For the first time since 2020, Cinema Femme will be on the ground at Sundance this year! We are beyond thrilled to be returning to the festival in person, and we are so excited about the films we will see. Our site’s founder, Rebecca Martin Fagerholm, will be joined by contributors Peyton Robinson, Emily Jacobson and Dawn Borchardt. Right now, we are really ecstatic about eleven projects in the categories of features, shorts, and episodic work. Of course, we are also eager to discover any gems that are not currently on our radar. Our preview below provides an overview of eleven enticing projects, accompanying their official synopses with their Meet the Artist videos, if they were included.

Stay tuned for our coverage throughout the next two weeks!

FEATURES

Brides – Nadia Fall

Two teenage girls in search of freedom, friendship, and belonging run away from their troubled lives with a misguided plan of traveling to Syria.

In a nuanced first feature, acclaimed theater director and playwright Nadia Fall explores the irreducible challenges of teenage girlhood through a boldly specific sociopolitical lens. Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar masterfully embody Doe and Muna: girls on the cusp of adulthood looking to escape the pervasive minoritization and othering in their native U.K. by any means necessary. Through Suhayla El-Bushra’s precise, compassionate writing, the girls embark on a transformative journey entangled with diverse provocations that complicate their conceptions of identity, faith, and positionality at every scale.

Though the setting and journey hold tension and gravity, a core, universal tenderness surfaces. Brides is a gutsy, loving, and pensive coming-of-age tale — a depiction of the loyalty of friendship, teenage autonomy, and the illusion of invulnerable youth.—Cameron Asharian 

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2). 

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/6753284c68b8b779bcfe44cb

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Where the Wind Comes From – Amel Guellaty

Alyssa, a rebellious 19-year-old girl, and her friend Mehdi, an introverted 23-year-old man, use their imagination to escape their unpromising reality. When they discover a contest in the south of Tunisia that may allow them to flee, they undertake a road trip regardless of the obstacles in their way.

Director Amel Guellaty offers us a window into a side of Tunisia we have rarely seen, imbuing the world of her charming debut feature with surreal visual flourishes that transform and brighten everyday moments. Eya Bellagha and Slim Baccar have undeniable chemistry as Alyssa and Mehdi, organically capturing the crossfire banter of their friendship as well as their shared struggle to break free from the responsibilities and restrictions that hold them back from pursuing their dreams. Their unexpectedly chaotic journey to Djerba is underscored by a thoughtful comedic touch and a hypnotic indie soundtrack from the region.

With creativity, warmth, and spirit, Where the Wind Comes From honors Tunisian youth while recognizing the uncertain road that lies ahead of them.—Ana Souza

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2).

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/6753290368b8b77915fe4715

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Sally – Cristina Costanini

Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure was a secret. Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, reveals their hidden romance and the sacrifices that accompanied their 27 years together.

Cristina Costantini’s rich portrait of astronaut Sally Ride brings a fullness to her life that goes beyond the headlines of her trailblazing voyage past Earth’s atmosphere. SALLY skillfully weaves together the dual threads of Ride’s story: the private romance she shared with her partner and the professional trajectory of her time in the space program that saw her contend with overt sexism and homophobia, prompting her secrecy. Rare archival footage brings the viewer behind the scenes to witness NASA training and missions, while press appearances reflect the media frenzy Ride was subjected to both before and after her historic first flight. O’Shaughnessy takes a fitting central role in recounting her beloved Ride’s story and the legacy she left behind that inspires countless women and girls to dream for the stars.—Basil Tsiokos

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2). 

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/675325b4707ccd3c60089124

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Bunnylovr – Katarina Zhu

A drifting Chinese American cam girl struggles to navigate an increasingly toxic relationship with one of her clients while rekindling her relationship with her dying estranged father.

In her debut feature, writer-director and star Katarina Zhu crafts a sensitive portrait of Rebecca (Zhu), a rootless online sex worker whose yearning for connection collides with her vigilance for maintaining emotional and physical safety. Rebecca’s unexpected reunion with her father, William (Perry Yung), is bittersweet, with his illness giving them little time to repair before she loses him again. Zhu’s nuanced, nonjudgmental approach to sex work and her vulnerable performance ground Bunnylovr’s vision of a precarious social world, in which intimacy is mediated and commodified, and family is fragmented across blood relations and chosen bonds. Fellow NYU Tisch alum and co-producer Rachel Sennott is abrasively funny as Rebecca’s more grounded BFF, while Austin Amelio is both alluring and unsettling as her mysterious online admirer.—Matt Cornell

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2). 

