Hollywood stars from Angelina Jolie to Ben Affleck to Julianne Moore will head to Park City, Utah, next month as part of the 2020 Sundance film festival.
Next year’s lineup is one of the most packed to date, as well as one of the most diverse, with 44% of the 188 films directed by one or more women, 34% directed by one or more film-maker of color and 15% from one or more director from the LGBT community.
Jolie will star in Brave director Brenda Chapman’s fantasy Come Away alongside David Oyelowo and Michael Caine. The subverted fairytale sees Alice and Peter Pan prepare for their “iconic journeys into Wonderland and Neverland”. Affleck will star in Mudbound director Dee Rees’s political Netflix drama The Last Thing He Wanted opposite Anne Hathaway, an adaptation of the 80s-set Joan Didion novel. Moore will take on the role of the groundbreaking feminist Gloria Steinem in The Glorias, from acclaimed director Julie Taymor.
“It wasn’t until I was older that I really understood what Gloria had done and what she represented,” Moore said to Harper’s Bazaar earlier this year. “How she was really able to assemble a collective of very diverse women’s voices. In the early Eighties people thought feminism was over, but now, my God, we’re dealing with third-wave feminism, which is extraordinary.”
As well as a strong showing for big names, the festival will also see the premiere of a number of major new documentaries. In Feels Good Man, director Arthur Jones will explore Pepe the Frog’s creator, Matt Furie, and his fight to save his drawing from becoming a symbol of hatred. There will also be a “raw and emotionally revealing” documentary on Taylor Swift called Taylor Swift: Miss Americana from the acclaimed film-maker Lana Wilson, as well as films about Parkland survivors, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
One of the most anticipated films of the festival is Downhill, the remake of the dark Swedish comedy Force Majeure. It tells the story of a couple falling apart after surviving an avalanche. It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell and the script is from the Peep Show and Succession writer Jesse Armstrong.
Glenn Close will also be heading to Utah with Four Good Days, a drama that sees her star as the mother of an opioid addict played by Mila Kunis, while her former Oscar rival Olivia Colman will star in The Father alongside Anthony Hopkins, an adaptation of the hit play from Florian Zeller.
“Independent artists create and enrich global culture,” Robert Redford, the festival’s president, said in a statement. “Their art, which we’re proud to present, can entertain – and much more: it can, illuminate, agitate and empower. This year’s festival is full of films that showcase myriad ways for stories to drive change, across hearts, minds and societies.”
Recent festivals have seen the premieres of breakout hits The Farewell, Eighth Grade, Sorry to Bother You and Call Me By Your Name. Next year’s festival will take place from 23 January to 2 February.
