Sundance: Hillary Clinton documentary debuts during Peak Hollywood in Park City
It’ll be Peak Hollywood in Park City on this first Sundance Saturday, which is packed with premieres. The Hillary Clinton documentary series that’s already made headlines with her pointed critique of Sen. Bernie Sanders has its official unveiling at the Ray at 3 p.m., with Clinton attending alongside director Nanette Burstein. Also getting the doc treatment — the young activists from Parkland, Florida: “Us Kids,†directed by Kim A. Snyder (who won a Peabody for “Newtownâ€), premieres at 11:30 a.m. at the MARC. After Friday night’s premieres of Showtime’s the Go-Go’s documentary and horror film “The Night House,†here’s what The Times’ team is looking out for on Saturday.
Saturday films to see
A young woman moves to a Vermont college town with her husband and finds herself embroiled in a complex relationship with horror novelist Shirley Jackson (Elisabeth Moss) in “Shirley,†a competition title premiering at the Eccles at 12:15 p.m. Director Josephine Decker’s 2018 Sundance project, “Madeline’s Madeline,†was nominated for two Spirit Awards and three Gotham Awards.
Kenneth Turan previews a standout selection of narrative and documentary films set to premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Writer-director Radha Blank stars as a struggling playwright who returns to an earlier passion — rap — in her feature directorial debut, “The 40-Year-Old Version,†another competition title, which bows at the Library at 3.
Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick finally get to show the world their sexual abuse documentary “On the Record,†which has become somewhat of a fest cause celébrè since one of media’s grandest celébrès, Oprah Winfrey, distanced herself from the project. The film premieres at 5:30 at the MARC.
Carrie Brownstein and Annie Clark (a.k.a. St. Vincent) star in “The Nowhere Inn,†billed as “a playful, fictitious skewering of the creative process†that’s directed by one of Brownstein’s “Portlandia†collaborators, Bill Benz. It rolls out at midnight at the Library (Brownstein and Clark will first appear for a fest Cinema Café at 11:30 a.m. at the Filmmaker Lodge on Main Street).
Talks and celebrations
The Latinx House hosts a fireside chat at 11 a.m. with America Ferrera, who’ll talk about her career and her web-series-turned-Netflix-series, “Gentefied.â€
L.A. Times Live continues at Chase Sapphire on Main at noon with Amy Kaufman and the cast of “Four Good Days,†a mother-daughter addiction drama starring Glenn Close and Mila Kunis. From there Close heads uphill to the Female Quotient’s Equality Lounge for a 1:15 p.m. talk, “Becoming a Dangerous Woman: Embracing Risk to Change the World.†“Four Good Days†premieres at 6:30 at the Eccles.
Back at the Latinx House at 12:30, Eva Longoria and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s Stacy Smith will be among those on hand to present and discuss new research from Annenberg and Time’s Up.
At 2:00, The Times’ Alison Brower moderates “Music and Storytelling†at the Audible Speakeasy, with “The Go-Go’s†filmmaker Alison Ellwood, the iconic band’s lead singer Belinda Carlisle, Academy Award-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal (“The Glorias†premieres at noon on Sunday) and Eugene Ashe, a onetime Sony recording artist whose feature “Sylvie’s Love†premieres Monday at 12:15 p.m.
The fest’s “Power of Story: Just Art†is set to be a conversation about “the nature of artwork as a catalytic cultural and sociopolitical force.†Lin-Manuel Miranda — who’s at the fest only fleetingly to support a documentary about his activist father (“Siempre, Luisâ€) and one about his formative improv hip-hop group (“We Are Freestyle Love Supremeâ€) — joins Ai Weiwei, Julie Taymor, Carrie Mae Weems and Kerry Washington at the Egyptian at 2:30.
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