: Ross M. Dinerstein, Shalini Kantayya, Danni Mynard

With TikTok now crowned the world’s most downloaded app, these are the personal stories of a cultural phenomenon, told through an ensemble cast of Gen-Z natives, journalists, and experts alike. This film seeks to answer, “why is an app, best known for people dancing, the target of so much controversy?”

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Gentle Hungary; Directors: Anna Eszter Nemes, László Csuja; Screenwriters: László Csuja, Anna Eszter Nemes; Cast: Eszter Csonka, György Turós, Csaba Krisztik 

Edina, a female bodybuilder, is ready to sacrifice everything for the dream she shares with Adam, her partner and trainer: to win the world championship. The odd love she finds on her way there makes her see the difference between her dreams and her true self.

Girl Picture Finland; Director: Alli Haapasalo; Screenwriters: Ilona Ahti, Daniela Hakulinen; Cast: Aamu Milonoff, Eleonoora Kauhanen, Linnea Leino 

Mimmi, Emma, and Rönkkö are girls at the cusp of womanhood, trying to draw their own contours. In three consecutive Fridays two of them experience the earth-moving effects of falling in love, while the third goes on a quest to find something she’s never experienced before: pleasure.

KLONDIKE Ukraine/Turkey; Director/Screenwriter: Maryna Er Gorbach; Cast: Oxana Cherkashyna, Sergey Shadrin, Oleg Scherbina, Oleg Shevchuk, Artur Aramyan, Evgenij Efremov 

The story of a Ukrainian family living on the border of Russia-Ukraine during the start of war. Irka refuses to leave her house even as the village gets captured by armed forces. Shortly after, they find themselves at the center of air crash catastrophe on July 17, 2014

Leonor Will Never Die Philippines; Director/Screenwriter: Martika Ramirez Escobar; Cast: Sheila Francisco, Bong Cabrera, Rocky Salumbides, Anthony Falcon 

Fiction and reality blur when Leonor, a retired filmmaker, falls into a coma after a television lands on her head, compelling her to become the action hero of her unfinished screenplay.

The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future Chile/France/United States/Germany; Director: Francisca Alegría; Screenwriters: Francisca Alegría, Fernanda Urrejola, Manuela Infante; Cast: Leonor Varela, Mia Maestro, Alfredo Castro, Marcial Tagle, Enzo Ferrada, Luis Dubó 

Cecilia and her children travel to her aging father’s dairy farm after he has a heart attack. Back in her childhood home, Cecilia is met by her mother, a woman dead for many years, whose presence brings to life a painful past chorused by the natural world around them.

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITON

Calendar Girls
Sweden
A coming-of-golden-age look at Florida’s most dedicated dance team for women over 60. Shaking up the outdated image of “the little old lady,” and calling for everyone to dance their hearts out, while they still can.
DIRECTORS/SCREENWRITERS: Maria Loohufvud, Love Martinsen PRODUCERS: Maria Loohufvud, Love Martinsen

Midwives
Myanmar
Rohingya, Rakhine, Burmese
Two midwives work side by side in a makeshift clinic in Myanmar.
DIRECTOR: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
PRODUCERS: Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann,Mila Aung-Thwin, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

The Mission
Finland, English, Finnish
A revelation of the inner lives of young LDS missionaries, as they leave their homes for the first time and embark upon the most
emotionally, physically, and psychologically challenging period of their lives.
DIRECTOR: Tania Anderson
PRODUCERS: Isabella Karhu, Juho-Pekka Tanskanen

Nothing Compares
Ireland/United Kingdom
The story of Sinéad O’Connor’s phenomenal rise to worldwide fame, and subsequent exile from the pop mainstream. Focusing on O’Connor’s prophetic words and deeds from 1987 to 1993, the film reflects on the legacy of this fearless trailblazer, through a contemporary feminist lens.
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Ferguson
PRODUCERS: Eleanor Emptage, Michael Mallie

Sirens
United States/Lebanon, Arabic, English
On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and Shery, co-founders and guitarists of the Middle East’s first all-woman metal band, wrestle with friendship, sexuality, and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars.
DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Rita Baghdadi
PRODUCERS: Rita Baghdadi, Camilla Hall

