If the NYFCC‘s recently-announced list of year-end winners denotes the certified start to this year’s awards season — they were the first major body of critics to publicly announce their best-of-the-year picks — then the Sundance Film Festival’s reveal of their 2012 slate signifies a less-official birth to the 2012-2013 Oscar circuit. (Yes, we’re looking way too far into the future here. But why not?)
Take the 2011 festival, for instance, which provided a starting platform for current Oscar hopefuls such as Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Drake Doremus’ Like Crazy, and Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter, as well as multiple entries (Hell and Back Again, We Were Here) included in the Academy’s recent shortlist for the Best Documentary category.
The year-long grind from Park City, Utah to the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles is a turbulent and trying one indeed, but handfuls of Oscar nominees from years past (Precious, Winter’s Bone) have proven time and time again that, for all of its obstacles, the struggle isn’t an insurmountable one.
The festival’s 2012 line-up, which was released on Wednesday, is lacking an abundance of recognizable names, particularly in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category. Though that may provoke a somewhat unsatisfying immediate reaction for some, consider that the presence of up-and-comers is precisely what Sundance is built for — and thankfully so. After all, did anybody on planet Earth know of Jeff Nichols prior to 2007′s Shotgun Stories? Now, he’s the go-to guy for in-depth Michael Shannon performances, and he has another Shannon-featuring project on the horizon in Mud.
After a semi-thorough glance-through, I’d say one of the main hopefuls of the 2012 titles is writer-director Antonio Campos’ Simon Killer. In addition to helming the Ezra Miller-starring Afterschool, Campos was also one of the producers behind Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Also grabbing my attention was Ben Lewin’s The Surrogate, which has John Hawkes starring as “Mark O’Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist with an iron lung [who] decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin.” After his back-to-back supporting turns in Winter’s Bone and Martha Marcy May Marlene (hey, I guess this guy is making a habit out of this Sundance thing), it should be a fresh change of pace to see Hawkes carrying a film on his own — and embodying, I’m assuming, a more lighthearted personality in the process.
Kieran Darcy-Smith’s Wish You Were Here, which stars Joel Edgerton, could be another one to keep an eye on. Mark Webber’s The End of Love draws some interest, too — mostly for its cast, which includes Michael Cera and Amanda Seyfried. In the documentary realm, Eugene Jarecki’s The House I Live In could prove to be a major talking point. The acclaimed Jarecki, brother of Andrew (Capturing the Friedmans, All Good Things), has most recently directed Freakonomics and Reagan.
I have listed below the titles and filmmakers for all of the in-competition films. (A friendly warning: If you don’t like quirky-sounding titles, avert your eyes.) For more plot and casting information, head over to the Sundance website for the complete rundown.
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar)
The Comedy / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Robert Donne, Colm O’Leary)
The End of Love / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Mark Webber)
Filly Brown / U.S.A. (Directors: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos, Screenwriter: Youssef Delara)
The First Time / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jonathan Kasdan)
For Ellen / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: So Yong Kim)
Hello I Must Be Going / U.S.A. (Director: Todd Louiso, Screenwriter: Sarah Koskoff)
Keep the Lights On / U.S.A. (Director: Ira Sachs, Screenwriters: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias)
LUV / U.S.A. (Director: Sheldon Candis, Screenwriters: Sheldon Candis, Justin Wilson)
Middle Of Nowhere / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ava DuVernay)
Nobody Walks / U.S.A. (Director: Ry Russo-Young, Screenwriters: Lena Dunham, Ry Russo-Young)
Safety Not Guaranteed / U.S.A. (Director: Colin Trevorrow, Screenwriter: Derek Connolly)
Save the Date / U.S.A. (Director: Michael Mohan, Screenwriters: Jeffrey Brown, Egan Reich, Michael Mohan)
Simon Killer / France, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Antonio Campos)
Smashed / U.S.A. (Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Susan Burke, James Ponsoldt)
The Surrogate / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ben Lewin)
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry / U.S.A., China (Director: Alison Klayman)
The Atomic States of America / U.S.A. (Directors: Don Argott, Sheena M. Joyce)
Chasing Ice / U.S.A. (Director: Jeff Orlowski)
DETROPIA /U.S.A. (Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady)
ESCAPE FIRE: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare / U.S.A. (Directors: Matthew Heineman, Susan Froemke)
Finding North /U.S.A. (Directors: Lori Silverbush, Kristi Jacobson)
The House I Live In / U.S.A. (Director: Eugene Jarecki)
How to Survive a Plague / U.S.A. (Director: David France)
The Invisible War / U.S.A. (Director: Kirby Dick)
Marina Abramović The Artist is Present / U.S.A. (Director: Matthew Akers)
ME at the ZOO / U.S.A. (Directors: Chris Moukarbel, Valerie Veatch)
The Other Dream Team / Lithuania, U.S.A. (Director: Marius Markevicius)
The Queen of Versailles / U.S.A. (Director: Lauren Greenfield)
Slavery By Another Name / U.S.A. (Director: Sam Pollard)
Love Free or Die: How the Bishop of New Hampshire is Changing the World / U.S.A. (Director: Macky Alston)
We’re Not Broke / U.S.A. (Directors: Karin Hayes, Victoria Bruce)
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
4 Suns / Czech Republic (Director and screenwriter: Bohdan Sláma)
About the Pink Sky / Japan (Director and screenwriter: Keiichi Kobayashi)
Can / Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Rasit Celikezer)
Father’s Chair (A Cadeira do Pai) / Brazil (Director: Luciano Moura, Screenwriters: Elena Soarez, Luciano Moura)
L / Greece (Director: Babis Makridis, Screenwriters: Efthymis Filippou, Babis Makridis)
The Last Elvis (El Ultimo Elvis) / Argentina (Director: Armando Bo, Screenwriters: Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo)
Madrid, 1987 / Spain (Director and screenwriter: David Trueba)
My Brother the Devil / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Sally El Hosaini)
Teddy Bear / Denmark (Director: Mads Matthiesen, Screenwriters: Mads Matthiesen, Martin Pieter Zandvliet)
Valley of Saints / India, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Musa Syeed)
Violeta Went to Heaven (Violeta se Fue a Los Cielos) / Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain (Director: Andrés Wood, Screenwriters: Eliseo Altunaga, Rodrigo Bazaes, Guillermo Calderón, Andrés Wood)
Wish You Were Here / Australia (Director: Kieran Darcy-Smith, Screenwriters: Felicity Price, Kieran Darcy-Smith)
WRONG / France (Director and screenwriter: Quentin Dupieux)
Young & Wild / Chile (Director: Marialy Rivas, Screenwriters: Marialy Rivas, Camila Gutiérrez, Pedro Peirano)
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
½ REVOLUTION / Denmark (Directors: Omar Shargawi, Karim El Hakim)
5 Broken Cameras / Palestine, Israel, France (Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi)
THE AMBASSADOR / Denmark (Director: Mads Brügger)
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* / Sweden (Director: Fredrik Gertten)
China Heavyweight / Canada, China (Director: Yung Chang)
Gypsy Davy / Israel, U.S.A., Spain (Director: Rachel Leah Jones)
The Imposter / United Kingdom (Director: Bart Layton)
Indie Game: The Movie / Canada (Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky)
The Law in These Parts / Israel (Director: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz)
Payback / Canada (Director: Jennifer Baichwal)
Putin’s Kiss / Denmark (Director: Lise Birk Pedersen)
Searching for Sugar Man / Denmark, United Kingdom (Director: Malik Bendjelloul)
