Sundance 2023: Virtual Preview

My first visit to the Sundance Film Festival wasn't in Park City, UT, but rather in my living room, 10 months into my pandemic routine. The 2021 switch to an all-virtual festival was a huge win for those of us who wouldn't have been able to make it out west, even without a global pandemic. Over the past two years of virtual screenings, I've had the privilege and joy of seeing:

• The world premiere of CODA, on its way to a record-setting purchase by Apple and eventually, several Academy Awards including Best Picture.
• Passing, Rebecca Hall's directorial debut
• Questlove's documentary and directorial debut, Summer of Soul
• World premieres of Judas and the Black Messiah and Mass
• The animated documentary, Flee, nominated for three Academy Awards
• Cha Cha Real Smooth, Cooper Raiff's follow-up to Shithouse
• Dual, written and directed by Riley Stearns
• Sharp Stick, written and directed by Lena Dunham
• When You Finish Saving the World, Jesse Eisenberg's directorial debut
• Screenings of After Yang and The Worst Person in the World

That's not to mention all of the ones I missed, either, including buzz-worthy titles like Nanny (2022), The Cathedral (2022), The Territory (2022), Living (2022), Emily the Criminal (2022), Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022), Fire of Love (2022), The Sparks Brothers (2021), Pleasure (2021), Strawberry Mansion (2021), We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021), and more.

Needless to say, virtual Sundance has become a must-see for us each January, and I was thrilled to see that although Park City is welcoming back in-person guests for the 2023 festival, they are still offering a virtual component, as well. I grabbed an Online Festival Package as soon as they were available, and while those are currently sold out, the individual virtual screening tickets go on sale January 12th, for those of you who may be interested in participating.

How virtual screenings work

I'm currently going through the process of selecting which screenings I plan to watch from the over 70 that are available for virtual online viewing. Note: This year is different than the past two years due to the fact that there are in-person guests back at the festival. Sundance has given them exclusive access to some films such as Flora and Son, the new film from Once and Sing Street director John Carney, and Infinity Pool, the new Brandon Cronenberg premiere.

Because of this, if you're looking for what's available to see outside of Utah this year, you'll need to dig a bit. Each movie's description page has a list of available screenings for that film, which include both in-person and online screenings, if available.

But if you want to see everything that's available, the best way I've found so far is to head to the schedule page and click the "ONLINE" tab above the schedule area, then head to January 25th (virtual screenings become available on January 24th at 10am ET and remain available until January 30th at 1:55 AM ET … sure why not).

That lovely incantation will present you with a list of all of the feature film screenings available for online viewing. From the schedule list, logged in users can click the "+ Favorite" button to keep track of the films you'd like to see. From your account page, you can click "Buy" on any of your favorited films to purchase the online screening ticket.

Here's a video from Sundance, outlining the whole process: Watch the Sundance guide to online screenings →

Once you've got your virtual tickets, Sundance has put together some great guides on how to stream the screenings, including technical requirements (there are apps for AppleTV, Roku, and Fire TV) as well as the virtual screening window policy.

Now that we've got all that out of the way, what's worth watching this year?

Sundance 2023 preview, as promised

Below are the virtual/online screenings that I and my partner are excited for this year. We likely won't see them all (our package includes 10 tickets) and we're a bit bummed about some of the in-person only screenings, but I'm still pretty excited for this list.

Cat Person

Directed by Susanna Fogel

I loved Emilia Jones in CODA and I've been excited to see what she does next (let's not mention Locke and Key 🤫). Pair her with Nicholas Braun ("you can't make a tomlette without breaking some greggs"), a New Yorker short story adaptation, and a director who co-wrote 2019's Booksmart? I'm in.

Bad Behaviour

Directed by Alice Englert

Making her feature film debut as a writer/director, this is described as an "action comedy drama thriller" starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Whishaw. It features a retreat led by a spiritual leader named "Elon", TBD whether this is too "on-the-nose" or just enough. It's also described as a "dark comedic dismemberment of a toxic white woman" which makes me eager to see this with 2022's Tár still fresh in my memory.

