Sundance Unveils Packed 2024 Lineup That Includes A.I., Pedro Pascal, Kristen Stewart, Satan, Devo & Steven Yeun:

The 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival unveiled the aorta of its lineup which runs from Jan. 18-28 in Park City, UT, with movies about AI being a running theme in the politically and socially conscious event as well as 80% of movies up for grabs for distribution.

In addition there are movies starring Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg (who is also back directing), Pedro Pascal, Sebastian Stan, Riley Keough, Woody Harrelson, Laura Linney with the return of Sundance darling Aubrey Plaza.

Coming out of a dual strike in which the guilds were adamant about setting guardrails for AI to protect actors and writers, several titles are taking various angles on the technology.

In the New Frontier section there’s the documentary Eno about the legendary music producer of David Bowie, Talking Heads, U2 and other artists. The movie is billed as a “groundbreaking generative documentary”: It’s a different movie every time it’s seen.

In the U.S. Documentary Competition section there’s Peter Sillen’s Love Machina following two futurists who commission an advanced humanoid AI named Bina48 to transfer Bina’s consciousness from a human to a robot in an attempt to continue their once-in-a-galaxy love affair for the rest of time.

In World Docs, there’s Eternal You from Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck about startups which are using AI to create avatars that allow relatives to talk with their loved ones after they have died.

Meanwhile, in the Next Section, there’s Jazmin Renée Jones’ Seeking Mavis Beacon which explores late ’80s educational software Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. However, the program’s Haitian-born cover model vanished decades ago and two DIY investigators search for the cultural icon, while questioning notions of digital security, AI, and Black representation in the digital realm.

Of those movies already with distribution at next year’s festival, those include three from NEON (Stress Positions, Handling the Undead and Seeking Mavis Beacon), three movies from A24 (A Differant Man, I Saw the TV Glow and Love Lies Bleeding), one from Searchlight (Suncoast), one from Amazon Studios (Frida), two from Netflix (Power, and Hitman), another two from HBO (God Save Texas and The Synanon Fix) one from Apple TV+ (the docu Girl States, follow-up to Boys State), one from Focus Features (American Society of Magical Negroes), one from MUBI (How to Have Sex), one from Bleecker Street (Sasquatch Sunset), Paramount+ (Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza), Disney+ (Out of My Mind) and Bleecker Street (Sasquatch Sunset)

Coming out of the pandemic, indie filmmakers flooded Sundance with the most submissions yet at 17,435 titles from 153 countries or territories, including 4,410 feature-length films. Of these feature film submissions, 1,679 were from the U.S., and 2,741 were international. The eight episodic projects were selected from 573 submissions and there were 385 New Frontier submissions. From this, Sundance chose 82 feature-length films from 24 countries. Forty out of 101 (40%) feature film directors at 2024’s fest are first-time feature filmmakers, and 11 of those features were supported by the Sundance Institute in development through direct granting or residency labs. World premieres make up 85, or 94%, of the Festival’s 90 feature films and episodic programs.

While movies will begin screening on Jan. 18 noon MT with premieres in Park City, it’s not necessarily an opening night swath of movies as in years past, rather a mélange. The Sundance Institute will host their fundraiser benefit, Opening Night Gala: Celebrating 40 Years Presented by Chase Sapphire.

On Jan. 25, select competition titles (U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Cinema Dramatic, World Cinema Documentary, and NEXT), as well as additional selections from the feature, episodic, and shorts programs will be available online at festival.sundance.org. The short film selections and 40th edition programming for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival will be announced on December 12.

“From the first edition in 1985, Sundance Film Festival has aimed to provide a space to gather, celebrate, and engage with risk-taking artists that are committed to bringing their independent visions to audiences — the Festival remains true to that goal to this day,” said Robert Redford, Sundance Institute Founder and President. “It continues to evolve, but its legacy of showcasing bold work that starts necessary conversations continues with the 2024 program.”

“The Institute takes great pride in the role the Festival plays in advancing our mission to support artists creating audacious work,” said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “This year is especially significant as we look back on our history of showcasing stories that surprise and delight, spark empathy and reflection, and honor our shared humanity. We’re all thrilled for this opportunity to celebrate the power of storytelling as we gather in January to introduce captivating works from acclaimed filmmakers and discover more new voices.”

“Sundance’s passion and power shines through its programming. Curation is Sundance’s secret sauce and we’re energized by the range of films, stories, and artists we’ve watched and selected from around the world,” said Eugene Hernandez, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming. “This Festival has had a vital history of first impressions: introductions to new talent, new friends, new worlds — our commitment to our artists and our audiences is fundamental to our work. Our programming team, lead by Kim Yutani, has curated 11 days of exciting new voices and stories for the many audiences we serve whether they’re joining us in Utah or experiencing the Festival offerings from afar. Sundance 2024 will be a special year for discovery and community.”

“While we don’t set out to program the Festival with a defined theme in mind, it became apparent this year that our slate’s biggest strength is how it showcases the vitality of independent storytelling,” said Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “Our program is tightly curated and covers a broad cross section of form, perspective, and genre that we’re looking forward to sharing with audiences. These titles are inventive and they beautifully represent the kind of groundbreaking work we’ve sought to amplify at Sundance throughout our history.”

View this article and the full list at Deadline.