Sundance Film Festival’s 2019 lineup leans toward diversity, discovery and (hotter than usual) documentaries

With an unusual air of freshness and consolidation feeling like a newfound strength, the Sundance Film Festival unveiled its 2019 program Wednesday. The festival did launch its share of commercial disappointments including Gus Van Sant’s biopic, “Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far On Foot,” the social satire “Assassination Nation,” Paul Dano’s critically hailed directorial debut “Wildlife” and dramatic competition prizewinner “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.” But the 2018 slate also produced multiple box-office winners, from wide-release successes for horror breakout “Hereditary” and the John Cho-led thriller “Searching,” to smaller-scaled wins for “Sorry To Bother You” and “Eighth Grade” and the startling results of powerhouse documentary trifecta “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” “RBG” and “Three Identical Strangers.” The 2019 festival will be the first under new director of programming Kim Yutani, a programmer with the festival since 2006, who had also been director of programming and artistic director at LA’s Outfest. I just think they make good stories; they’re just interesting.” Filmmaker Minhal Baig’s “Hala” premieres at the 2019 festival as part of the U.S. dramatic competition. “In a way, it spoils you because it’s not necessarily like that in the outside world.” Other titles looking to generate buzz in the Premieres section include Joe Berlinger’s “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” in which Zac Efron plays serial killer Ted Bundy; Jacob Estes’ sci-fi thriller “Relive,” starring David Oyelowo, Storm Reid and Brian Tyree Henry; and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s feature directing debut, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” The breakout success of several of last year’s documentary premieres is sure to draw even more attention to the festival’s perennially stellar nonfiction premieres. In the Midnight section, which frequently is home to some of the festival’s biggest commercial breakouts including “The Blair Witch Project,” “Saw” and “Hereditary,” titles include Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe’s suburban satire “Greener Grass”; Abe Forsythe’s “Little Monsters,” starring Lupita Nyong’o; Alexandre O. Philippe’s documentary “Memory – The Origins of Alien”; JD Dillard’s “Sweetheart” and “Goodnight Mommy” directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s “The Lodge.” Among the most notable titles in the Spotlight section, which features films that have premiered at other festival’s is the North American premiere of Jennifer Kent’s “The Nightingale.” Kent’s previous film, “The Babadook,” premiered as part of Sundance’s Midnight section in 2014.