In Park City, Utah, at the first in-person Sundance Film Festival since 2020, you could go be devastated by the Cynthia Erivo–Alia Shawkat film Drift, about an impoverished refugee, then celebrate it in a lounge at an after-party sponsored by Chase Sapphire. Sundance has always been half about the movies and half about the atmosphere surrounding them. Strangers talk to you in line for coffee or for a panel. You go to a temporary outpost of Tao and see former network-TV star [redacted] dragged out shit-faced. It’s in these spaces where hype ferments and introductions are made and the upcoming year in cinema is decided.
One of the biggest stories this year is that the majority of feature films that premiered were directed by women; some high-profile, positively received examples include the full-sentence titles You Hurt My Feelings (from Nicole Holofcener) and Sometimes I Think About Dying (Rachel Lambert), featuring banger lead performances from Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Daisy Ridley, respectively. It’s also the year of trendy literary adaptations, spanning one of the best-received premieres of the entire festival in William Oldroyd’s take on Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen, starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie, as well as one of the worst: Susanna Fogel’s version of Kristen Roupenian’s viral New Yorker short story, “Cat Person,” with Nicholas freaking Braun. All of the cool kids were most excited about Mutt and Rotting in the Sun, just two of a robust lineup of queer films that included Cannes fave Joyland, Ira Sachs’s walkways, and D. Smith’s documentary about Black trans sex workers, Kokomo City. One festivalgoer breathlessly told me that last movie changed their life.
A weirdly high number of movies, which is to say two, were about female stunt performers (Polite Society and bad behavior). And there were good notices for Gael García Bernal as a gay wrestler in cassandro and an even-huger-than-usual Jonathan Majors as a bodybuilder in Dream Magazines, which faced a jury walkout at its premiere after actress Marlee Matlin, who is deaf, was given a faulty closed-captioning device. Randall Park made his directorial debut with Shortcomings, which critics called “breezy,” “charming,” and “amicable.” Another notable first-timer was Korean Canadian playwright Celine Song, whose Past Lives earned raves for star Greta Lee.
Although there were fewer overall major sales, the trend of streaming services making eight-figure acquisitions continued apace with Apple TV+ paying “nearly” $20 million for John Carney’s Flora and Son and Netflix spending $20 million for erotic thriller fairplay, which Vulture critic Alison Willmore says she hates because it’s neither erotic nor thrilling. As Vulture writer Rachel Handler put it, the vibe of this year’s Sundance was “a lot of sad moms and dead kids,” which don’t often lead to a lot of happy execs and alive box offices. They do, however, make for some portraits courtesy of the Vulture photo studio that are, in a word, gorg and, in two, a serve.
Left: Chris Chalk, Charleen McClure, Raven Jackson, and Sheila Atim. Right: Atim. JJ Geiger.
Left: Chris Chalk, Charleen McClure, Raven Jackson, and Sheila Atim. Right: Atim. JJ Geiger.
Niousha Noor, Layla Mohammadi, Maryam Keshavarz, and Kamand Shafieisabet.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Teyana Taylor. Right: AV Rockwell. JJ Geiger.
Left: Teyana Taylor. Right: AV Rockwell. JJ Geiger.
Left: Celine Song, John Magaro, Greta Lee, and Teo Yoo. Top right: Lee. Bottom right: Yoo. JJ Geiger.
Left: Celine Song, John Magaro, Greta Lee, and Teo Yoo. Top right: Lee. Bottom right: Yoo. JJ Geiger.
Left: Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Jacqueline Castel, and Jae Matthews. Right: Menu. JJ Geiger.
Left: Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Jacqueline Castel, and Jae Matthews. Right: Menu. JJ Geiger.
Matthew Galkin, Lucy Simpson, Luella Brien, and Razelle Benally.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Top left: Daisy Ridley. Top right: Dave Merheje. Bottom left: Parvesh Cheena. Bottom right: Brittany O’Grady. JJ Geiger.
Top left: Daisy Ridley. Top right: Dave Merheje. Bottom left: Parvesh Cheena. Bottom right: Brittany O’Grady. JJ Geiger.
Clockwise from top left: Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt, Owen Thiele, Patti Harrison, Jimmy Tatro, Noah Galvin, and Molly Gordon.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Galvin and Platt. Right: Gordon. JJ Geiger.