Fancy Dance

Directed by Erica Tremblay

I'm not as high on Reservation Dogs, the TV series written and directed by Erica Tremblay, as most people are, but I'm excited to see what Tremblay does on the big screen. I loved Lily Gladstone in Certain Women and she's set to be in many conversations in 2023 due to her supporting role in Scorsese's upcoming project, Killers of the Flower Moon.

Magazine Dreams

Directed by Elijah Bynum

Jonathan Majors—what else is there to say? OK, I'll add: this looks like an Aronofsky-esque portrait of an artist a la The Wrestler.

Mami Wata

Directed by C.J. "Fiery" Obasi

I didn't realize I was longing for a black and white Nigerian action fable until I read about Mami Wata. "In the oceanside village of Iyi, the revered Mama Efe acts as an intermediary between the people and the all-powerful water deity Mami Wata …. (things happen) leading to a violent clash of ideologies and a crisis of faith" — this sounds like the kind of purpose-driven action-fantasy that can work on multiple levels.

Theater Camp

Directed by Molly Gordon (directorial debut)

I love Molly Gordon. She's great in Ramy, the Hulu TV series, and in the much-celebrated Shiva Baby film from 2020. She and Booksmart co-star Beanie Feldstein are theater buddies with Ben Platt, who appears here in Theater Camp along with Gordon, who is also directing for the first time. And it's a comedy about theater kids based on their hilarious 2020 short of the same name.

20 Days in Mariupol

Directed by Mstyslav Chernov

It was probably inevitable we'd get at least one, if not several, documentaries about Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. This one is described as "a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities".

Jamojaya

Directed by Justin Chon

This one stuck out to me for a few reasons. For starters, it's one of only a small handful of films in the "Premieres" section that's available online. It also stars an Indonesian rap sensation named Brian Imanuel AKA "Rich Brian", who I have never heard of but who is apparently a major up and coming artist. Director Justin Chon has most recently directed episodes of Pachinko, one of my favorite TV series of 2022. And finally, it's being pitched as a "father and son break up story", which sounds pretty wholly unique?

A Thousand and One

Directed by A.V. Rockwell

IndieWire says, "those in Sundance circles have long anticipated" this one, and that it's "hyped to feature a star-making turn from the musician and singer Teyana Taylor". Director Rockwell is known for her work on commercials and short films, and her feature debut is generating plenty of buzz already.

L'Immensitá

Directed by Emanuele Crialese

Having premiered at Venice in September to good if not rave reviews, this 1970's portrait of Rome starring Penélope Cruz would have to be absolutely terrible for me to avoid what must be, at the very least, a visual feast. What put me over the edge, though, is the high praise I've seen for Cruz's co-star, young newcomer Luana Giuliani.

La Pecera

Directed by Glorimar Marrero Sánchez

Glorimar Marrero Sánchez's directorial debut sounds like a wild thematic combination, something along the lines of Dark Waters meets The Farewell? I admit that it's difficult to look past a story whose summary touches on end of life care, hurricane season, pollution, and colonialism all wrapped up in a single story of a woman who just wants to die in her home.

Heroic

Directed by David Zonana

This is Mexican director Zonana's second feature film, after his Workforce in 2019 gathered a 100% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, with 20 reviews. As a harrowing look at the Heroic Military College just outside of Mexico City and the cruelty such academies inflict on the world, I can't say I'm excited for this watch as much as I'm fascinated to hear what it has to say.

Final thoughts

With a line-up as packed as this one is, it's impossible to choose the right subset of films that will be enjoyable, rewarding, and that will most assuredly enter the cultural conversation over the coming year. Follow me on Letterboxd for live Sundance reactions, reviews, etc.

Update: Previous versions of this article inaccurately mentioned "Park Slope" instead of "Park City". I blame no sleep 'till Brooklyn, etc.