PREMIERES

AM I OK? United States; Directors: Stephanie Allynne, Tig Notaro; Screenwriter: Lauren Pomerantz; Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Erik Feig, Dakota Johnson, Ro Donnelly, Lauren Pomerantz, Lucy Kitada, Stephanie Allynne, Tig Notaro; Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jermaine Fowler, Kiersey Clemons, Molly Gordon, Sean Hayes 

Lucy and Jane have been best friends for most of their lives and think they know everything there is to know about each other. But when Jane announces she’s moving to London, Lucy reveals a long-held secret. As Jane tries to help Lucy, their friendship is thrown into chaos

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power United States; Director/Producer: Nina Menkes 

Based on Nina Menkes’ acclaimed talk, Sex and Power: The Visual Language of Cinema, a mesmerizing journey into how shot design intersects with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse/assault and employment discrimination against women. Containing over 175 film clips, will unalterably change the way we view and make movies.

Call Jane United States; Director: Phyllis Nagy; Screenwriters: Hayley Schore, Roshan Sethi; Producers: Robbie Brenner, David Wulf, Kevin McKeon; Cast: Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, Kate Mara, Wunmi Mosaku, Cory Michael Smith 

Chicago, 1968: After having a life-saving secret abortion, a suburban housewife seeks to give women access to healthy and safe abortions through an underground collective of women known as “Jane.”

DOWNFALL: The Case Against Boeing United States; Director: Rory Kennedy; Screenwriters: Mark Bailey, Keven McAlester; Producers: Rory Kennedy, Mark Bailey, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Keven McAlester, Amanda Rohlke 

An investigation of the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people, exploring both the root causes and the human cost. At once a chilling portrait of a crumbling corporate culture and a fierce indictment of Wall Street’s corrupting influence.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande United Kingdom; Director: Sophie Hyde; Screenwriter: Katy Brand; Producers: Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski; Cast: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack 

Nancy Stokes, a retired school teacher, is yearning for some adventure, and some sex. Good sex. And she has a plan: She hires a young sex worker named Leo Grande.

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. United States; Director/Screenwriter: Adamma Ebo; Cast: Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown  

In the aftermath of a huge scandal, Trinitie Childs, the first lady of a prominent Southern Baptist megachurch, attempts to help her pastor husband, Lee-Curtis Childs, rebuild their congregation.

La Guerra Civil United Kingdom; Director: Eva Longoria Bastón; Producers: Eva Longoria Bastón, Grant Best, Bernardo Ruiz, Ben Spector, Andrea Cordoba 

The epic rivalry between iconic boxers Oscar De La Hoya and Julio César Chávez in the 1990s sparked a cultural divide between Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans. A chronicle of a battle that was more than a boxing rivalry, and examining a fascinating slice of the Latino experience in the process.

Lucy and Desi United States; Director: Amy Poehler; Producers: Michael Rosenberg, Justin Wilkes, Nigel Sinclair, Jeanne Elfant Festa, Amy Poehler, Mark Monroe 

Lucille Ball had an immense influence on the creation of TV syndication, as she rose to become a true entrepreneur and multifaceted mogul. Through interviews and archival, a tribute to one of the greatest trailblazers in comedy and entertainment.

Sharp Stick United States; Director/Screenwriter: Lena Dunham; Producers: Lena Dunham, Michael P. Cohen, Kevin Turen, Katia Washington; Cast: Kristine Froseth, Jon Bernthal, Scott Speedman, Lena Dunham, Taylour Paige, Jennifer Jason Leigh 

Sarah Jo is a naive 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her mother (longing for money) and sister (longing for exposure). She just longs to be seen. When she begins an affair with her older employer, she is thrust into an education on sexuality, loss, and power.

To the End United States; Director: Rachel Lears, Produced by Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Rachel Lears, Robin Blotnick

Stopping the climate crisis is a question of political courage, and the clock is ticking. Over three years of turbulence and crisis, four remarkable young women of color fight for a Green New Deal, and ignite a historic shift in U.S. climate politics.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

LAST FLIGHT HOME United States; Director: Ondi Timoner; Cast: Eli Timoner, Elissa Timoner, Ondi Timoner, Rachel Timoner, David Timoner, Candice Carsey 

On an unremarkable suburban street, we find Eli Timoner in his final days and discover an extraordinary life, one filled with wild achievements, tragic loss, and above all, enduring love from his incredibly close-knit family. LAST FLIGHT HOME shares a heart-wrenching and stunning verité account of a family courageously facing both life and death.

