NEW YORK—A documentary on Taylor Swift will kick off the next Sundance Film Festival, where new films including the Will Ferrell-Julia Louis Dreyfus remake of the Swedish film “Force Majeure” and Benh Zeitlin’s long-awaited followup to “Beasts of the Southern Wild” are set to premiere. But new names are coming to the pre-eminent showcase for independent cinema, with 44 first-time filmmakers from 27 countries being featured in the festival. The coming Sundance, set for Jan. 23 to Feb. 2, follows a 2019 festival that saw big-pocketed streaming services set off an avalanche of high-priced acquisitions, some of which notably fizzled at the box office. Still, Sundance, where movies like “Get Out,” “Little Miss Sunshine” and “The Big Sick” first debuted, remains the premier factory for breakout hits. It’s his first movie since his Oscar-nominated debut, “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” a sensation at 2012’s Sundance.

Source: thestar December 05, 2019 04:52 UTC