Sure, the joke may be tired, but once again, Film Threat was once again in Park City, Utah…virtually, for this year’s Sundance Film Festival. While having no feet on the ground, we covered a wide variety of Sundance’s features, documentaries, shorts, and international fare. Sabina Dana Plasse and Heidi Van Lier were the only ones actually in Park City, while the rest of us enjoyed the festival’s offering from afar…and in warmer climates.
Susan Feniger: Forked, A Culinary Disaster
Forked is not just a retrospective of Susan Feniger’s career. In fact, it is primarily a cinéma vérité documentary following Feniger’s first solo restaurant called STREET, which features street food Feniger discovered on her international travels. Alan Ng says, “Feniger is the perfect subject for documentaries about starting a business. She’s optimistic. She’s a leader…”
Susan Feniger: Forked, A Culinary Disaster
Bob’s Funeral
Bob’s Funeral is a documentary-animation comedy hybrid. The film follows Dunphy as he interviews his family members to figure out why his father, Mark, and his grandfather, Bob, did not get along. Ethan Padgett says, “Dunphy’s film does a solid job of capturing the subtleties of a loved one’s death. Home movie footage makes it more personal without becoming too raw. Thankfully, it avoids the impersonal nature of realist cinema.”
Sebastian
Sebastian follows Max (Ruaridh Mollica) is a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London. He has published some short stories in literary journals and works for Wall magazine as a freelancer. When no one is looking, he’s a sex worker named Sebastian. Michael Talbot-Haynes says, “The film catches that terrifying corridor young writers get caught in, where they force themselves into questionable situations. Was the only reason I ended up smoking a joint passed to me by a monkey upstairs in a downtown VIP section to later be able to write about it? ”
Sundance Films Reviewed by Film Threat
Features: Sebastian, Reinas, Good One, Baigal Nurr – Lake Baikal, Tendaberry, Veni Vidi Vici, Exhibiting Forgiveness, Handling the Undead
Documentaries: Susan Feniger: Forked, A Culinary Disaster, Gaucho Gaucho, Igualada, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Never Look Away, Dig! XX, Ibelin, Porcelain War, Black Box Diaries
Short Films: Bob’s Funeral, The Bleacher, Boi de Conchas (The Shell Covered Ox), The Rainbow Bridge, The Masterpiece
Here are links to all reviews from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