SPOTLIGHT

Happening France; Director: Audrey Diwan; Screenwriters: Audrey Diwan, Marcia Romano; Cast: Anamaria Vartolomei, Kacey Mottet-Klein, Luana Bajrami, Louise Chevillotte, Pio Marmai 

France, 1963. Anne is a bright student with a promising future. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to escape the constraints of her social background disappearing. With final exams approaching and her belly growing, Anne resolves to act, even if she must risk prison to do so.

Neptune Frost United States/Rwanda; Directors: Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams; Screenwriter: Saul Williams; Cast: Cheryl Isheja, Elvis Ngabo “Bobo,” Bertrand Ninteretse “Kaya Free,” Eliane Umuhire, Rebecca Muciyo, Trésor Niyongabo 

In an otherworldly e-waste dump camp, a subversive hacking collective attempts a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region’s natural resources — and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped coltan miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry

Three Minutes – A Lengthening Netherlands; Director/Screenwriter: Bianca Stigter 

Three minutes of footage are the only known moving images of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk, Poland, from before the Holocaust. An examination of that film — in color, random, full of life — reveals historical and personal dimensions. Narrated by Helena Bonham Carter.

NEXT

Mija United States; Director: Isabel Castro; Producers: Tabs Breese, Isabel Castro, Yesenia Tlahuel  

Doris Muñoz is a young, ambitious music manager whose undocumented family depends on her ability to launch pop stars. When she loses her biggest client, Doris hustles to discover new talent and finds Jacks, another daughter of immigrants for whom “making it” isn’t just a dream: it’s a necessity.

RIOTSVILLE, USA United States; Director: Sierra Pettengill; Screenwriter: Tobi Haslett; Producers: Sara Archambault, Jamila Wignot 

Welcome to Riotsville, a fictional town built by the U.S. military. Using footage shot by the media and government, the film explores the militarization of the police and the reaction of a nation to the uprisings of the late ’60s, creating a counter-narrative to a critical moment in American history.

MIDNIGHT

Babysitter Canada/France; Director: Monia Chokri; Screenwriter: Catherine Léger; Cast: Patrick Hivon, Monia Chokri, Nadia Tereszkiewcz, Steve Laplante, Hubert Proulx 

After a sexist joke goes viral, Cédric loses his job and embarks on a therapeutic journey to free himself from sexism and misogyny. His girlfriend Nadine is exasperated by his narcissistic introspection, until they hire a mysterious and liberated babysitter to help shake things up.

FRESH United States; Director: Mimi Cave; Screenwriter: Lauryn Kahn; Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Jojo T. Gibbs, Charlotte Le Bon, Andrea Bang, Dayo Okeniyi 

The horrors of modern dating are seen through one young woman’s defiant battle to survive her new paramour’s unusual appetites.

Hatching Finland; Director: Hanna Bergholm; Screenwriter: Ilja Rautsi; Cast: Jani Volanen, Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Saija Lentonen, Reino Nordin, Oiva Ollila 

While desperately trying to please her demanding mother, a young gymnast discovers a strange egg. She tucks it away and keeps it warm, but when it hatches, what emerges shocks everyone.

 

PIGGY
Spanish
Fiction
Sara deals with constant teasing from girls in her small town. But it comes to an end when a stranger kidnaps her tormentors. Sara knows more than she’s saying and must decide between speaking up and saving the girls or saying nothing to protect the strange man who spared her.
DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Carlota Pereda
PRODUCERS: Merry Colomer, David Atlan-Jackson

INDIE EPISODIC PROGRAM

My Trip to Spain United States; Director/Screenwriter: Theda Hammel; Cast: John Early, Theda Hammel, Gordon Landenberger 

Alexis, a successful trans woman, is heading to Spain to get some cosmetic surgery. She has asked her embittered old friend Charlie to house-sit while she’s away. During the handoff, he tries his best to convince her to cancel, while simultaneously pursuing a sexual liaison with her brooding gardener Bruno.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM

A wild patience has taken me here Brazil; Director/Screenwriter: Érica Sarmet; Cast: Zélia Duncan, Bruna Linzmeyer, Camila Rocha, Clarissa Ribeiro, Lorre Motta 

Tired of loneliness, a middle-aged motorcyclist goes to a lesbian party for the first time. There she meets four young queers who share their home and affections. An encounter of generations, a tribute to those who brought us here.

