Kieran Culkin, Saoirse Ronan and others – IndieWire

While the Oscars are sometimes perceived as a dirty word that can distract from the hundreds of films premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, the last few days in Park City, Utah, have been a big reminder of the increased connection between the festival and Oscar ceremony.

For example, on the first night of this year’s festival, current Best Supporting Actor contender Robert Downey Jr. presented his Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan with the first Sundance Institute Trailblazer Award at the opening night gala. At the same event, May December and Past Lives producer Christine Vachon presented the Vanguard Award for Fiction to multiple Oscar contender Celine Song, director of the latter film, which premiered at the festival last year.

Actors like Colman Domingo and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who made waves this awards season with their roles in Rustin and Origins, also found themselves at Sundance with other projects, but that certainly won’t hurt the campaign. face at the festival, which announced dozens of contenders for best film.

With that in mind, and turning the spotlight back on the new films at this year’s festival, here are a few projects that premiered during the opening weekend of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival that already have that fresh Oscar scent.

“Real Pain”

The festival’s first major acquisition, the film was sold to Searchlight Pictures for $10 million after its opening night on Saturday, January 20, received a standing ovation. This comedy about two Jewish cousins ​​who go on a tour of Poland in memory of their grandmother demonstrates why star Kieran Culkin just won an Emmy for Succession. Writer, director and co-star Jesse Eisenberg certainly holds his own, but helps his scene partner regain his magnetic presence on the big screen as well. Comedies typically have an uphill battle for the Oscars, but this film tries its best to tackle more complex themes that voters seem likely to respect. With Searchlight’s backing, “A Real Pain” could prove to be a real contender in the coming months.

“Showing Forgiveness”

Director Titus Kaphar, an internationally renowned artist, is actually already on the Academy’s radar: his film Shut Up and Paint appeared on the shortlist for best documentary short last year. But in this directorial debut, he delves even deeper into his own story, starring Andre Holland as Terrell, a successful artist who begins to spiral once his drug-addicted father comes back into his life. The parent in question is played by theater veteran John Earl Jelks, who so masterfully shows that even when people do their best to change, their past actions are not justified overnight. There’s magic in the dynamic between the pair of actors, no matter how difficult their conflict may be before the real catharsis, but Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Andra Day (both no strangers to awards season) are the necessary finishing touches that bring the thrilling picture to completion.

“Overtaking”

Saoirse Ronan, the star and producer of this addiction drama based on Amy Liptrot’s 2016 memoir, has already been nominated for four acting Oscars at the age of just 29. Working with German director Nora Fingscheidt (Unforgivable), the Irish actress has already received rave reviews for her commitment to portraying a woman who returns to Scotland’s Orkney Islands, determined to escape the personal demons that have haunted her.

“Porcelain War”

If there’s one Oscar category that Sundance has the biggest impact on, it’s Best Documentary Feature. Last year, four of the five nominees had their world premieres at Sundance, with the eventual winner being Navalny, the 2022 Audience Award winner. Of course, there are many more titles to come, but this film from directors Slava Leontyev and Brendan Bellomo about three Ukrainian artists who stay behind and fight for their country after Russia invades Crimea has been named one of the hottest tickets of the weekend. . Academy voters have gravitated toward both films that showcase artists and films that document a current global issue, so the acquisition’s title appears designed to grab their attention this year.