Goran Stolevski's feature debut You Won't Be Alone, produced by Causeway Films, will make its world premiere at the renowned Sundance Film Festival along with virtual reality documentary Gondwana. Nash Edgerton's short film Shark will also make its US premiere at the festival which will take place in person and online from 20 – 30 January 2022.
Sundance has a history of launching Australian works into the US market including feature films Relic (2020), Little Monsters (2019) and Sweet Country (2018), as well as documentaries such as Playing with Sharks (2021) and Casting JonBenet (2017).
Also premiering at this year's festival is British film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, directed by Australian director Sophie Hyde. Hyde's first feature 52 Tuesdays won the Best Director Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition in 2014, and her follow up feature Animals also debuted at Sundance in 2019.
Screen Australia's CEO Graeme Mason said, "Congratulations to these teams, this is a fantastic opportunity to launch their work on a global stage at such a prestigious festival. We know there is great appetite for Australian stories overseas, and it's special to see both Nash Edgerton return to Sundance after Mr Inbetween premiered in 2018, as well as Causeway who are back after The Nightingale saw success in 2019 - this time with writer/director Goran Stolevski who is proving to be in great command of his craft. To also have an immersive documentary showcased demonstrates the breadth of remarkable projects Australia produces."
Supernatural horror film You Won't Be Alone from writer/director Goran Stolevski will make its world premiere in the World Dramatic Competition. It is produced by Causeway Films' Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings, the award-winning team behind The Babadook and The Nightingale which screened at Sundance Film Festival in 2019.
Writer/director Goran Stolevski said, "Making this film was a gorgeous, gloriously insane and deeply moving experience. Our entire beautiful cast and crew could not be prouder or more thrilled to be premiering at Sundance."
Producers Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings said, "It's been an incredible journey making this film during a pandemic, which turned out to be one of the most creatively rewarding experiences, working with Goran and the key creative team including our beautiful cast and crew from Serbia. Premiering at Sundance in the World Dramatic Competition is a huge honour and we can't wait to share this moving, poetic genre piece with international audiences. We're so grateful for the support we received from Screen Australia, Film Victoria, our post partner Kojo Studios and trusted sales agent Bankside Films in getting us there."
Short virtual reality (VR) documentary Gondwana will make its world premiere in the New Frontier section which showcases emerging media storytelling, multimedia installations, performances and films across fiction, nonfiction and hybrid projects. The project takes audiences into the centre of an awe-inspiring storm in the world's oldest rainforest.
Director Ben Joseph Andrews said, "We're thrilled that our 24-hour VR experience Gondwana will unfurl at Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier. This work has been a feat of incredible endurance, passion, collective creativity and technical wizardry. I'm beyond proud of our small team for producing a work of such richness and complexity, and wish to extend the most heartfelt thanks to them. We hope the Daintree rainforest may live within others as it does ourselves."
Nash Edgerton's short film Shark will have its USA premiere in the Shorts Competition after making its world premiere at TIFF earlier this year. Shark follows the continuing adventures of Jack, who loves to prank, but in his latest relationship he may have finally met his match.
Writer/director Nash Edgerton said, "Sundance has truly been a home to so many of my short films. Both Spider and Bear had such a great receptions there and so to continue that with Shark will be a highlight of the festival journey of our film. We can't wait to see how audiences react to Jack's continuing misadventures."
Australian projects at Sundance 2022:
YOU WON'T BE ALONE
Causeway Films HQ Pty Ltd
Writer/Director: Goran Stolevski
Producers: Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert, Carloto Cotta, Félix Maritaud, Sara Klimoska
Distributor: Focus Features / Universal Pictures International
International Sales: Bankside Films
Production credit: Major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria.
Synopsis: Set in an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, You Won't Be Alone follows a young witch who is left to go feral in the woods. Curious about life as a human, she accidentally kills a peasant in the village, then takes her shape to see what life is like in her skin. This ignites her deep-seated curiosity to experience life inside the bodies of others.
