Returning directors dominate Premieres at Sundance ’16

The Eccles Theatre in Park City will look a bit like a family reunion, with some returning directors showing in the Premieres and Documentary Premieres sections of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

The Sundance Institute announced the rest of its feature-film slate Monday, with 29 movies in the two Premieres categories — as well as films in the Sundance Kids and Spotlight sections, and a series of special events highlighting film craft and episodic storytelling.

The festival runs Jan. 21-31 in Park City and at locations in Salt Lake City, Ogden and the Sundance resort.

The Premieres category, festival director John Cooper said, features "a lot of classic independent directors, who have grown up in independents. … They're carrying the torch for the ones who are coming up still."

It's not uncommon, Cooper said, for directors to make their mark at Sundance, go make a Hollywood movie, and come back to the independent world.

One example is Colin Trevorrow, who followed up his 2012 Sundance success with "Safety Not Guaranteed" by directing this year's biggest-grossing movie, "Jurassic World." According to Trevor Groth, the festival's program director, Trevorrow just wrapped filming his next movie, an indie, "The Book of Henry."

"That pingpong between the two [independent films and Hollywood] is now something that's a career choice," Cooper said.

Returning directors represented in the Premieres titles include past Grand Jury Prize winners Todd Solondz ("Welcome to the Dollhouse," 1996) and Ira Sachs ("Forty Shades of Blue," 2005), as well as 2004 Audience Award winner Joshua Marston ("Maria Full of Grace"). Others are Whit Stillman ("Metropolitan," 1990), Maggie Greenwald ("Songcatcher," 2000), Kelly Reichardt ("Meek's Cutoff," 2011) and Asif Kapadia ("Senna," 2010).

Greenwald's movie, the 1940s romance "Sophie and the Rising Sun," will debut at the Salt Lake City Gala on Jan. 22.

The Premieres will yield a fair number of big movie stars. Among the actors who will be seen on Park City's screens are Casey Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig, Danny Glover, Selena Gomez, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, Greg Kinnear, John Krasinski, Viggo Mortensen, Mandy Patinkin, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, Chloë Sevigny, Michael Shannon, Kristen Stewart, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.

In the Documentary Premieres, personality profiles are dominant. The category features movies about poet Maya Angelou, newsman Anderson Cooper and fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt (Cooper's mom), pop star Michael Jackson, TV producer Norman Lear, filmmaker Richard Linklater, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and rock legend Frank Zappa.

The Documentary Premieres include works by returning filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady ("Detropia," 2012), Liz Garbus ("What Happened, Miss Simone," 2015), Werner Herzog ("Grizzly Man," 2005) and Stephanie Soechtig ("Fed Up," 2014).

Ewing and Grady's documentary, "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You," is the fourth of the Day One screening titles, set to premiere on the festival's opening night, Jan. 21.

Here are the 49 titles, announced Monday, in non-competition categories — Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Spotlight, Sundance Kids and Special Events — for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival:

Premieres

• "Agnus Dei" (France/Poland) • Mathilde ("Breathe" star Lou de Laâge), French doctor working for the Red Cross in 1945 Poland, finds several nuns are in hiding — all pregnant, and unable to reconcile that with their faith. Directed by Anne Fontaine ("Coco Before Chanel"), written by Sabrina N. Karine, Alice Vial and Pascal Bonitzer.

• "Ali & Nino" (U.K.) • Director Asif Kapadia ("Senna," SFF '11) switches from documentary to drama with this romance, between a Muslim prince (Adam Bakri) and a Christian aristocrat (Maria Valverde) in the oil-rich capital of Azerbaijan. The star-crossed lovers' plight comes to a head as World War I begins. Christopher Hampton adapted Kurban Said's novel; Mandy Patinkin, Connie Nielsen, Riccardo Scamarcio and Homayoun Ershadi also star.

• "Captain Fantastic" • Viggo Mortensen stars as a man who has lived with his six kids in isolation for 10 years, and must re-adapt to society. Written and directed by Matt Ross ("28 Hotel Rooms," SFF '12); the cast includes Frank Langella, George MacKay, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn and Ann Dowd.

• "Certain Women" • Writer-director Kelly Reichardt ("River of Grass," SFF '94; "Old Joy," SFF'06; "Meek's Cutoff," SFF '11) adapts Maile Meloy's short stories about women in a small town. The cast includes Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams, James Le Gros, Jared Harris and Lily Gladstone.

• "Complete Unknown" • Joshua Marston ("Maria Full of Grace," SFF '04) directs and co-wrote, with Julian Shepherd, this drama starts with a birthday party for Tom (Michael Shannon) and a guest named Alice (Rachel Weisz) — whom Tom recognizes, but not by that name. Kathy Bates and Danny Glover also star.

