'Napoleon Dynamite,' 'Babadook,' more screen for Sundance 40th festival
Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The Sundance Film Festival announced additions to the 2024 film festival program for the festival's 40th edition on Tuesday. Screenings and restorations of past festival hits will join the new films in Park City, Utah, Jan. 18-28.
This includes 4K restorations of Napoleon Dynamite, Go Fish, Three Seasons and the music documentary Dig! adding 30 minutes of new footage and more narration. Napoleon and Dig! celebrate their 20th anniversaries, Go Fish 30 and Three Seasons 25.
Napoleon Dynamite became a cult hit comedy after it premiered at Sundance. From Jared and Jerusha Hess and starring Jon Heder and Efran Ramirez, it popularized slogans like "Vote for Pedro" with shirts available for purchase.
Go Fish was a landmark lesbian drama from writers Guinevere Turner and Rose Troche. Turner also starred and Troche directed. Three Seasons was a Vietnamese-American drama from Tony Bui, co-written by Bui and his brother Timothy Linh Bui.
The horror classic The Babadook will screen again, 10 years after its Sundance premiere. Jennifer Kent's horror movie stars Essie Davis as a mother terrorized by a spooky book.
Dee Rees' Pariah, starring Adepero Oduye and Kim Wayans, which premiered in 2011, also screens again.
A restoration of the 1991 Denzel Washington/Sarita Choudhury romance Mississippi Masala, from director Mira Nair and writer Sooni Taraporevela will premiere. The 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk has also been restored to screen again.
Jay and Mark Duplass will host screenings of Sundance shorts. Miguel Arteta, Richard Linklater, Dawn Porter, and Christine Vachon will participate in a panel, Power of Story: Four Decades of Taking Chances.
Carlos López Estrada and additional filmmakers to be announced will lead a workshop for emerging filmmakers. The 40th anniversary event also will include trivia and alumni social events.
The Sundance Film Festival officially took its name in 1984, named after founder Robert Redford's character The Sundance Kid. Formerly, the Utah/U.S. Film Festivals occurred annually in Utah.
Ticket packages are now on sale at the Sundance website, with individual tickets on sale Jan. 11.
