Our Most Anticipated Films of Sundance 2022
Sundance goes virtual, which means there’s a lineup ready for you to dive into at home. Here are 13 recommendations featuring voices from the FREE THE WORK community.
By FTW Staff
An online event for the second year in a row, the Sundance Film Festival returns with an exciting 82 feature film lineup. From genre-bending nightmares to feature debuts, we’ve found a few films that should be on your festival watchlist. To see the full Sundance festival program, go here.
Here’s FREE THE WORK’s guide to the must-watch feature films of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival:
“Nanny”
We highlighted Sierra Leonean-American writer-director Nikyatu Jusu’s vampire-horror short Suicide By Sunlight in our coverage of the 2019 Sundance lineup. Now, she returns to the festival with her feature debut, Nanny. The FREE THE WORK creator is a powerhouse, crafting stories that range from experimental to horror-tinged tales exploring the personal strengths of their protagonists. Featured on Variety’s “Ten Directors to Watch” for 2022, Nikyatu Jusu has already caught the eye of Hollywood and is sure to become a star on the rise.
Nanny tells the story of Aisha (Anna Diop), an undocumented Senegalese immigrant who lands a job as the nanny of a wealthy Manhattan couple. As she prepares for the arrival of her son from Senegal, malevolent supernatural forces begin to invade her reality and threaten the life she has created in America. Nanny is sure to be a treat for horror fans.
“Nanny” is playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and is scheduled to premiere on January 22, 2022. Check here to see the full schedule and click here to see more from Nikyatu on FREE THE WORK.
“The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future”
Chilean filmmaker Francisca Alegria started making films at the age of 13. The FREE THE WORK creator’s ability to transport viewers into fantastical realms makes her ambitious feature debut one to watch.
The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future is about a family that is learning to heal wounds of the past while balancing the mysterious conditions of her family’s dairy farm. A tale about the emotional and environmental renewal layered under a veneer of magical realism, Francisca Alegria’s The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future is a debut you can’t miss.
“The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future” is playing in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition and is scheduled to premiere on January 23, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule and click here to see more from Francisca on FREE THE WORK.
“Nothing Compares”
A student of cinéma vérité, FREE THE WORK creator Kathryn Ferguson often aims to challenge the conventional tropes of her subjects. Her projects have traversed the fashion, music, and advertising industries, and now Ferguson makes her feature film debut with Nothing Compares at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Nothing Compares follows the life of controversial musician Sinéad O’Connor. Focusing on the 1980s and the 1990s portions of O’Connor’s career, Ferguson carefully details the rise to stardom of an artist who regularly used their platform to raise awareness.
“Nothing Compares” is playing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition and is scheduled to premiere on January 21, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule and click here to see more from Kathryn Ferguson on FREE THE WORK.
“Fresh”
FREE THE WORK creator Mimi Cave began her career in the music video space, where her surrealist vision and heightened awareness of movement have pushed boundaries. Cave arrives at Sundance making her feature film debut with Fresh.
Featuring a cast led by Sebastian Stan and Daisy Edgar-Jones, Fresh is a fierce look at the horrors of modern dating, seen from the perspective of a young woman attempting to survive the unusual appetites of her new paramour.
“Fresh” is playing in the Midnight section and is scheduled to premiere on January 20, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule and click here to see more from Mimi Cave on FREE THE WORK.
“Living”
The award-winning South African director Oliver Hermanus has had an electrifying start to his career, with much more on the horizon. Last year’s Moffie played with aplomb across the festival circuit and Hermanus is currently slated to direct the gay romance The History of Sound starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.
Hermanus arrives at Sundance with Living, a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Ikiru set in postwar London. Starring Bill Nighy as a businessman facing a fatal illness, Hermanus creates a touching tale meditating on what it means to live.
“Living” is playing in the Premieres section and is scheduled to premiere on January 21, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule and click here to see more from Oliver Hermanus on FREE THE WORK.
“Sirens”
An inspirational documentary centering on the first and only all-woman thrash metal band in the Middle East, Sirens is an emotional story that will pull you in thanks in large part to its subjects’ sincerity and grit as they traverse the complexities of their circumstance.
No stranger to the documentary world, Emmy award-winning director (and longtime FTW community member!) Rita Baghdadi is an expert at crafting character-driven narratives and brings a singular vision to this real-life tale of the journey to stardom.
“Sirens” is playing in the World Cinema Documentary section and is scheduled to premiere on January 23, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule and here to see more from Rita Baghdadi.