Appendage United States; Director/Screenwriter: Anna Zlokovic; Cast: Rachel Sennott, Eric Roberts 

A young fashion designer must make the best of it when her anxiety and self-doubt physically manifest into something horrific.

Close Ties to Home Country United States; Director/Screenwriter: Akanksha Cruczynski; Cast: Akanksha Cruczynski, Bisou [Timothée], Cassie Kramer, Simon Hedger, Sophia Rafiqi 

Millennial immigrant Akanksha waits for her sister’s visit from India — they haven’t seen each other in nine years! Meanwhile, she’s dogsitting the fancy Frenchie of Instagram influencers India and Harry, who themselves are on a trip to India’s namesake.

Daddy’s Girl United States; Director/Screenwriter: Lena Hudson; Cast: Tedra Millan, Peter Friedman 

A young woman’s charming but overbearing father helps her move out of her wealthy, older boyfriend’s apartment.

Champ United States; Director/Screenwriter: Hannah Peterson; Cast: Eva Noblezada, Lulu Davis, Iris Cook, Madison Holden

After basketball practice one night, Genevieve reveals a dark secret about their coach to her teammates. Wielding strategy and grit off the court, Genevieve works together with her teammates to find a way to retaliate

The Headhunter’s Daughter Philippines; Director/Screenwriter: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan; Cast: Ammin Acha-ur 

Leaving her family behind, Lynn traverses the harrowing roads of the Cordilleran highlands to try her luck in the city as a country singer.

Goodbye Jerome! France; Directors/Screenwriters: Gabrielle Selnet, Adam Sillard, Chloé Farr 

Having just arrived in paradise, Jerome sets out to find his wife Maryline. In the course of his search, he sinks into a surreal and colorful world in which no one seems to be able to help him.

Egúngún (Masquerade) Nigeria; Director/Screenwriter: Olive Nwosu; Cast: Sheila Chukwulozie, Teniola Aladese 

In search of healing, a young woman returns home to her birthplace: Lagos, Nigeria.

Huella United States; Director/Screenwriter: Gabriela Ortega; Cast: Shakira Barrera, Denise Blasor, Carla Valentine 

When the death of her grandmother unleashes a generational curse, a disenchanted flamenco dancer resigned to a desk job is forced to experience the five stages of grief through a visit from her female ancestors.

the HORK United States; Director: Nicole Elizabeth Stafford; Sound Design/Mix: Dogbotic

In an alternate dimension, the stoic god of Power-Unrecognized waits for unrelenting Greed to come and consume her power.

Listen To the Beat of Our Images French Guiana/France; Director: Audrey JeanBaptiste, Maxime Jean-Baptiste; Producer: Gérard Azoulay 

Sixty years ago, France decided to establish its space center in French Guiana. Six Hundred Guianan people were expropriated to allow France to realize its dream of space conquest. This film gives a voice to a silenced population made invisible.

Long Line of Ladies United States; Directors: Rayka Zehtabchi, Shaandiin Tome; Producers: Garrett Schiff, Pimm Tripp-Allen, Rayka Zehtabchi, Sam Davis, Dana Kurth 

A girl and her community prepare for her Ihuk, the once dormant coming-of-age ceremony of the Karuk and Yurok tribes of Northern California.

Maidenhood Mexico; Director: XOCHITL ENRIQUEZ MENDOZA; Screenwriters: XOCHITL ENRIQUEZ MENDOZA, SAMUEL SÁNCHEZ TUAL; Cast: EMMA AQUILAR MALACARA, HÉCTOR ORTÍZ VALDOVINOS, MAYRA SÉRBULO, MAIRA JIMÉNEZ DESALES 

Catalina submits to the tradition of her people to demonstrate her purity and worth as a woman to her beloved, but her body betrays her and she fails to demonstrate her chastity

Love Stories on the Move Romania; Director/Screenwriter: Carina Gabriela Dașoveanu; Cast: Ilinca Hărnuț, Andi Vasluianu 

Lili, a taxi driver, is trying to save her marriage with Dani, an amateur fisherman. Her fares expose Lili to several love stories really different from her own.

Reckless Sweden; Director/Screenwriter: Pella Kågerman; Cast: ElleKari Bergerud, Amed Bozan 

Stockholm, 2121: an underwater city is blasted into the bedrock. In a society on the verge of being crushed by mounting water pressure, Nikki’s highest wish is to get back together with her ex-boyfriend.

