The Sundance Film Festival is more than simply a celebration of cinema; it’s also a shopfront, where the top streaming providers can discover the next generation of must-sees for their platforms.
Netflix has been particularly busy this year, acquiring the rights to a slew of interesting new films, including heartbreaking documentaries and gloriously nasty horror films.
Here are five of the most exciting selections from Netflix’s 2024 Sundance Film Festival shopping trip. Keep an eye on our new Netflix movie list to find out when they’ll be available.
Skywalkers: A Love Story
Do not view this if you have vertigo. Skywalkers: A Love Story is a documentary about daredevil pair Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, who saved their failing romance by climbing one of the world’s tallest structures… as you do.
According to the film’s official summary, “A daredevil couple journey across the globe to climb the world’s last super skyscraper and perform a bold acrobatic stunt on the spire.” It took seven years to complete, and the last ascent is the couple’s last.
Variety describes it as “full of amazing, terrifying, and transfixing vérité shots of young daredevils scaling the spindly spires that shoot out of the tops of skyscrapers.” But it’s also a turbulent love story.”
Will and Harper
Will Ferrell’s buddy Harper recently came out as trans, and in this documentary, Ferrell embarks on a road trip with her in the hopes of better understanding what it’s like to be trans in America today.
Despite initial community concerns that this would be one of those “rich old dude spends time with a marginalized person and cries a little, now give me an Oscar” productions, reviews for this one have been mostly good.
The film now has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating based on 14 critic reviews. It’s a combination of Trans 101 and an honest documentary on some of the realities of being trans that fearmongering media and politicians don’t want you to consider.
What’s inside?
Although Sundance is most renowned for its documentary programming, it’s also a terrific venue for horror enthusiasts, and after $17 million, It’s What’s Inside is bringing its low-budget but high-concept horror to Netflix.
The picture is, in the words of Variety, “a pretty effective genre calling-card: gleamingly shot and spikily cut, brashly acted by actors accepting of their role as pretty pawns in an elaborate narrative game of strategy” .
Horrorbuzz calls it “ingenious,” while Silver Screen Riot describes it as “utterly transfixing… [it] smashes together the college reunion comedy, puzzle box thrillers, and a Shane Carruth-esque level of science-fiction precision.”
Ibelin
Ibelin, the filmmaker of The Painter and the Thief, which received the Jury Prize at Sundance in 2020, presents the story of Mats Steen, a 25-year-old Norwegian gamer who died from a degenerative muscular condition.
The title refers to the name of his avatar in World of Warcraft, an online community where he gained many acquaintances. The film depicts some of his online experiences and includes many of the gamers whose lives he influenced.
Daughters
The word “Oscar” has already been used to describe this wonderful and tragic documentary about four girls reconciling with their incarcerated fathers. It earned the Audience Award in the US Documentary section at Sundance and is widely regarded as a potential Oscar candidate next year.
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