Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Price Tag ($): 3 million
Synopsis: Co-written by and starring former Goldman Sachs intern turned Sundance "It Girl"
Brit Marling, director Mike Cahill's sci-fi film, made on a budget of just $150,000, was the winner of a Special Jury Prize and the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance, which carried a $20,000 cash award. It concerns a young student (Marling) who crosses paths with a famous composer (William Mapother) in a tragic accident the same evening a duplicate planet is discovered in the solar system.
The Hollywood Reporter called it a "gripping, intimate story to which science fiction adds a provocative, philosophical context."
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Price Tag ($): N/A
Synopsis: Directed by Philip Cox, this stylized documentary follows a plus-size, dance-obsessed private detective, Rajesh Ji, and his diverse crew of helpers, as they fight crime on the mean streets of Kolkata, India. Fox Searchlight, the studio that distributed the Oscar-winning, India-set film
Slumdog Millionaire, purchased remake rights to the film with plans to turn the doc into a feature. "The editing is smooth and smart, blending personal dramas and tragedies with lighter, comical moments,"
Reuters wrote. "That balance enriches this portrait of a quixotic character who means to right the wrongs of his world and somehow make that world a better place."
Distributor: Participant Media
Price Tag ($): N/A
Synopsis: Winner of the Audience Award: Dramatic at Sundance, writer-director
Maryam Keshavarz's debut feature centers on a 16-year-old girl from a wealthy family in Iran who rebels against her repressive society by partying in hip, underground clubs, and experiencing a sexual awakening with her less-privileged female friend.
Film Independent called it "an amazingly accomplished and complex first feature" that gives "an insiders look at a world few of us will ever get to see."
Distributor: The Weinstein Co.
Price Tag ($): 7.5 million; 10 million P&A commitment
Synopsis: One of the biggest deals at this year's fest, writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes' (
Mean Creek) gonzo comedy centers on a seemingly perfect couple, played by Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks, whose home is soon invaded by an army of raccoons, setting off a wild string of events involving domestic tension, infidelity, and murder. The film also boasts a stellar supporting cast—Laura Linney, Kerry Washington, and Ray Liotta—and "takes viewers to the land of moral ambiguity where most of us live," according to
The Hollywood Reporter.
Distributor: Lionsgate
Price Tag ($): Seven Figures (Reportedly)
Synopsis: After a heated
bidding war, Lionsgate emerged with rights to Lee Tamahori's thriller and is reportedly planning an awards campaign centered on Dominic Cooper's riveting performance as Saddam Hussein's sadistic son, Uday Hussein, and his body double, Latif Yahia. The film provides a glimpse into the House of Saddam, and is "no less than this generation's
Scarface," according to
The Film Stage.
Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Price Tag ($): N/A
Synopsis: From acclaimed indie filmmaker
Miranda July (
Me and You and Everyone We Know),
The Future is the cutesy, quirky tale of a thirtysomething couple struggling with personal and professional problems, whose life is turned upside down when they adopt a stray cat—who narrates the film.
"This quiet, quirky look at a couple haplessly trying to envision and manipulate their future will no doubt gather some ardent fans around it," according to
The Hollywood Reporter.
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Price Tag ($): 1 million
Synopsis: Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh,
The Guard is about a combative Irish policeman (Brendan Gleeson) who teams up with an FBI agent (Don Cheadle) to investigate an international drug-smuggling operation that's made its way to Ireland's shores. The film has garnered comparisons to the earlier Sundance flick
In Bruges—also starring Gleeson—and "the dialogue is sharp, the direction is energetic, and it's a fun mashup of the fish-out-of-water and buddy cop comedies that doesn't fit neatly into either of those two categories," according to
Collider.