• "Frank & Lola" • Michael Shannon also stars in writer-director Matthew M. Ross' romantic thriller, as a Vegas chef who falls for Lola (Imogen Poots), a mysterious new girl in town — in a tale that encompasses betrayal, forgiveness, obsession, revenge and a trip to Paris. Also starring Michael Nyqvist, Justin Long, Rosanna Arquette and Emmanuelle Devos.

• "The Fundamentals of Caring" • Rob Burnett, who was David Letterman's executive producer for 20 years, writes and directs this comedy-drama, starring Paul Rudd as a caregiver tending to Trevor (Craig Roberts), an 18-year-old with muscular dystrophy and a wicked sense of humor. Also starring Selena Gomez, Jennifer Ehle, Megan Ferguson and Frederick Weller. Closing Night Film.

• "The Hollars" • "The Office" star John Krasinski ("Brief Interviews With Hideous Men," SFF '09) directs and stars as John Hollar, an aspiring New York artist who returns to his hometown — with his pregnant girlfriend (Anna Kendrick) in tow — when his mother (Margo Martindale) is about to have brain surgery. Written by Jim Strouse; the cast includes Richard Jenkins, Sharlto Copley and Charlie Day.

• "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" (New Zealand) • Writer-director Taika Waititi ("Eagle vs. Shark," SFF '07; "Boy," SFF '10; "What We Do in the Shadows," SFF '14) returns with this adventure comedy, based on Barry Crump's book, on a city kid (Julian Dennison) on the run with his cranky foster uncle in the wilds of New Zealand. Also starring Sam Neill, Rima Ti Wiata, Rachel House and Oscar Kightley.

• "Indignation" • Writer-director James Schamus adapts Philip Roth's novel, set in 1951 at an Ohio college, where the son (Logan Lerman) of a New Jersey kosher butcher meets the beautiful, brilliant daughter (Sarah Gadon) of a prominent alum. Also starring Tracy Letts, Linda Emond, Danny Burstein and Ben Rosenfeld.

• "Little Men" • Jake (Theo Taplitz), 13, and his parents (Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Ehle) move back to Brooklyn, and he befriends Tony (Michael Barbieri), whose single Chilean mom (Paulina Garcia) runs the dress shop downstairs. When a rent dispute divides the adults, Jake and Tony respond with a vow of silence. Directed by Ira Sachs ("The Delta," SFF '96; "Forty Shades of Blue," SFF '05; "Keep the Lights On," SFF '12; "Love Is Strange," SFF '14), written by Mauricio Zacharias.

• "Love & Friendship" (Ireland/France/Netherlands) • Writer-director Whit Stillman ("Metropolitan," SFF '90) adapts Jane Austen's novella, which follows the widow Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale), visiting her in-laws while colorful rumors about her love life subside — and she sets to find husbands for herself and her reluctant daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark). Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell, Tom Bennett and Stephen Fry also star.

• "Manchester-by-the-Sea" • In this drama by writer-director Kenneth Lonergan ("You Can Count on Me," SFF'00), Casey Affleck stars as Lee, who returns to his small town after his brother's death to care for his 16-year-old nephew (Lucas Hedges) and deal with a tragedy from his past. Also starring Michelle Williams and Kyle Chandler.

• "Mr. Pig" (Mexico) • Diego Luna ("Abel," SFF '10) directed and co-wrote, with Augusto Mendoza, this road movie, about an aged farmer (Danny Glover) who smuggles his last prized hog into Mexico to sell — and ends up reunited with his estranged daughter (Maya Rudolph). Also starring José María Yazpik, Joel Murray, Angélica Aragón and Gabriela Araujo.

• "Sing Street" (Ireland) • In the 1980s, a 14-year-old Dubliner (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) starts a band to escape his troubled family life and his tough new school, and to win the heart of a mysterious beauty (Lucy Boynton). John Carney ("Once," SFF '07) directed and wrote this semi-autobiographical tale, which co-stars Jack Reynor, Aidan Gillen and Mark McKenna.

• "Sophie and the Rising Sun" • In the fall of 1941, a lonely Southern woman (Julianne Nicholson) strikes up a romance with an Asian man (Takashi Yamaguchi), stirring up bigotry and violence in the town as World War II begins. Writer-director Maggie Greenwald ("Songcatcher," SFF '00) adapted Augusta Trobaugh's novel. The cast includes Margo Martindale, Lorraine Toussaint, Diane Ladd and Joel Murray. Salt Lake City Gala Film.

• "Wiener-Dog" • Todd Solondz wrote and directed this comedy, an anthology of stories about people whose lives are changed by a dachshund. One of those people is Dawn Wiener, the teen protagonist of Solondz' 1996 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner "Welcome to the Dollhouse" — now grown up and played by Greta Gerwig. The cast includes Kieran Culkin, Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn, Julie Delpy and Zosia Mamet.