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/6753249168b8b7af55fe3a60

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Two Women – Chloé Robichaud

Violette is having a difficult maternity leave. Florence is dealing with depression. Despite their careers and families, they feel like failures. Florence’s first infidelity is a revelation. When having fun is far down the list of priorities, sleeping with a delivery guy could be revolutionary.

Chloé Robichaud playfully directs screenwriter Catherine Léger’s sharp and surprising contemporary adaptation of Claude Fournier’s 1970 comedy Two Women in Gold. The filmmakers’ reimagining embraces the absurdity and fun of the women’s misadventures while detailing with clarity and empathy the unmet needs that led them there, adding poignancy to the film’s full-bodied focus on female desire.

As neighbors bonded by their shared realization of a deep dissatisfaction with their would-be cozy family lives, actors Karine Gonthier-Hyndman and Laurence Leboeuf depict Violette and Florence’s burgeoning rejuvenation and renewed sense of self with bold comic flair. A lively sex romp embedded within a pointedly witty, complex examination of mental health, motherhood, and marriage, Two Women is a terrifically layered film written, directed, and performed with keen insight and comedic gusto.—Heidi Zwicker

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2).

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/675328a568b8b77c14fe460f

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Love, Brooklyn – Rachael Abigail Holder

Three longtime Brooklynites navigate careers, love, loss, and friendship against the rapidly changing landscape of their beloved city.

With humor and keen observation, first-time feature director Rachael Abigail Holder invites us into a world where past and present collide, mining Paul Zimmerman’s script and her charismatic cast for a layered, later-in-life coming-of-age story.

André Holland is perfect as freewheeling Roger, meeting his match in no-bullshit Nicole (DeWanda Wise), who’s unafraid to call his bluffs as she navigates dating with a young daughter in tow. Nicole Beharie charms as Casey, a woman endeavoring to understand the renegotiation of her relationship with Roger as the evolving arts scene impacts her gallery. Holder guides her actors to do some of their best work as they face the challenge of accepting change in a city transforming around them.

A love letter to NYC that breathes fresh air into a modern romance, Love, Brooklyn firmly marks Holder as a filmmaker to watch.—Ana Souza

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2). 

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/675325b268b8b79ed6fe3da8

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By Design – Amanda Kramer

A woman swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair.

Writer-director Amanda Kramer brilliantly collages tropes of literature, cinema, and performance art to cleverly take the piss out of common social scripts people use to convince themselves that they have full lives of purpose when they do not.

Fashioned as an epic fable featuring diminutive characters, By Design recounts the story of Camille (exceptionally played by Juliette Lewis), a woman sustained by friendships with women who use her to talk about themselves. When Camille falls in love with a chair she can’t afford, she becomes the chair, which gets gifted to a beautiful piano player-for-hire, Olivier (Mamoudou Athie), by his ex.

Camille and Olivier are intriguing people with rich interior character landscapes. But in a society that refuses to acknowledge their existence, is it better to be a chair?—Shari Frilot

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2). 

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/67532d2c707ccd1c5e08a0bc

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EPISODIC

Chasers – Erin Brown Thomas

At a Los Angeles house party, an aspiring musician pursues her crush through a crowd of hopeful dreamers chasing empty promises.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2). 

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/67533c3163b943154bc22752

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SHORTS

View from the Floor – Megan Griffiths and Mindie Lind

A singer confronts inspiration porn, exploitation, and impostor syndrome in pursuit of a life on the stage without legs.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2).

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/67565cc9fefa32a6fc018fc0

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Debaters – Alex Heller

In a debate chamber, affluent high schoolers argue a bill on minimum wage in an effort to impress two working-class adult judges.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2).

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/6756551dfefa32490b0185e8

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Hold Me Close – Aurora Brachman and LaTajh Simmons Weaver

A chronicle of the power and complexity of the relationship between Corinne and Tiana, two Queer Black womxn who experience cycles of life’s joys and pains together in the home they share.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2).

https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/67565ca0fefa32129c018f25

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Here’s a few more we’re looking forward to!