Sundance 2024 Highlights: DAUGHTERS, ENO, A REAL PAIN, GOOD ONE & WINNER

Sundance 2024, celebrating its 40th year under the new leadership of Eugene Hernandez (co-founder of Indiewire) is now in the rearview mirror. This pivotal film festival in American independent filmmaking premiered many of today’s new and exciting talents while showcasing the works of many of its alumni, those who were first discovered at Sundance years ago and are now among the most influential and interesting filmmakers of our times. Those alumni included many Woodstock Film Festival friends, such as Richard Linklater, Mira Nair, Debra Granik, Ondi Timoner, Mark Duplass and more.

The prevailing sense among the many thousands of filmmakers and industry members who ascended upon Park City, Utah, was that this was a special year. With the relatively warm weather allowing festival goers to spend time outside along the snowy banks, filmmakers and industry members alike traversed from party to party, from film screening to film screening, from panels and talks to other special events, all the while engaging in film-centric conversations, making new connections and renewing old ones.

Among the films highlights for our Woodstock Film Festival crew who attended the first week of the film festival were:

Jesse Eisenberg’s wonderful Polish / Jewish film A REAL PAIN. Woodstock Film Festival’s friend Louis Armistead worked on the film as Assistant Editor, so we were extra happy when Searchlight immediately acquired the film for the “bargain” price of 10 million dollars. 

Another highlight includes DAUGHTERS, an amazing documentary that was produced by WFF friend Paul Rahman, and supported by WFF friend Hallee Adelman, with consultation by WFF friend Sabine Hoffman. Congratulations on the TWO Sundance awards, and the Netflix acquisition!!

WINNER and OT OF MY MIND, two beautiful films that were produced by WFF board member Peter Saraf were both a hit at Sundance, with WINNER still looking for distribution, while OUT OF MY MIND is a Disney film.

BETWEEN THE TEMPLES by Nathan Silver’s film, shot in Woodstock (with one of its characters named after WFF’s executive director!) received a standing ovation and much buzz, but to date, it's still looking for distribution. 

ENO, directed by Hudson Valley resident Gary Hustwit and produced by Hudson Valley resident Jessica Edwards was another doc that received a lot of buzz, in part because of its innovative technical approach that allowed the film to be different each time you viewed it, and in part because of its ingenious subject matter. 

Other films include FRIDA, GOOD ONE, the debut feature by India Donaldson shot in 12 days in the Catskills primarily at a campsite in the woods, as well as the documentary IBELIN by director Benjamin Ree, which had audiences in tears because of the “humanity and tenderness at the heart of the film”.

WFF hosted a wonderful dinner while at Sundance, welcoming many of its long-time friends for an evening of community, good food, and good conversations. Thank you to SonaBlast and Gigantic Studios for sponsoring the dinner, and thank you to all who attended. Next year - an even bigger dinner!