Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Sundance >> 2009 >> World Dramatic Competition
This year's 16 films were selected from a record 1,012 submissions.
View other Sundance Film Festival Films by strand: Frontier, International Animated Shorts, International Documentary Shorts, International Dramatic Shorts, New Frontier Shorts, Park City at Midnight, Premieres, Spectrum: Documentary Spotlight, Spectrum: Dramatic Films, US Animated Shorts, US Documentary Competition, US Documentary Shorts, US Dramatic Competition, US Short Films, World Cinema Documentary
Unmade Beds and Heart Of Time
An Education
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Lone Scherfig; Writer: Nick Hornby, based on a memoir by Lynn Barber; Stars: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour, Emma Thompson, Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, Matthew Beard), Trailer
A 16-year-old - and her family - are swept off their feet by a debonair older man.
World Premiere. Winner of World Dramatic Award
Bronson
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Nicolas Winding Refn; Writer: Brock Norman Brock; Stars: Tom Hardy, Matt King, Terry Stone, Amanda Burton, Jonathan Phillips, Hugh Ross, Kelly Adams, China-Black, Joe Tucker, Edward Bennett-Coles, Katy Barker), Official Site, Trailer
Examination of the life of Britain's self-titled "most dangerous criminal". Out on re-release.
North American Premiere
Before Tomorrow (Le Jour avant le lendemain)
(Country: Canada; Year: 2008; Director: Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu; Writer: Susan Avingaq, Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu, Jørn Riel; Stars: Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Madeline Ivalu, Paul-Dylan Ivalu, Mary Qulitalik, Tumasie Sivuarapik), Official Site
US Premiere
A wise old woman fights to survive impossible circumstances with her young grandson in the Canadian arctic.
Carmo, Hit The Road
(Country: Spain, Brazil, Poland; Year: 2008; Director: Murilo Pasta; Writer: Murilo Pasta; Stars: Fele Martínez, Mariana Loureiro, Seu Jorge, Márcio Garcia, Paca Gabaldón, Rosi Campos, Norival Rizzo, Kiko Bertholini, Nanda Costa, Thaís Fersoza)
A lonely, handicapped smuggler and a beautiful girl embark on a reckless ride through a South American border landscape.
World Premiere
The Clone Returns Home (Kuron Wa Kokyo-Wo Mezasu, The Clone Returns)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2008; Director: Kanji Nakajima; Writer: Kanji Nakajima; Stars: Akemi Fuji, Akiko Hayashi, Takahiro Hirano, Chieko Ichikawa, Eri Ishida, Hiromi Nagasaku, Akira Ogata, Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Kôzô Satô, Masato Shibazaki)
A Japanese astronaut who dies during a mission is subsequently resurrected as a clone and returns to his childhood home.
North American Premiere
Bronson and An Education
Dada's Dance
(Country: China; Year: 2008; Director: Zhang Yuan; Writer: Li Xiaofeng, Zhang Yuan; Stars: Li Xinyun, Li Xiaofeng, Gai Ge, Chen Jun)
North American Premiere
Dada is a flirtatious young woman who lives with her mother in a small town. Having to fend off the constant advances of her mother's boyfriend who tells her she is adopted, she undertakes a journey in search of her birth mother.
Five Minutes Of Heaven
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel; Writer: Guy Hibbert; Stars: Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marinca, Niamh Cusack, Conor MacNeill, Lalor Roddy, Barry McEvoy, Richard Dormer, Paul Kennedy, Jonathan Harden)
Two men from the same town but from different sides of the Irish political divide discover that the past is never dead - in fact it isn't even past.
World Premiere
A French Gigolo (Cliente)
(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Josiane Balasko; Writer: Josiane Balasko, Josiane Balasko; Stars: Nathalie Baye, Eric Caravaca, Isabelle Carré, Josiane Balasko, Catherine Hiegel, Marilou Berry, Félicité Wouassi, George Aguilar, Sandrine Le Berre, David Rousseau), Official Site, Trailer
A fiftysomething woman who hires a gigolo finds their relationship becomes unexpectedly complex.