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Price Tag ($): 3 million
Synopsis: From first-time filmmaker Gavin Wiesen,
Homework is a coming-of-age story about George (
Finding Neverland's Freddie Highmore), a lonely, depressed, homework-averse high school teen who befriends Sally (Emma Roberts), a popular girl who he's admired from afar. The film also stars Michael Angarano, Alicia Silverstone, Rita Wilson, and Sam Robards. Unfortunately, the film has garnered very mixed reviews, with
The Hollywood Reporter writing, "The chief function of this trite debut feature appears to be as a job application for its writer-director to join the Hollywood rom-com assembly line."
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Price Tag ($): N/A
Synopsis: Directed by Mark Pellington (
U2 3D) from a script by Glenn Porter, this kinetic, visually sumptuous midlife-crisis film centers on four aging men on a drug and rock ‘n' roll fueled trip through Big Sur. The film has a talented cast, including Jeremy Piven, Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe, Carla Gugino, and Sasha Grey, and received positive reviews, with
The Hollywood Reporter writing, "virtuoso visuals, pulsating music, and muscular acting drive director Mark Pellington's Premieres section drama about middle-aged male disappointment."
Distributor: IFC Films
Price Tag ($): Low seven figures
Synopsis: Written and directed by Matthew Chapman,
The Ledge centers on a suicidal atheist (
Sons of Anarchy's Charlie Hunnam) being talked off a ledge by a police officer (Terrence Howard). The atheist's lover, played by Liv Tyler, is married to a fanatical fundamentalist Christian (Patrick Wilson), and the two men square off in a battle of wills. According to
Slash Film, "while
The Ledge is filled with interesting characters, solid performances and even some smart, thought-provoking dialogue, the story itself wanders around like leaf in the wind, at times totally unaware of the driving force of the movie: the Ledge of the title."
Distributor: National Geographic
Price Tag ($): N/A
Synopsis: Last summer, YouTube users around the world were asked to submit footage of some aspect of their lives on July 24, 2010, to be included in a documentary directed by Kevin Macdonald (
The Last King of Scotland) and produced by Ridley Scott. The film is meant to serve as a time capsule, showing future generations what it was like to live on that very day. After receiving 80,000 submissions from 192 countries, Macdonald wove 1,000 clips in his film project.
Wired called it "the most elaborate crowdsourced arts project in history" that is " provocative, gorgeous and at times deeply moving."
Distributor: Paramount
Price Tag ($): 4 million
Synopsis: Winner of the biggest prize at Sundance, the Grand Jury Prize for Drama, Drake Doremus' love story concerns a British college student (Felicity Jones) who falls head over heels for an American student (Anton Yelchin), but complications arise when she's banned from the U.S. after overstaying her visa. A lighter version of
Blue Valentine, the film, which also stars Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence (
Winter's Bone), sold to Paramount just 16 hours after it made its Sundance premiere, and Felicity Jones, one of Sundance's breakout stars, won a Special Jury Prize for her poignant performance. "Bruisingly bittersweet and made with tenderness that suggests personal significance,
Like Crazy chronicles a young love so deep it doesn't die, even when perhaps it should,"
wrote The Hollywood Reporter.
Distributor: Lionsgate & Roadside Attractions
Price Tag ($): 2 million
Synopsis: Written and directed by first-timer J.C. Chandor,
Margin Call is a thriller set at a investment bank over a 24-hour period just as the financial crisis hits in 2008. One of the hottest properties at Sundance, the film boasts an all-star cast, including
Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Stanley Tucci, and Demi Moore, in what
Variety called "fastidious, smart, and more than a bit portentous as it probes the human costs of unchecked greed."
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Price Tag ($): 2 million
Synopsis: Winner of the Directing Award: Dramatic, this first feature from writer-director T. Sean Durkin centers on a psychologically tormented woman (Elizabeth Olsen) who struggles to re-adapt to life with her family after escaping from an abusive cult. The dark drama could be this year's
Winter's Bone—and even co-stars John Hawkes, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance in
Bone as the menacing Teardrop, as well as Sundance's "It Girl" of 2011,
Elizabeth Olsen, the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley. The film "is superbly acted and assembled, but it is also entirely terrifying, and deeply disquieting, building a mood of paranoia with both intense, brutal transgressions and small, creepy touches of tone," according to
Indiewire.
