Ditch the BAFTA and Oscar chat right now, because what you really need to know is what went down at Sundance Film Festival. In case you don’t know what we’re chatting about – it’s pretty much the coolest film fest going and it’s held every year over in Utah. It’s where Whiplash was discovered last year, oh and and Boyhood.
This year a casual 118 feature-length films were shown, so we thought rather than you having to watch them all, you might like a little edit. Here’s all you need to know:
**There’s a new crew of bright young things **
And they consist of... Tye Sheridan, whom you might have seen in The Tree Of Life (remember that one with Brad Pitt) and Mud (this was brill – if you missed it download it asap), impressed crowds in Last Days In The Desert, opposite Ewan McGregor who plays er, Jesus in the desert. Frankly, anyone that can stand out opposite God’s son must be pretty great, right?
Also, keep your eyes on Saoirse Ronan – fuck, now we’re going to have to work out how we say that name – who also wowed in a 1950s Irish-American immigrant story called Brooklyn.
Another two young actresses we’re really excited about are: Brit girl 22-year-old Bel Powley, who leads in 1970s Diary of a Teenage Girl, and Lola Kirke (yep, Jessa’s sis) in Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America.
Now you can totally make a film on an iPhone
Yep, you totally can – and we’re not talking drunken Insta vids (though we’re very good at these). Watch out for Tangerine, a brilliant new film about transgender prostitutes in LA, entirely filmed on director Sean Baker’s iPhone 5 and entirely cast from the LGBT Center in Hollywood.
Pharell has moved in to movies
One of the most talked about films of the festival was Dope, about three 1990s obsessed high school kids. All the music was penned by Pharrell, and though he didn’t star in the film (all songs were performed by fictional hip-hop trio Oreo), this soundtrack will be massive and you will love it. You will.
There’s also a new Kurt and Courtney film
Yep, the 1990s dominated at Sundance with Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck premiering there. And if you liked Nick Broomfield’s 1998 doc Kurt & Courtney or are just a Nirvana fan, then this is for you. The film takes you through Kurt’s diaries, along with archive video footage of the couple. And it sounds pretty awesome.
But if you’re only going to watch one 2015 film, let it be this one
Prepare to weep at this year’s biggest winning film Me And Earl And The Dying Girl. Based on a book, this film is all about kids dealing with terminal illness (joy!). We’re thinking it sounds like The Fault In Our Stars but much, MUCH cooler.
The film won took home both the jury prize and the audience award, like last year’s Whiplash (which is bloody brilliant), so we can’t wait to see this one, either.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.