The 2022 Sundance Film Festival

Sundace Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute and serves as the largest independent film festival in the United States. The 2022 Sundance Film Festival ran between January 20 – January 30. A total of 57 new productions created by people of color were honored in both nominations and the general program from Sundance. Of those 57 nominations, 13 received awards from the Sundance Institute.

Note: Nominees of productions featuring people of color who were bestowed awards appear in bold text in each category. 

US Dramatic Competition

The US Dramatic Competition offers attendees at the Sundance Film Festival a look at innovative, new voices in American independent film.

• Emergency

  • Directed and produced by African American filmmaker Carey Williams. Emergency follows three college students driving to a frat party when disaster strikes in the form of a passed-out white girl. Awarded the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic.

• Master

• Nanny

  • Directed, written, and produced by Sierra Leonean-American Nikyatu Jusu. An undocumented Senegalese immigrant lands a job as a nanny of a wealthy Manhattan couple, but she becomes a pawn in their facade of a marriage. While haunted by the absence of her young son left behind in Senegal, a supernatural presence begins to make itself known. Awarded Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Competition.

US Documentary Competition

The US Documentary Competition premieres American documentaries that reveal the ideas, people, and events that occur in the present day.

• Free Chol Soo Lee

  • Directed and produced by Korean American filmmakers Julie Ha and Eugene Yi. Follows real-life Korean American Chol Soo Lee who, on June 3, 1933, was arrested and convicted based on flimsy evidence and stereotypical eyewitness accounts of white tourists. The investigation led to the first pan-Asian American grassroots movement. Bestowed with the Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Nonfiction.

• TikTok, Boom

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

The World Cinema Dramatic Competition features submissions from emerging filmmaking talents around the world.

• Dos Estaciones

  • Directed and written by Mexican film director Juan Pablo González. The film follows Maria Garcia, heir to a family tequila factory business and serves as the main source of income for the town of Dos Estaciones.  Despite appointing new help, trouble comes with a persistent plague and an unexpected flood, creating difficulties for Maria to keep the factory afloat. Awarded the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting.

• Leonor Will Never Die

  • Directed and written by Filipino filmmaker-cinematographer Martika Ramirez Escobar. Lenora Will Never Die is a film about a once-famous player in the Filipino film industry now down on her luck. Lenora finds solace in completing an unfinished script but soon finds herself within the story after an accident leads her into a coma. Awarded the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Innovative Spirit.

• Marte Um (Mars One)

• The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future

• Utama

  • Directed, written, and produced by Bolivian filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi. In the Bolivian Altiplano, an elderly Quechua couple has lived the same daily life for years. During a long drought, the couple faces a dilemma. Should they ignore their grandson's advice and the reality around them, or be defeated by the environment and time itself? Awarded Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

World Cinema Documentary Competition

Showcases documentaries developed by pioneering filmmakers working around the world.

• All That Breathes

  • Directed and produced by Indian filmmaker Shaunak Sen. Brothers Saud and Nadeem care for the injured black kites that fell from illness caused by New Delhi’s polluted skies. Awarded with Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Documentary.

• Midwives

  • Directed, produced, and edited by Burmese filmmaker-sound recordist Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing. The documentary follows a Buddhist named Hla and the apprentice midwife Nyo Nyo. Hla owns a clinic in Western Myanmar that caters to the persecuted Rohingyan people. Nyo Nyo is a Muslim inspired by the efforts made by the staff within the clinic. To help, Nyo Nyo works as an assistant and translator for the clinic. Awarded the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Excellence In Verité Filmmaking.

• Sirens

NEXT: Presented by Adobe

The Sundance Film Festival features NEXT, a category presented by Adobe. This category focuses on the creator’s skill to unite digital technology with the art of moviemaking.

• Every Day In Kaimukī

• Mija

Indie Episodic Program: Presented by DoorDash

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival Indie Episodic Program is dedicated to showcasing emerging creators of independently produced content for episodic platforms.

• Chiqui

KIDS

This section of the Sundance Film Festival is focused on a younger generation of independent film fans.

• Maika

Premieres

A showcase of world premieres of some of the most highly anticipated fiction and nonfiction films of the coming 2022 year.

• 2ND Chance

• Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.

• JEEN-YUHS: A Kanye Trilogy

• La Guerra Civil

• We Need to Talk About Cosby

Spotlight

Section created to pay tribute to cinema throughout the past year.

• After Yang

  • Directed and written by South Korean-born American filmmaker Kogonada. After Yang is a science-fiction drama film in which a couple, Jack and Kyra, purchase an artificial intelligence android named Yang for their adopted daughter. When Yang suddenly stops working, Jack's journey to get the android repaired becomes a journey of introspection that causes him to contemplate his own life. Bestowed with the 2022 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize.

• Neptune Frost

Short Film Program

Films encompass unique categories that have a total running time of fewer than 50 minutes, including credits.

• $75,000

• A Wild Patience Has Taken Me Here

  • Directed, written, and produced by Brazilian filmmaker Érica Sarmet. A middle-aged motorcyclist goes to a lesbian party and meets four young queers who share their home. Awarded the Short Film Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast.

• Bestia

• Breathe

• Bump

• Chilly And Milly

• Egúngún (Masquerade)

• Hallelujah

• Huella

• If I Go They Will Miss Me

  • Directed and written by Latino filmmaker Walter Thompson-Hernández. Obsessed with the mythical Pegasus, a young boy begins to imagine airplane people around his home. Awarded the Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction.

• Kicking The Clouds

• Listen To The Beat Of Our Images

• Maidenhood

• Makassar Is A City For Football Fans

• Meal On The Plate

• Night Bus

  • Directed, written, and produced by Taiwanese filmmaker Joe Hsieh. A series of intriguing and tragic events unfold on the backdrop of a late-night bus. Awarded the Short Film Jury Award: Animation.

• Orthodontics

• Prayers For Sweet Waters

• Precious Hair & Beauty

• Rendang Of Death

• Sandstorm/Mulaqat

• Socrates’ Adventures In The Under Ground

• Soft Animals

• Sub Eleven Seconds

• Swallow The Universe

• The Fourth Wall

• The Headhunter’s Daughter

  • Directed, written, and edited by Filipino filmmaker Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan. A young Filipino woman leaves her family behind in her pursuit of becoming a successful country singer. Awarded the Short Film Grand Jury Prize.

• The Panola Project

• Tundra

• We Are Here

• Work

• You Go Girl!

• ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught)