Sundance 2020: 10 Films Everyone Is Buzzing About

It's not all Oscar bait.

Possessor movie
Well Go USA

Even though we're currently celebrating the best in 2019 film with the ongoing awards season, it's also the perfect time to look ahead at what's coming next, and that's basically what the Sundance Film Festival is all about.

Each year, a diverse crop of filmmakers bring their latest efforts to one of the most prominent stages on the cinematic calendar, and while a lot of these movies do tend to have their moment and then fade away, some stick around for a good long while, becoming bit hits with film fans and even being involved in the next awards race.

Some of the biggest Sundance hits of the last few years include Call Me By Your Name, Hereditary, Velvet Buzzsaw and Manchester By The Sea, and with the 2020 festival having recently come to a close, the world has definitely just been introduced to some movies that could join those esteemed ranks.

This year we've seen comedies, thrillers, chilling documentaries, heartwarming dramas, big-name actors like Andy Samberg, Sean Bean and Elisabeth Moss, and even a sprinkling of horror. It's a truly varied and exciting selection, and you'll probably be seeing a lot more of these ten movies over the next several months.

10. The Father

The Father Olivia Colman Anthony Hopkins
Sony Pictures Classics

Academy Award winners Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman headlining a movie? Sign us up! The Father chronicles the complex relationship between the two actors as family patriarch Hopkins - who suffers from memory loss - has to cope with the news that his caring daughter wants to move to Paris.

It's not just a straightforward drama, however, and there's a twist that should make the movie even more interesting: is this entire situation actually real, or is some of it imaginary, just a result of Hopkins' damaged state of mind?

Because of his illness, it's not always clear exactly what's going on. His daughter will show up being played by different actresses, for instance, and the same is true for her love interest, with Mark Gatiss and Rufus Sewell appearing on separate occasions.

Director Florian Zeller is adapting his own play here, meaning that he has a firm grasp on this story and will hopefully be able to deliver a touching and powerful drama, complete with a pair of terrific leading performances.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!