Prayers for Sweet Waters South Africa/United Kingdom; Director: Elijah Ndoumbe; Producer: Naeem Dxvis 

Stories intersect across vivid realities and dreamscapes to submerge us into the worlds of three transgender sex workers living in Cape Town, South Africa, during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Martha Mitchell Effect United States; Directors: Anne Alvergue, Debra McClutchy; Producers: Beth Levison, Judith Mizrachy 

She was once as famous as Jackie O. And then she tried to take down a president. Martha Mitchell was the unlikeliest of whistleblowers: a Republican wife who was discredited by Nixon to keep her quiet. Until now.

The Panola Project United States; Directors: Rachael DeCruz, Jeremy S. Levine; Screenwriters: Jeremy S. Levine, Rachael DeCruz 

Highlighting the heroic efforts of Dorothy Oliver to keep her small town of Panola, Alabama, safe from COVID-19. A chronicle of how an often-overlooked rural Black community came together in creative ways to survive.

Soft Animals United States/United Kingdom; Director: Renee Zhan; Producer: Jesse Romain; Cast: Paul Panting, Joanna Ruiz 

Two ex-lovers cross paths in a train station. Their animal instincts take over as they reminisce.

Sandstorm / Mulaqat Pakistan; Director/Screenwriter: Seemab Gul; Cast: Parizae Fatima, Hamza Mushtaq 

Zara, a teenage girl, shares a sensual dance video with her virtual boyfriend, who begins to blackmail her into meeting him in person. Will Zara give in to this stranger’s increasing demands or will she set herself free?

Training Wheels United States; Director/Screenwriter: Alison Rich; Cast: Alison Rich, George Basil, Jack CutmoreScott, Zeke Nicholson, Kathy Yamamoto 

A socially inept woman rents one man to prepare for another.

Warsha France/Lebanon; Director: Dania Bdeir; Screenwriter: Dania Bdeir; Cast: Khansa  

A Syrian migrant working as a crane operator in Beirut volunteers to cover a shift on one of the most dangerous cranes, where he is able to find his freedom.

THE FOURTH WALL Iran; Director/Screenwriter: Mahboobeh Kalaee 

Home and family, relationships, desires, wishes: all captured in a kitchen. The stuttering boy is alone there, playing with his imagination.

We Are Here United States; Directors/Producers: Doménica Castro, Constanza Castro; Cast: Dulce Valencia, Deron Ingraham, Valeria Marchesi  

What is it like to walk this land in the shoes of an immigrant under 30? Reflections of the people that immigrated to the U.S. as children are a reminder to look beyond citizenship.

What Travelers Are Saying About Jornada del Muerto United States; Director: Hope Tucker 

Visitors and residents of New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin, site of the first detonation of an atomic bomb, contribute to the production of public memory as they offer reckonings and advice about making “the journey of the dead.

Work United States; Director/Screenwriter: April Maxey; Cast: Marisela Zumbado, Elaine Whae 

Unable to move on from a breakup, Gabi, a queer Latina freelance editor, impulsively drops into an old job at an underground lap dance party, where she unexpectedly runs into a friend from her past.

You Go Girl! United States; Director: Shariffa Ali; Screenwriters: Shariffa Ali, Kamilah Long, Courtney Williams; Cast: Tiffany Mann 

Audrey, a New York City comedian who can make a joke of any situation, faces a staggering challenge in the beautiful mountains of Oregon. Can this city woman overcome her fears and rise? 

Socrates’ Adventures in the Under Ground Mexico; Director/Screenwriter: Aria Covamonas 

A Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revision of the Allegory of the Cave, filled with talking animals who shall be late and bourgeois queens who would like to see you without head, exactly as Plato intended.

Chaperone United States; Director/Screenwriter: Sam Max; Cast: Zachary Quinto, Russell Kahn 

An unnamed figure picks up a young man in his car. As the two drive together, and settle into an austere rental house in the country, the details of their arrangement become guttingly clear.

ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (UDEYONV) (WHAT THEY’VE BEEN TAUGHT) United States; Director/Screenwriter: Brit Hensel 

This film explores expressions of reciprocity in the Cherokee world, brought to life through a story told by an elder and first language speaker.

