Gotham Alumni at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival brings together the most original storytellers and the most adventurous audiences for its annual program of dramatic, documentary, and short films. Since 1985, hundreds of films launched at the Festival have gained critical recognition and reached worldwide audiences eager for fresh perspectives and new voices. Congratulations to all 10 Gotham alumni films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival! They are:
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
A decades-spanning exploration of a woman’s life in Mississippi and an ode to the generations of people, places, and ineffable moments that shape us
Directed and written by Raven Jackson; produced by Maria Altamirano, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceyrak.
Screening in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Gotham Alum: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is an alumnus of the 2019 Gotham Week Project Market.
Bad Press
When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring its free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian country.
Directed by Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler; produced by Conrad Beilharz, Garrett F. Baker, and Tyler Graim.
Screening in the U.S. Documentary Competition.
Gotham Alum: Bad Press is an alumnus of the 2022 Gotham Documentary Feature Lab.
Fancy Dance
Following her sister’s disappearance, a Native American hustler kidnaps her niece from the child’s white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact.
Directed by Erica Tremblay, written by Erica Tremblay and Miciana Alise, and produced by Erica Tremblay, Deidre Backs, Heather Rae, Nina Yang Bongiovi, and Tommy Oliver.
Screening in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Gotham Alum: Fancy Dance is an alumnus of the 2021 Gotham Week Project Market.
Joonam
Spurred by a provocative family memory and a lifetime of separation from the country her mother left behind, a young filmmaker delves into her mother and grandmother’s complicated pasts and her own fractured Iranian identity.
Directed by Sierra Urich and produced by Keith Wilson.
Screening in the U.S. Documentary Competition.
Gotham Alum: Joonam is an alumnus of the 2020 Gotham Week Project Market and a New True Stories Grantee.
King Coal
The cultural roots of coal continue to permeate the rituals of daily life in Appalachia even as its economic power wanes. The journey of a coal miner’s daughter exploring the region’s dreams and myths, untangling the pain and beauty, as her community sits on the brink of massive change.
Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon and produced by Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Peggy Drexler, and Elaine McMillion Sheldon.
Screening in the NEXT section.
Gotham Alum: King Coal is an alumnus of the 2020 Gotham Week Project Market.
Milisuthando
Set in past, present, and future South Africa — an invitation into a poetic, memory-driven exploration of love, intimacy, race, and belonging by the filmmaker, who grew up during apartheid but didn’t know it was happening until it was over.
Directed and written by Milisuthando Bongela and produced by Marion Isaacs.
Screening in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Gotham Alum: Milisuthando is an alumnus of the 2019 Gotham Week Project Market.
Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV
The quixotic journey of Nam June Paik, one of the most famous Asian artists of the 20th century, who revolutionized the use of technology as an artistic canvas and prophesied both the fascist tendencies and intercultural understanding that would arise from the interconnected metaverse of today’s world.
Directed by Amanda Kim and produced by Jennifer Stockman, David Koh, Amanda Kim, Amy Hobby, Jesse Wann, and Mariko Munro.
Screening in the U.S. Documentary Competition.
Gotham Alum: Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV is a New True Stories Grantee.
The Persian Version
When a large Iranian-American family gathers for the patriarch’s heart transplant, a family secret is uncovered that catapults the estranged mother and daughter into an exploration of the past. Toggling between the United States and Iran over decades, mother and daughter discover they are more alike than they know.
Written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz and produced by Maryam Keshavarz, Anne Carey, Ben Howe, Luca Borghese, Peter Block, and Cory Neal.
Screening in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Gotham Alum: The Persian Version is an alumnus of the 2019 Gotham Week Project Market.
The Starling Girl
Seventeen-year-old Jem Starling struggles with her place within her Christian fundamentalist community, but everything changes when her magnetic youth pastor Owen returns to their church.
Written and directed by Laurel Akira Parmet and produced by Kevin Rowe and Kara Durrett.
Screening in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Gotham Alum: The Starling Girl is an alumnus of the 2019 Gotham Week Project Market.
The Tuba Thieves
From 2011 to 2013, tubas were stolen from Los Angeles high schools. This is not a story about thieves or missing tubas. Instead, it asks what it means to listen.
Directed and written by Alison O’Daniel; produced by Alison O’Daniel, Su Kim, and Maya E. Rudolph.
Screening in the NEXT section.
Gotham Alum: The Tuba Thieves is an alumnus of the 2020 Gotham Week Project Market.