Left: Galvin and Platt. Right: Gordon. JJ Geiger.
Noora Niasari and Zar Amir Ebrahimi.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Randall Park. Right (clockwise from left): Sherry Cola, Justin H. Min, Ally Maki, and Park. JJ Geiger.
Left: Randall Park. Right (clockwise from left): Sherry Cola, Justin H. Min, Ally Maki, and Park. JJ Geiger.
Gael Garcia Bernal
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Omari Hardwick. Top right: Cory Hardrict. Bottom right: Qasim Basir. JJ Geiger.
Left: Omari Hardwick. Top right: Cory Hardrict. Bottom right: Qasim Basir. JJ Geiger.
Left: Phoebe Dynevor. Right: Alden Ehrenreich. JJ Geiger.
Left: Phoebe Dynevor. Right: Alden Ehrenreich. JJ Geiger.
Harry Hamlin
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Doechii, Erika Alexander, Tia Nomore, and Savanah Leaf. Top right: Doechii. Bottom right: Leaf. JJ Geiger.
Left: Doechii, Erika Alexander, Tia Nomore, and Savanah Leaf. Top right: Doechii. Bottom right: Leaf. JJ Geiger.
Jonathan Majors
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Anaita Wali Zada. Right: Gregg Turkington. JJ Geiger.
Left: Anaita Wali Zada. Right: Gregg Turkington. JJ Geiger.
Jordan Firstman
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Cynthia Erivo. Right: Alia Shawkat. JJ Geiger.
Left: Cynthia Erivo. Right: Alia Shawkat. JJ Geiger.
Frederic Tcheng and Bethann Hardison.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Priya Kansara, Nida Manzoor, and Ritu Arya. Right: Arya and Kansara. JJ Geiger.
Left: Priya Kansara, Nida Manzoor, and Ritu Arya. Right: Arya and Kansara. JJ Geiger.
Sierra Capri, Thembi L. Banks, and Algee Smith.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Top left: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz. Top right: Lio Mehiel. Bottom left: Cole Doman. Bottom right: MiMi Ryder. JJ Geiger.
Top left: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz. Top right: Lio Mehiel. Bottom left: Cole Doman. Bottom right: MiMi Ryder. JJ Geiger.
Wrenn Schmidt, Lewis Pullman, Austin Abrams, Laurel Parmet, Jimmi Simpson, and Eliza Scanlen.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Abrams. Right: Scanlen and Schmidt. JJ Geiger.
Left: Abrams. Right: Scanlen and Schmidt. JJ Geiger.
Jennifer Trejo, Eugenio Derbez, and Mia Fernanda Solis.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Top left: Adele Exarchopoulos. Top right: Franz Rogowski. Bottom left: Ben Whishaw. Bottom right: Ira Sachs. JJ Geiger.
Top left: Adele Exarchopoulos. Top right: Franz Rogowski. Bottom left: Ben Whishaw. Bottom right: Ira Sachs. JJ Geiger.
Top left: Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Top right: Eve Hewson. Bottom left: Oren Kinlan. Bottom right: John Carney. JJ Geiger.
Top left: Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Top right: Eve Hewson. Bottom left: Oren Kinlan. Bottom right: John Carney. JJ Geiger.
Emily Saliers and Amy Ray.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Brooke Shields. Right: Shields and Lana Wilson. JJ Geiger.
Left: Brooke Shields. Right: Shields and Lana Wilson. JJ Geiger.
Ruth Reichl and Laura Gabbert.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Left: Scoot McNairy, Adam Lambert, Cody Fern, and Andrew Durham. Right: McNairy. JJ Geiger.
Left: Scoot McNairy, Adam Lambert, Cody Fern, and Andrew Durham. Right: McNairy. JJ Geiger.
Ben Whishaw and Jennifer Connelly.
Photo: JJ Geiger
Top left: Celia Weston. Top right: Jane Levy. Bottom right: Anna Camp. Bottom left: Will Pullen. JJ Geiger.
Top left: Celia Weston. Top right: Jane Levy. Bottom right: Anna Camp. Bottom left: Will Pullen. JJ Geiger.
Emma Tremblay, Will Forte, Jake Van Wagoner, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Jacob Buster.
Photo: JJ Geiger
The 2023 Sundance portrait studio is presented by La Mer.
