Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Sundance >> 2020 >> US Dramatic Competition
View other Sundance Film Festival Films by strand: Documentary Premieres, Kids, Midnight, Next, Premieres, Spotlight, US Documentary Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Minari and Zola
The 40-Year-Old Version
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Radha Blank; Writer: Radha Blank; Stars: Jacob Ming-Trent, TJ Atoms, Reed Birney, Peggy J Scott, Peter Y. Kim, Mina Joo, Imani Lewis, Michael Izquierdo, Julius Caba, Radha Blank, Haskiri Velazquez, Ashlee Brian, Corwin C. Tuggles, Dyme-A-Duzin, William Oliver Watkins)
World premiere
A down-on-her-luck New York playwright decides to reinvent herself and salvage her artistic voice the only way she knows how: by becoming a rapper at age 40.
Blast Beat
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Esteban Arango; Writer: Esteban Arango, Erick Castrillon; Stars: Moises Arias, Mateo Arias, Daniel Dae Kim, Kali Uchis, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama)
World premiere
After their family emigrates from Colombia during the summer of ‘99, a metalhead science prodigy and his deviant younger brother do their best to adapt to new lives in America.
Charm City Kings
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Angel Manuel Soto; Writer: Sherman Payne, Barry Jenkins, Kirk Sullivan, Christopher M. Boyd, Lotfy Nathan; Stars: Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Teyonah Parris, Jamaal Burcher, William Catlett, Rick Kelvin Branch, Marla Aaron Wapner, David A MacDonald, Meek Mill, Melanie Jewel Howard, Donielle T. Hansley Jr., Milan Ray, Charles D. Clark, Kezii Curtis, Tiana Melvina, Arnold Y. Kim)
World premiere
Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight's leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.
Dinner In America
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Adam Rehmeier; Writer: Adam Rehmeier; Stars: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Lea Thompson, Hannah Marks, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Griffin Gluck, Nick Chinlund, Ryan Malgarini, Pat Healy, Nico Greetham, David Yow, Brittany Sheets, Brian Andrus, Robert Laenen, Ricky Wayne)
An on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman he meets by chance embark on an offbeat romance.
World premiere
The Evening Hour
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Braden King; Writer: Elizabeth Palmore, Carter Sickels; Stars: Lili Taylor, Kerry Bishé, Stacy Martin, Marc Menchaca, Tess Harper, Hannah Barefoot, Cosmo Jarvis, Ross Partridge, Allison Gabriel King, Philip Ettinger, Michael Trotter, Jayson Warner Smith, Hale Lytle, Vergena Fields, Frank Hoyt Taylor)
World premiere
Cole Freeman maintains an uneasy equilibrium in his rural Appalachian town, looking after the old and infirm while selling their excess painkillers to local addicts. But when an old friend returns with plans that upend the fragile balance and identity he's so painstakingly crafted, Cole is forced to take action.
Farewell Amor and Palm Springs
Farewell Amor
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Ekwa Msangi; Writer: Ekwa Msangi; Stars: Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Zainab Jah, Jayme Lawson, Joie Lee, Marcus Scribner, Nana Mensah)
Reunited after a 17-year separation, Walter, an Angolan immigrant, is joined in the US by his wife and teenage daughter. Now absolute strangers sharing a one-bedroom apartment, they discover a shared love of dance that may help overcome the emotional distance between them.
World premiere
Minari
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Lee Isaac Chung; Writer: Lee Isaac Chung; Stars: Steven Yeun, Han Yeri, Youn Yuh Jung, Will Patton, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho)
David, a seven-year-old Korean-American boy, gets his life turned upside down when his father decides to move their family to rural Arkansas and start a farm in the mid-1980s, in this charming and unexpected take on the American Dream.
World premiere
Miss Juneteenth
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples; Writer: Channing Godfrey Peoples; Stars: Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, Alexis Chikaeze, Lori Hayes, Marcus Maudlin)
Turquoise, a former beauty queen turned hardworking single mother, prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant, hoping to keep her from repeating the same mistakes in life that she did.
World premiere
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Eliza Hittman; Writer: Eliza Hittman; Stars: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold, Sharon Van Etten, Drew Seltzer)
Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn and her cousin Skylar embark on a brave, fraught journey across state lines to New York City.
World premiere
Nine Days
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Edson Oda; Writer: Edson Oda; Stars: Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård, Tony Hale, David Rysdahl)
World premiere
In a house distant from the reality we know, a reclusive man interviews prospective candidates - personifications of human souls - for the privilege that he once had: to be born.
Miss Juneteenth and Dinner In America
Palm Springs
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Max Barbakow; Writer: Andy Siara, Andy Siara, Max Barbakow; Stars: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, JK Simmons, Meredith Hagner, Camila Mendes, Peter Gallagher)
When carefree Nyles and reluctant maid of honour Sarah have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated the next morning when they find themselves unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other.
World premiere
Save Yourselves!
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson; Writer: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson; Stars: Sunita Mani, John Reynolds, Ben Sinclair, Johanna Day, John Early, Gary Richardson)
World premiere
A young Brooklyn couple head upstate to disconnect from their phones and reconnect with themselves. Cut off from their devices, they miss the news that the planet is under attack.
Shirley
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Josephine Decker; Writer: Sarah Gubbins, Susan Scarf Merrell; Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Logan Lerman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young, Margarita Allen, Steve Vinovich, Ryan Spahn, Lexa Hayes, Adelind Horan, Molly Fahey, Allen McCullough, Thomas Racek, Edward O'Blenis, Emily Decker, Tony Manna)
A young couple moves in with the famed author, Shirley Jackson, and her Bennington College professor husband, Stanley Hyman, in the hope of starting a new life but instead find themselves fodder for a psycho-drama that inspires Shirley's next novel.
World premiere
Sylvie’s Love
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Eugene Ashe; Writer: Eugene Ashe; Stars: Tessa Thompson, Eva Longoria, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Lance Reddick, John Magaro, Ryan Michelle Bathe, Ron Funches, Aja Naomi King, Erica Gimpel, Jemima Kirke, Tone Bell, Nnamdi Asomugha, Regé-Jean Page, MC Lyte, Alano Miller)
World premiere
Years after their summer romance comes to an end, an aspiring TV producer and a talented musician cross paths, only to find their feelings for each other never changed. With their careers taking them in different directions, they must choose what matters most.
Wander Darkly
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Tara Miele; Writer: Tara Miele; Stars: Sienna Miller, Diego Luna, Beth Grant, James Landry Hébert, Tory Kittles, Ayden Mayeri, Brett Rice, Inde Navarrette, Dan Gill, Cailan Robinson, Serena Laney, Henrik Rutgersson, Leo Oliva, Bamm Ericsen, Danielle Nottingham)
World premiere
New parents Adrienne and Matteo are forced to reckon with trauma amid their troubled relationship. They must revisit the memories of their past and unravel haunting truths in order to face their uncertain future.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Shirley
Zola
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Janicza Bravo; Writer: Janicza Bravo, A'Ziah King, David Kushner, Andrew Neel, Jeremy O. Harris, Mike Roberts; Stars: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, Colman Domingo)
A waitress goes on a pole dancing trip to Florida with a new found friend and gets a lot more than she bargained for.
World premiere
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