Distributor: The Weinstein Co.
Price Tag ($): 7 million; 15 million P&A commitment
Synopsis: The biggest acquisition of Sundance was this star-studded comedy from director Jesse Peretz (
The Ex) about a stoner-slacker (Paul Rudd) who crashes on the couches of his three sisters, with calamitous results. The film also stars indie darling Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks,
Emily Mortimer, Steve Coogan, and Rashida Jones. "The most impressive thing about
My Idiot Brother is that it accomplishes something few films deem important these days: It makes you want to be a better person," wrote Moviefone.
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures & Participant Media
Price Tag ($): N/A
Synopsis: This documentary from Andrew Rossi provides an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the newspaper of record, centering on curmudgeonly, celebrated media writer David Carr and the conflict between new and old media. The film champions Carr as "journalism's new superhero,"
according to Wired, and
Reuters wrote, "
Page One offers a solid enough primer on the current newspaper crisis, vivid enough characters and just enough behind-closed-doors content to give it decent theatrical potential."
Distributor: Focus Features
Price Tag ($): 1 million
Synopsis: Billed as this year's
Precious, the filmmaking debut of writer-director Dee Rees concerns a lesbian Brooklyn teenager (Adepero Oduye) who must risk friends and family in her quest for sexual identity. Produced by Spike Lee, the film featured a breakout turn from newcomer
Oduye and was picked up by venerable indie studio Focus Features (
Brokeback Mountain), which also signed Rees to make another feature. The film boasts "vivid photography, true-to-life moments and a wonderful lead performance"
according to Variety.
Distributor: HBO & Roadside Attractions
Price Tag ($): N/A
Synopsis: The opening night film of this year's fest marked the latest from Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker James March (
Man on Wire).
Project Nim explores the true story of a chimpanzee that was taken from its mother at birth and raised like a human child by a family in a brownstone on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 1970s. HBO acquired the U.S. rights to the film even before it screened at the fest, and then Roadside Attractions picked up U.S. theatrical rights to the winter of the World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary. "This haunting life story is an exquisite example of non-fiction filmmaking as full-bodied, emotionally complex drama,"
wrote The Hollywood Reporter.
Distributor: Kevin Smith
Price Tag ($): 20 (dollars)
Synopsis: One of the most talked-about films at Sundance—thanks to protests from the Westboro Baptist Church—this anti-Christian fundamentalism film is the first entry in the horror genre from acclaimed indie filmmaker
Kevin Smith (
Clerks). Set in the American heartland, Smith's film centers on a group of teens who answer an online invite for sex, only to find themselves held captive by a group of insane Christian fundamentalists. The film stars Oscar-nominated actress Melissa Leo (
The Fighter), John Goodman, Michael Angarano, and Kyle Gallner, and received wildly mixed reviews. Smith held a fake auction for the film following its screening, opting to purchase it for $20 and distribute it himself, first touring the film in a road show, and then releasing it theatrically in October.
Distributor: IFC & Sony Pictures
Price Tag ($): 1.5 million
Synopsis: Set in the corrupt world of mega-churches, director George Ratliff's (
Joshua) film centers on a celebrity pastor (Pierce Brosnan) who accidentally kills an atheist (Ed Harris) and tries to pin it on a particularly fatuous member of his congregation (Greg Kinnear)—a hippie-turned-born again Christian. The film, which also stars Jennifer Connelly, Marisa Tomei, and Ciaran Hinds, received mostly negative reviews from critics, with
The Hollywood Reporter writing, "A lightweight farce involving a pious wrongdoer and the blind supporters who enable him,
Salvation Boulevard doesn't have nearly as much to say about religion as it suggests. Star-stocked and goofy enough to get an audience chuckling, it might draw ticket buyers to theaters but will have short legs."
