The Sundance Film Festival: London 2023 will close with the U.K. premiere of Nicole Holofcener‘s “You Hurt My Feelings.”
The comedy-drama is set in Brooklyn and stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies as a couple whose marriage is thrown into turmoil when she overhears his honest reaction to her latest book.
As previously announced, the festival will open with the U.K. premiere of “Scrapper,” written and directed by Londoner Charlotte Regan, starring Harris Dickinson and newcomers Lola Campbell and Alin Uzun. It follows Georgie, a dreamy 12-year-old girl, who lives happily alone in her London flat, filling it with magic. Suddenly, her estranged father turns up and forces her to confront reality.
Curated by Picturehouse and the Sundance Institute, the 10th edition of the festival is set to take place from July 6-9 July at Picturehouse Central and will showcase 11 feature films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort in January. It will feature a range of feature fiction and documentary films, as well as a program of U.K.-produced short films and a retrospective of radical American filmmaker Gregg Araki, whose filmmaking is closely associated with the New Queer Cinema movement.
Araki will be in London to attend the screenings and Q&A sessions for “The Doom Generation,” which has been remastered in 4K for an uncensored director’s cut and follows two troubled teenage lovers (Rose McGowan and James Duval) who pick up a drifter (Xavier Red) and embark on a journey full of sex, violence and convenience stores; “Three Bewildered People In The Night” follows a triangle of young lovers who find angst and despair as they sort out their feelings and sexuality in late-night coffee shops; and “Mysterious Skin,” which tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who both experienced sexual abuse and one becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), while the other (Brady Corbet) retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
Elsewhere, the festival will present work by filmmakers who explore modern love and identity. Ira Sachs directs “Passages,” a film starring Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Franz Rogowski, about a gay couple whose marriage is thrown into crisis when one of them begins a passionate affair with a younger woman. Andrew Durham’s “Fairyland” is a coming-of-age drama told from the perspective of a young girl being brought up by her single gay father in San Francisco in the 1970s and stars Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy, Geena Davis and Adam Lambert.
Celine Song’s “Past Lives” is a romantic film that stars Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, and follows a reunion between childhood friends, while Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s “Mutt” follows a young trans man through a challenging day in New York City.
The festival will also host co-directors Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou’s “Talk To Me.” The crowd-pleasing horror-thriller for the Instagram generation follows a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, becoming hooked on the new thrill until one of them goes too far.
In the documentary strand, Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson’s “Fantastic Machine” takes the audience on a voyage through the life of the video camera, while “Going Varsity in Mariachi” captures the highs and lows of a high-school mariachi band in Texas. “Invisible Beauty” looks back at the impact that activist Bethann Hardison has had over the last five decades. Anton Corbijn’s feature documentary debut “Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis),” explores the duo behind a generation of iconic album covers and interviewees include Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, Roger Waters and David Gilmour.
Joana Vicente, CEO of Sundance Institute, said: “These films are provocative, moving, and entertaining and created by some truly visionary storytellers. We know that alongside a compelling series of conversations and industry program, it will be an outstanding 10th edition of the festival.”
Clare Binns, managing director, Picturehouse Cinemas, added: “We look forward to celebrating with the London film community in July for an exciting four days filled with bold and thrilling U.K. premieres on the big screen, inspiring talks and special guest appearances, I am personally thrilled that Gregg Araki will be joining us all at the festival, whose work exemplifies Sundance and independent film.”