Documentary Premieres

• "Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words" (France/Germany) • This documentary about the king of avant-garde rock promises to be as sharp, biting, irreverent and fun as Zappa's music. Directed by Thorston Schütte.

• "Film Hawk" • A loving portrait of Bob Hawk, who went from being the gay child of a Methodist minister to a consultant for some of the most important independent films ever made. Directed by JJ Garvine and Tai Parquet.

• "Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World" • Director Werner Herzog ("Grizzly Man," SFF '05) returns to ask the question, "Does the Internet dream of itself?"

• "Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures" • In rediscovered interviews, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe talks about his outrageous life — while friends, family and lovers add new information about the artist and the still-brewing culture war he ignited. Directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato ("Party Monster" documentary, SFF '98; "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," SFF '00; "Party Monster" feature film, SFF '03; "Inside Deep Throat," SFF '05; "Becoming Chaz," SFF '11).

• "Maya Angelou and Still I Rise" • Directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack tell the story of the iconic poet, actress and activist May Angelou.

• "Michael Jackson's Journey From Motown to Off the Wall" • Director Spike Lee traces Michael Jackson's trajectory from child star to "King of Pop," culminating in the release of his 1979 solo album "Off the Wall."

• "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You" • TV producer Norman Lear — who broached bigotry, war, poverty and other issues through laughter in such sitcoms as "All in the Family," "Maude," "The Jeffersons" and more — is profiled in this documentary, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady ("12th & Delaware," SFF '10; "Detropia," SFF '12). Day One Film.

• "Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper" • Fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper talk to each other — and to us — about past and present, love and loss, and the ways family stories repeat themselves unexpectedly. Directed by Liz Garbus ("The Farm: Angola, USA," SFF '98; "The Execution of Wanda Jean," SFF '02; "Shouting Fire: Stories From the Edge of Free Speech," SFF '09; "Bobby Fischer Against the World," SFF '11; "What Happened, Miss Simone?," SFF '15).

• "Resilience" • James Redford ("The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia," SFF '12) directs this look at the science of toxic stress, and how a movement of experts aims to disrupt cycles of violence, addiction and disease by discussing the effects of divorce, abuse and neglect on our children.

• "Richard Linklater — dream is destiny" • Louis Black and Karen Bernstein direct this offbeat profile of the indie director Richard Linklater, with interviews and journal entries tracing his career from "Slacker" to "Boyhood."

• "Under the Gun" • Director Stephanie Soechtig and producer/anchor Katie Couric ("Fed Up," SFF '14) reteam for this examination of gun violence, from Sandy Hook to San Bernardino — interviewing victims' families and pro-gun advocates, and looking at why politicians have failed to act.

• "Unlocking the Cage" • The legendary team of Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker direct this profile of animal-rights lawyer Steven Wise, who filed legal writs to achieve limited personhood rights to four chimpanzees in New York.

Spotlight

• "Cemetery of Splendor" (Thailand) • Acclaimed filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakull's latest mind-bender imagines an outbreak of sleeping sickness, and a lonesome housewife (Jenjira Pongpas) who cares for a soldier (Banlop Lomnoi) and soon falls into a hallucination triggering dreams, phantoms and romance.

• "Embrace of the Serpent" (Colombia) • A drama inspired by the journals of scientists (played by Jan Bijvoet and Brionne Davis) who met and befriended Karamatake (played at different ages by Antonio Bolivar and Nilbio Torres), an Amazonian shaman who led them on a search for the sacred, and psychedelic, yakruna plant. Director Ciro Guerra co-wrote with Jacques Toulemonde Vidal,

• "Green Room" • Writer-director Jeremy Saulnier ("Blue Ruin," SFF'14) returns with this horror-thriller, about a punk band (led by Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat) whose members witness a murder during their gig — and they, with a mystery woman (Imogen Poots), are trapped by the neo-Nazis (led by Patrick Stewart) who run the place.

• "Land of Mine" (Denmark) • Writer-director Martin Zandvliet tells a little-known moment of Danish history, at the end of World War II, as untrained German POWs are forced to clear landmines from the Danish coastline.

• "The Lobster" (Ireland/U.K./Greece/France) • The winner of the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, this science-fiction allegory is set in a dystopian near-future, where single people must find a mate in 45 days or be turned into an animal and released into the woods. Director Yorgos Lanthimos co-wrote with Efthymis Filippou; the cast includes Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, Léa Seydoux, John C. Reilly and Olivia Colman.

• "Maggie's Plan" • Greta Gerwig is Maggie, whose plans to have a baby on her own take a turn when she falls for a married academic (Ethan Hawke). Director Rebecca Miller ("Angela," SFF'95; "Personal Velocity," SFF'02; "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," SFF'05) wrote the script, based on a story by Karen Rinaldi. The supporting cast includes Julianne Moore, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph and Travis Fimmel.