“Framing Agnes”
Famed director Chase Joynt follows up the striking No Ordinary Man with Framing Agnes, a documentary chronicling trans history through a blend of non-fiction and fiction storytelling. Starring FTW fave Zackary Drucker, Joynt’s film shines a light on transgender figureheads that have been long forgotten, reclaiming trans history and expanding the way we understand it.
Chase Joynt has made a number of films about gender and its representation (or lack thereof). Internationally acclaimed, Joynt’s thought-provoking pulse is sure to continue to make waves, re-envisioning possibilities for trans storytelling.
“Framing Agnes” is playing in the NEXT section and is scheduled to premiere on January 22, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule.
“Hatching”
We took one look at the still for Hatching on the Sundance program and were instantly intrigued. The film captures a picture-perfect family caught in an unusual situation of nurturing a mysterious egg. A grotesque and uniquely horrifying coming-of-age film, Hatching is poised to be a bloody satisfying addition to Sundance’s Midnight section.
With Hatching, Finnish director Hanna Bergholm makes her feature debut. Bergholm previously made the festival rounds with the acclaimed short Puppet Master, horrifying audiences at the Fantasia and Fantastic Film Festivals. Hanna Bergholm’s haunting visions make her a filmmaker to watch in the horror genre.
“Hatching” is playing in the Midnight section and is scheduled to premiere on January 22, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule.
“Alice”
A feature debut for director Krystin Ver Linden, Alice is a modern blaxploitation fable following Alice (Keke Palmer) on the run from the Georgia plantation where she was enslaved, only to find that the year is now 1973.
Recently listed on Variety’s top “Ten Directors to Watch” for 2022, Krystin Ver Linden’s passion for film beams off the screen. Trained on the sets of Quentin Tarantino’s films for over seven years, Ver Linden is one to keep your eye on.
“Alice” is playing in the U.S. Dramatic competition and is scheduled to premiere on January 23. Click here to see the full schedule.
“892”
After Brian Brown-Easley’s (John Boyega) disability check fails to materialize from Veterans Affairs, he finds himself nearing homelessness and in an act of desperation stages a hostage standoff in an attempt to have his voice heard. Also featuring a final show-stopping performance from the late Michael K. Williams, 892 asks audiences to consider the social responsibilities we have for our veterans and neighbors.
892 is the feature debut for Abi Damaris Corbin, whose previous short “The Suitcase” depicting the events after a suitcase goes missing in Boston, garnered much attention at Tribeca. Corbin’s hand for dramatic tension could position her as the next Kathryn Bigelow.
“892” is playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and is scheduled to premiere on January 21, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule.
“Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.”
Starring Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown, this faux-documentary style satire of a for-profit megachurch following the aftermath of a huge scandal is sure to leave audiences in stitches thanks to its sharp comedic bite.
The Ebo twins, writer-director Adamma Ebo, and producer Adanne Ebo make their feature debut at Sundance with this adaptation of their previous short of the same name. Passionate and with a versatility that expands into animation, it’ll be great to see what’s next for The Ebo twins.
“Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.” is playing in the Premieres section and is scheduled to premiere on January 23, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule and here to learn more about Adamma Ebo and Adanne Ebo.
“Mija”
A tale of resilience and family strength, Mija chronicles the life of first-generation American Doris Muñoz as a music manager whose success will greatly impact the lives of her undocumented family.
Four-time Emmy-nominated director Isabel Castro makes her feature debut with Mija. For over ten years Castro has been covering immigration and civil rights,and with Mija, she aims to tell a new kind of immigrant story that doesn’t reduce the experience to one of trauma and loss.
Isabel Castro’s nuanced, character-driven approach to storytelling is inspiring.
“Mija” is playing in the NEXT section and is scheduled to premiere on January 21, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule.
“I Didn’t See You There”
Soberingly enlightening I Didn’t See You There takes an introspective look at the experience of living with a disability. Informed by his own experience, director Reid Davenport makes the viewer confront the invisibility of disability in society.
Reid Davenport is the founder of Through My Lens, a nonprofit with a mission to amplify the voices of people with disabilities. Davenport’s filmmaking aims to shed light on the experiences of people with disabilities and how our society often fails to make space for them.
Reid Davenport’s honest and thoughtful lens makes him a pioneer in the way we tell these stories on the screen.
“I Didn’t See You There” is playing in the U.S. Documentary section and is scheduled to premiere on January 24, 2022. Click here to see the full schedule.
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