Hollywood is feeling nostalgic as Sundance prepares for its final hurrah in Park City. If distributors really want to give the indie film festival a proper sendoff, they’ll engage in a few of the all-night bidding wars that gave the mountain resort its storied electricity.
This year’s program offers plenty of star-driven productions, propulsive docs and twisty genre fare that could cross over into the mainstream with the right backer. Here are 13 films that should leave buyers hot under their parkas and awfully glad they packed their checkbooks.
Worry Well Productions
Buddy
Cast: Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Topher Grace, Keegan Michael-Key, Michael Shannon
Director: Casper Kelly
Sales Agent: UTA, Range
Why Buyers Are Circling: Imagine “Sesame Street” with a much, much higher body count. “Buddy” follows a girl and her friends who must escape a sinister version of a children’s TV program. This “Midnight Madness” entry seems just demented enough to be one of the festival’s more commercial offerings, and the biggest sales at Sundance are often the films that offer the most scares.
Carousel
Cast: Chris Pine, Jenny Slate
Director: Rachel Lambert
Sales Agent: CAA, WME
Why Buyers Are Circling: A rom-com about middle-aged regrets. “Carousel” follows a doctor (Pine) who reconnects with his high school girlfriend (Slate) when she returns to town. The stars are said to have real chemistry, the kind that could cause sparks to fly with the right distributor.
Eric Branco/Summer 2001 LLC
Chasing Summer
Cast: Iliza Shlesinger, Garrett Wareing, Megan Mullally
Director: Josephine Decker
Sales Agent: UTA, Cinetic
Why Buyers Are Circling: Shlesinger, one of stand-up’s most distinctive voices, wrote and stars in this sexy, sweet, funny look at a disaster relief worker who goes back home to Texas after her life falls apart. “Ransome Canyon” heartthrob Wareing plays the younger man who draws her into a steamy affair.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
Cast: Zoey Deutch, Ben Wang, John Slattery, Jon Hamm
Director: David Wain
Sales Agent: WME
Why Buyers Are Circling: A very meta comedy from the makers of “Wet Hot American Summer.” Deutch plays a woman who is determined to hook up with her celeb “hall pass” after her fiancé manages to sleep with his own A-list get-out-of-jail free card. Hamm is the Hollywood actor Deutch is so desperate to slip beneath the sheets with that she takes a trip to Los Angeles to find him.
MRC II Distribution Company L.P.
The Gallerist
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Sterling K. Brown
Director: Cathy Yan
Sales Agent: MRC
Why Buyers Are Circling: We’re entering another springtime for Portman, who has a slew of offbeat projects led by Yan’s latest. Portman plays a desperate, well, gallerist looking to offload a corpse as art during Miami’s annual poser-heavy Art Basel conference. You know, that old yarn! Look out for a scene-stealing supporting turn from “Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega.
Hanging By a Wire
Director: Mohammed Ali Naqvi
Sales Agent: CAA
Why Buyers Are Circling: Eight passengers are left dangling above a ravine in the Himalayan foothills
when the wire holding their cable car snaps. This gripping documentary has been likened to “Free
Solo,” and is said to have the immersive power to make it a true awards contender.
Lacey Terrell
I Want Your Sex
Cast: Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Charli xcx
Director: Gregg Araki
Sales Agent: CAA
Why Buyers Are Circling: Devotees of both Sundance and indie film have been champing at the bit for a new feature from Araki, king of the New Queer Cinema. Seems he will not disappoint, with this lusty and boundary-pushing tale of an older woman dom (Olivia Wilde) and her upstart young sub (Cooper Hoffman). At the very least, it’s guaranteed to be a conversation starter.
The Invite
The Invite
Cast: Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton
Director: Olivia Wilde
Sales Agent: UTA, FilmNation
Why Buyers Are Circling: Wilde, who has helmed “Booksmart” and “Don’t Worry Darling,” returns to directing with a remake of the 2020 Spanish film, “The People Upstairs.” With a script by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack and an all-star cast, this relationship dramedy may be hard to resist — even if it documents a dinner party from hell.
Greta Zozula
Josephine
Cast: Channing Tatum, Mason Reeves, Gemma Chan
Director: Beth de Araújo
Sales Agent: CAA, WME
Why Buyers Are Circling: A dramatic turn for Tatum and the presence of Chan are enough to hook any buyer. More impressive will be the execution of the heavy subject matter, as Reeves witnesses a horrific crime and tries to recover her fragile sense of security.
Nuisance Bear
Director: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman
Sales Agent: Submarine
Why Buyers Are Circling: Vanden and Weisman expand their acclaimed short film into a feature-length documentary about the impact that tourism is having on the apex predators who have made Churchill, Manitoba the “Polar Bear Capital of the World.” “Nuisance Bear” examines the way that the hunters and visitors who are flocking to the region are threatening the existence of the animals who call it home. This non-fiction film is entering the festival with a lower profile than some of the other docs, but it has the makings of a Sundance sleeper.
Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story
Director: Judd Apatow and Neil Berkele
Sales Agent: WME, UTA
Why Buyers Are Circling: Bamford’s niche “Lady Dynamite” series was just a glimpse at the
pathos and heart contained within the comic. This film explores her mental health journey and leads an
unusually comedy-heavy Sundance program.
Troublemaker
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Sales Agent: WME, LBI Entertainment
Why Buyers Are Circling: This moving documentary recounts Nelson Mandela’s long struggle against apartheid using recordings he made while writing his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom.” It’s a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with one of history’s great heroes.
Stefan Weinberger
Union County
Cast: Will Poulter, Noah Centineo
Director: Adam Meeks
Sales Agent: WME, 2AM
Why Buyers Are Circling: A career-best performance by Poulter, who always seems just on the edge of a big breakout moment. Here he plays a troubled man assigned to a court-mandated drug rehabilitation program. This is one of the festival’s true tearjerkers — bring tissues.