• "Miles Ahead" • Actor Don Cheadle directed, co-wrote (with Steven Baigleman) and stars as jazz musician Miles Davis, in this mix of biography and caper thriller that Cheadle has said in interviews is the opposite of a standard biopic. The supporting cast includes Ewan McGregor, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Lakeith Lee Stanfield and Michael Stuhlbarg.

• "Rams" (Iceland) • Two brothers, who haven't spoken to each other for 40 years despite being neighbors in a remote Icelandic farming valley, have to come together to save their sheep in this comedy written and directed by Grímur Hákonarson.

• "Viva" (Ireland) • In modern-day Cuba, a young man (Jorge Perugorría) gets his chance to perform in a drag show — only to get punched by his father (Héctor Medina), an ex-boxer who has been absent for 15 years. Directed by Paddy Breathnach, written by Mark O'Halloran.

Sundance Kids

• "Little Gangster" (Netherlands) • When Rikkie (Thor Braun) and his family move to a new town, the kid hatches a plan to end the bullying that troubled him before: Letting people think his nerdy father (Henry van Loon) is a Mafioso. Directed by Arne Toonen, written by Lotte Tabbers.

• "Snowtime!" (Canada) • Kids in a small village mount a massive snowball fight, with serious consequences, in this animated adventure. Directed by Jean-François Pouliot and François Brisson; written by Normand Canac-Marquis and Paul Risacher. The English-language voice cast includes Sandra Oh and Ross Lynch (of R5).

• "The Eagle Huntress" • Ashol-Pan, a 13-year-old nomadic Mongolian girl, battles to become the first woman to hunt with a golden eagle in 2,000 years of her culture's male-dominated history, in this documentary directed by Otto Bell.

Special Events

• "Behind the Scenes of 'Anomalisa'" • A screening of the acclaimed stop-motion animated drama, directed by Charlie Kaufman (who wrote it) and Duke Johnson, about an author (voiced by David Thewlis) on a business trip, who meets a stranger (voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh) who may or may not be the love of his life. After the screening, the creators will take part in a Q&A. They also will explain their creative process on a separate panel during the festival.

• "Chelsea Does" • A four-part documentary series featuring comedian Chelsea Handler, exploring the topics of marriage, racism, Silicon Valley and drugs. Sundance will screen one installment and clips from the other three, followed by an extended Q&A with Handler, director Eddie Schmidt and executive producer Morgan Neville.

• "11.22.63" • A sneak peak at Hulu's 9-hour mini-series (premiering in February), an adaptation of Stephen King's novel about a schoolteacher (James Franco) who learns of a time portal, which he uses to go back to stop the JFK assassination. The two-hour premiere will be screened, followed by an extended Q&A. Directed by Kevin Macdonald, teleplay by Bridget Carpenter; the cast includes Sarah Gadon, Daniel Webber, George MacKay, Josh Duhamel and Chris Cooper.

• "The Girlfriend Experience" • In this anthology series debuting on Starz, and expanded from Steven Soderbergh's 2009 movie, law student Christine Reade (Riley Keough) begins a double life as a call girl providing both an emotional and sexual relationship. Episodes are directed and written by Lodge Kerrigan ("Clean, Shaven," SFF '94) and Amy Seimetz; the cast includes Paul Sparks, Mary Lynn Rajskub, James Gilbert and Kate Lyn Sheil. The festival will premiere four episodes of the series, followed by an extended Q&A.

• "The New Yorker Presents" • A look at a new documentary series for Amazon Prime, which features documentaries, short narrative films, comedy, poetry and animation in the spirit of The New Yorker magazine. Alex Gibney and Kahane Cooperman (from "The Daily Show") are the executive producers. The festival will screen the first two episodes of the series, followed by an extended Q&A.

• "O.J.: Made in America" • Director Ezra Edelman's 7-1/2-hour documentary miniseries looks at O.J. Simpson's rise and fall, through the prisms of race and celebrity. The full miniseries will be shown, followed by an extended Q&A.

• "The Skinny" • Feminist and aspiring YouTube star Jessie Kahnweiler struggles to live, love and overcome her bulimia in this comedy series. Kahnweiler's co-stars include Illeana Douglas, Spencer Hill, Ryan Pinkston, Megan Ferguson and Sadie Calvano. The festival will premiere six 10-minute episodes, followed by an extended Q&A with Kahnweiler.

• "United Shades of America" • Political comic W. Kamau Bell aims his satire at America's racial subcultures — such as, in the pilot episode, challenging Klansmen trying to rebrand their message. An extended Q&A follows the first episode.

spmeans@sltrib.com

Twitter: @moviecricket