Sundance Film Festival 2024 Photos: Award Ceremony, Film Premieres & Parties Gallery

By Robert Lang

The Sundance Film Festival 2024, beloved by independent film enthusiasts, opens the film festival circuit with a bustling calendar of parties, thought-provoking panels, and red-carpet premieres.

Celebrating its 40th milestone, the lineup boasts diversity across various categories, featuring 53 short films, 35 documentary features, and 83 feature films. The award-winning films for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival were announced today at The Ray Theatre in Park City during a ceremony.

The jury and audience-awarded prizes include Grand Jury Prizes awarded to In The Summers (U.S. Dramatic Competition), Porcelain War (U.S. Documentary Competition), Sujo (World Cinema Dramatic Competition), and A New Kind of Wilderness (World Cinema Documentary Competition). The NEXT Innovator Award presented by Adobe was awarded to Little Death.

Audiences came together in person over the weekend in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Sundance Resort with talent that included June Squibb, Pedro Pascal, Steven Yeun, Riley Keough, Kieran Culkin, Andre Holland, Zach Galifianakis, Saoirse Ronan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sasha Calle, Lio Mehiel, Andra Day, Jodie Foster, Justice Smith, Will Ferrell and more who walked press lines and red carpets for their world premieres.

The 2023 program available online includes all dramatic competition films featuring the buzzed-about movies and docs that include My Old Ass; Realm of Satan; A Real Pain, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story; Freaky Tales; Porcelain War; Love Machina; Little Death; Love Lies Bleeding; Love Me; Kneecap; Will & Harper; Dìdi; Sasquatch Sunset; Presence, and Thelma.

Director Rose Glass’s thriller, Love Lies Bleeding, co-written by Weronika Tofilska and Glass, starring Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brien caused a buzz on Day 4 of the fest, receiving a 3-minute applause from the cheering crowd. The film follows reclusive gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) who falls hard for Jackie (Katy O’Brien), an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.

Chiwetel Ejiofor presented Rob Peace, the adaption of Jeff Hobb’s best-selling biography about Peace’s struggle to reconcile his academic ambitions with mounting economic and family pressures on Day 5. The film stars Jay Will in the titular role opposite an ensemble cast including Mary J. Blidge, Camila Cabello, Michael Kelly and Mare Winningham. The film Details Peace’s dual rise within the ranks of Yale and the Newark drug trade.

Keep an eye out for these upcoming films: Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, starring Kieran Culkin, Jennifer Grey and Will Sharpe. Director Josh Margolin’s Thelma, features Oscar-nominated actress June Squibb as an unexpected action star. Also, director Mikko Mäkelä’s Sebastian, where breakout actor Ruaridh Mollicaat delivers a compelling performance as Max, a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London, who embarks on a double life as a sex worker to research his debut novel.

This year’s juries are comprised of Debra Granik, Adrian Tomine, and Lena Waithe (U.S. Dramatic Competition); Shane Boris, Nicole Newnham and Rudy Valdez (U.S. Documentary Competition); Anita Gou, Mira Nair and Rui Poças (World Cinema Dramatic Competition); Mandy Chang, Monica Hellström and Shaunak Sen (World Cinema Documentary Competition) and Zal Batmanglij (Next).

On Monday, January 22nd, Love Me, by filmmaker duo Sam and Andy Zuchero, was awarded the 2023 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun portray the love story between a smart buoy and an orbiting satellite. Inhabited in different forms by Stewart and Yeun, the narrative spans a billion years, delving into the mysteries of being and consciousness.

Whether you’re a seasoned film fanatic or curious to discover new talent, take a look back at the highlights of the festival.