North American Premiere
Heart Of Time (Corazón del tiempo)
(Country: Mexico; Year: 2009; Director: Alberto Cortés; Writer: Hernann Bellinghaussen, Alberto Cortés; Stars: Rocío Barrios, Francisco Jiménez, Marisela Rodríguez, Doña Aurelia, Leonardo Rodríguez), Official Site
Is love stronger than duty in the heartland of Mexico's rebel community?
Louise Michel
(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Gustave de Kervern, Benoît Delépine; Writer: Gustave Kervern, Benoît Delépine; Stars: Yolande Moreau, Bouli Lanners, Robert Dehoux, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Katerine, Kafka, Benoît Poelvoorde, Catherine Hosmalin, Christophe Salengro, Pierre Renverseau, Siné)
North American Premiere
Odd-couple comedy about a factory worker out for revenge and the inept hitman she bonds with.
The Maid and Lulu And Jimi
Lulu And Jimi (Lulu und Jimi)
(Country: Germany, France; Year: 2009; Director: Oskar Roehler; Writer: Oskar Roehler; Stars: Jennifer Decker, Ray Fearon, Katrin Saß, Rolf Zacher, Udo Kier), Official Site
Lovers go on the run in late Fifties Germany.
World Premiere
The Maid (La Nana)
(Country: Chile; Year: 2008; Director: Sebastián Silva; Writer: Sebastián Silva, Pedro Peirano; Stars: Catalina Saavedra, Claudia Celedón, Mariana Loyola, Alejandro Goic, Anita Reeves, Del?na Guzmán)
A servant goes to extreme lengths to stay with the family she's obsessed with - and to get rid of the competition.
One Day In A Life (Un Altro Pianeta)
(Country: Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Stefano Tummolini; Writer: Antonio Merone, Stefano Tummolini; Stars: Tiziana Avarista, Chiara Francini, Francesco Grifoni, Lucia Mascino, Antonio Merone), Official Site
World Premiere
One languid summer day, a man heads to the beach in search of sunshine and bit of peace, but finds himself tangled up in the dramas of an eclectic group of nearby sunbathers.
Unmade Beds
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Alexis Dos Santos; Writer: Alexis Dos Santos; Stars: Fernando Tielve, Déborah François, Michiel Huisman, Iddo Goldberg, Richard Lintern, Katia Winter, Leonardo Brzezicki, Alexis Dos Santos, Lucy Tillet, Al Weaver), Official Site
Two young foreigners find romance in the vibrant, artistic underground of London's East End.
World Premiere
Victoria Day
(Country: Canada; Year: 2009; Director: David Bezmozgis; Writer: David Bezmozgis; Stars: Mark Rendall, Sergiy Kotelenets, Nataliya Alyexeyenko, Holly Deveaux, John Mavrogiannis), Official Site
Over the course of one week in 1988, the search for a missing teammate, parental expectations, a burgeoning sexual awakening and the rock concert of the century all threaten to jolt a 16-year-old into adulthood.
World Premiere
Five Minutes Of Heaven and The Clone Returns Home
Zion And His Brother
(Country: Israel, France; Year: 2008; Director: Eran Merav; Writer: Eran Merav; Stars: Reuven Badalov, Ronit Elkabetz, Tzahi Grad), Official Site
World Premiere
The disappearance of a young boy sends a wedge between two teenage brothers whose loyalty had been unshakeable, in this gritty story of a working class Tel Aviv single-parent family.
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
Eye For Film continues to support festivals both locally and across the world. At the moment, we're covering:
Sands Film Festival
Weekend film event in St Andrews
Visions du Réel
Swiss documentary showcase
New Directors/New Films
New York's celebration of new voices
Cannes Film Festival
Archive of festival coverage.
Sundance Film Festival
Daily diary and reviews from 2005-2018.
Berlin Film Festival
Coverage of the lynchpin German festival.
Search Movie Database
Browse our full archive
Browse our short film archive
Browse our media archive