 

FROM THE COLLECTION

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. United States; Director/Screenwriter: Leslie Harris, Producers: Leslie Harris, Erwin Wilson 

A Brooklyn young woman, smart, witty, and confident, is not just another teenager on the NYC subway. Determined to make it out of her neighborhood and become a doctor, she confronts adversity while navigating challenging waters to achieve her dreams and goals… 1993 Sundance Film Festival – winner of the Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Achievement in a First Feature.

NEW FRONTIER PERFORMANCES

Suga’- A Live Virtual Dance Performance United States; Lead Artist: Valencia James; Key Collaborators: Thomas Wester, Simon Boas 

An immersive experience that features live dance performance as volumetric video in social virtual reality space. The performance weaves together movement, family stories, and cultural heritage to imagine virtual environments as a site for healing and reclamation of spaces that were historically filled with pain and injustice.

Cosmogony Switzerland; Lead Artists: Gilles Jobin, Susana Panadés Diaz, Camilo de Martino, Tristan Siodlak; Key Collaborator: PierreIgor Berthet; Cast: Susana Panadés Diaz, Camilo de Martino, Tristan Siodlak 

A live digital performance in which three dancers are motion captured in Geneva and projected remotely in real time.

NEW FRONTIER PROJECTS

Diagnosia United States; Lead Artists: Mengtai Zhang, Lemon Guo 

In this VR experience, the director locks us inside his teenage memories of being incarcerated in a military-operated internet addiction camp in Beijing in 2007, where internet addiction and other youth issues were treated as severe mental disorders, and sometimes by violent means.

Gondwana Australia; Lead Artists: Ben Joseph Andrews, Emma Roberts; Key Collaborators: Lachlan Sleight, Michelle Brown, The Convoy 

A durational VR experience that runs over 24 hours, and a constantly-evolving virtual ecosystem chronicling the possible futures of the world’s oldest tropical rainforest, the Daintree. Powered by climate data, each showing is unrepeatable and speculative, a meditation on time, change, and loss in an irreplaceable landscape.

The Inside World United States; Lead Artists: Jennifer McCoy, Kevin McCoy; Key Collaborators: Annie J Howell, Peter Rostovsky 

The city of Las Vegas is now operated by artificial intelligence. Fourteen AI Managers handle every sector of the city. The problem is one of them is secretly (human…) Digital art NFTs meet gameplay in this community driven mystery.

On the Morning You Wake (to the End of the World) United Kingdom/France/United States; Lead Artists: Dr. Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Arnaud Colinart, Pierre Zandrowicz; Key Collaborators: Jo-Jo Ellison, Bobby Krlic 

On a regular Saturday morning in January 2018, as Hawaiian citizens went about their daily routines, the entire state population received an SMS from the Hawai’i Emergency Management Agency, which read: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAI’I. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Surrogate United States; Lead Artist: Lauren Lee McCarthy; Key Collaborators: Dorothy R. Santos, David Leonard, Stefanie Tam 

A project born out of the artist’s desire to participate in the living, reproducing process, Surrogate explores what “kin” means when rapidly developing reproductive technologies — such as in vitro fertilization, egg and sperm donation, embryo freezing, DNA testing, and gene editing — shift our relationships.

They Dream in My Bones – Insemnopedy II France; Lead Artist: Faye Formisano; Key Collaborators: Ludovic De Oliveira, Lilou-Magali Robert, Cindy Coutant; Cast: LilouMagali Robert, Julian Eggerickx, Kendra McLaughlin, Olivier Pasquet 

They Dream in My Bones – Insemnopedy II is a transfixing meditation and a stirring experiential proposition that explores what fabric might bind the physical and metaphysical, and how to extract dreams from an unknown skeleton.

ATUA
Reimagining the realm of Pacific gods in this sculptural AR experience. Claiming space for gender-diverse communities impacted
by colonial contact, to see themselves reflected as vital to their cultural heritage and an intrinsic part of the cosmos.
LEAD ARTISTS: Tanu Gago, Jermaine Dean

Flat Earth VR
VR is known as the ultimate empathy machine that lets users experience others’ perspectives. But what happens when those perspectives are delusional? Experience the ultimate flat-earther fantasy: Ascend into the stars and prove all globe-earthers wrong by
taking photos of the planet as it truly is — flat like a pancake.
LEAD ARTIST: Lucas Rizzotto