SUNDANCE 2024 | Pre-Fest Part 3: Must See Documentaries
Image courtesy of Sundance
ETERNAL YOU
Program: World Cinema Documentary Competition
Director: Hans Block & Moritz Riesewieck
Synopsis: Startups are using AI to create avatars that allow relatives to talk with their loved ones after they have died. An exploration of a profound human desire and the consequences of turning the dream of immortality into a product.
Why This Is A Must-See: Since the rise of software like ChatGPT, the topic of Artificial Intelligence has become front and center in society. People are beginning to unlock the potential AI has in simplifying tasks and aiding productivity as AI tools become more and more integrated into everyday devices. But just as we’re unpacking the power of AI in everyday life, Eternal You broaches the next stages of AI - utilizing it to communicate with those in the afterlife.
If AI can be useful in professional spaces and leisurely capacities, why can’t it be useful for coping with loss? What are the benefits? And what are the unintended consequences?
Eternal You is sure to be a significant conversation starter at Sundance this year. Just the premise in the synopsis evokes the imagination of a dystopian sci-fi future, with the whole concept of the film seeming to urge audiences to ask tough questions about the impending technology that can either be rapturously wonderful or devastatingly destructive for mankind. With experience presenting issues in the tech space following their debut film The Cleaners, directors Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck seem to be the right team to bring this topic to the public through Sundance.
Image courtesy of Sundance
AND SO IT BEGINS
Program: Premieres
Director: Ramona S Diaz
Synopsis: Amidst the traditional pomp and circumstance of Filipino elections, a quirky people’s movement rises to defend the nation against deepening threats to truth and democracy. In a collective act of joy as a form of resistance, hope flickers against the backdrop of increasing autocracy.
Why This Is A Must See: Politics in any part of the world can be humdrum topic. And while the political landscape of the Philippines is complicated and frustrating for locals, this film seems to take a more upbeat approach to demonstrating how Filipinos are attempting to uphold democracy.
Director Ramona Diaz makes films that people pay attention to. With numerous award winning films in her background, including And So It Begins’ 2020 spiritual companion piece A Thousand Cuts, this seems to be Diaz’s opportunity to continue shedding light on world issues.
With And So It Begins, I’m expecting to watch this film and be inspired about the power of mobilizing people to protect democracy and a political future worth looking forward to.
Image courtesy of Sundance
SKYWALKERS: A LOVE STORY
Program: U.S. Documentary Competition
Director: Jeff Zimbalist
Synopsis: To save their career and relationship, a daredevil couple journey across the globe to climb the world’s last super skyscraper and perform a bold acrobatic stunt on the spire.
Why This Is A Must See: They say not to judge a book by its cover, but Skywalkers: A Love Story’s featured production stills tell me everything I need to know to make this a must-see film at Sundance.
Depicted is a young, daring couple journeying to death defying heights for acrobatic stunts. This images look like what the synopsis ultimately confirms - that Skywalkers is going to be a thrilling, edge of your seat experience that is likely best viewed on the big screen.
When watching Skywalkers, I hope to get that same acrophobias clammy feeling in my hands like I did when watching Free Solo, Fall, or The Walk. But more importantly, I expect that there will be an engrossing story at the center of the thrill seeking stunts. How can highly dangerous acrobatic performance save these subjects’ careers and relationship? I’m very much looking forward to finding out.
Image courtesy of Sundance
WAR GAME
Program: Special Screenings
Director: Jesse Moss & Tony Gerber
Synopsis: A bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations participate in an unscripted role-play exercise in which they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the U.S. military, in the wake of a contested presidential election.
Why This Is A Must See: This could very well be one of the best political thrillers we get to see this year.
In Pre-Fest Part 2, I had already mentioned another project by Jesse Moss in conjunction with frequent filmmaking partner Amanda McBaine for their return to politics at Sundance with Girls State. Here, Moss co-directs this apparent experiment of a simulation with Tony Gerber.
There seems to be a lot of real world caution built into how this exercise will play out. It’s my hope, similarly to Eternal You, that the essence of War Game is able to inspire thought provoking conversation to proactively address immanent issues.