A year ago at Sundance, #OscarsSoWhite and related outrage over a lack of diversity in Hollywood fueled an industrywide push of films with people of color, igniting a record $17.5 million bidding war for \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d and, later on, helping propel \u201cMoonlight\u201d and other films toward year-end Oscar campaigns.
This year, widespread anger over the presidential election and a celeb-packed Park City offshoot of the Women\u2019s March on Washington raise the question: Will other issues that newly disenfranchised audiences care about boost interest in any of the slew of politically charged films at Sundance, helping to sow the seeds for another \u201cFahrenheit 9\/11\u201d?
There\u2019s certainly money to be made from political films that cater to audiences who feel outraged, as shown by right-wing docs that have galvanized audiences angered by President Obama. 2016\u2019s top-grossing doc by a wide margin was Dinesh D\u2019Souza\u2019s \u201cHillary\u2019s America,\u201d ($13.1 million), a follow up to his and John Sullivan\u2019s 2012 film \u201c2016: Obama\u2019s America,\u201d which made $33.4 million and became the fifth biggest doc of all time.
Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper and programming director Trevor Groth\u2019s selections may help generate a similar left-wing firestorm.
\u201cIt really is the year for looking at police corruption and problems with our criminal justice system,\u201d says Groth, citing \u201cStrong Island,\u201d \u201cThe Force,\u201d \u201cWhose Streets?\u201d and the Spike docuseries \u201cTime: The Kalief Browder Story.\u201d Hard-hitting projects on Syrian war crimes (\u201c Cries From Syria ,\u201d \u201cLast Men in Aleppo,\u201d \u201cCity of Ghosts\u201d) and resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (the Viceland series \u201cRise\u201d) are also in the lineup.
Sundance\u2019s biggest political effort is its first New Climate program, a collection of environmental projects featuring the Park City return of that other losing presidential candidate who won the popular vote, Al Gore. He will be in town for \u201c An Inconvenient Sequel : Truth to Power,\u201d Paramount and Participant\u2019s follow-up to the Oscar-winning \u201cAn Inconvenient Truth.\u201d
\u201cAn important reason it\u2019s being made now is that, as opposed to 10 years ago, the solutions are here, and [Gore is] very optimistic about where we can go,\u201d says co-director Bonni Cohen.
\u201cAfter the November election, people who saw progress being made really felt a blow,\u201d adds co-director Jon Shenk. \u201cThey\u2019re looking for ways to shine a light on the path forward, and we\u2019re hoping this film can be that.\u201d
As for those interested in President-elect Donald Trump , all eyes will be on the fest\u2019s last-minute addition of Banks Tarver, Ted Bourne, and Mary Robertson\u2019s doc \u201cTrumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time\u201d from Showtime Documentary Films, set for a Jan. 27 premiere before its Feb. 3 cable debut. It uses reconfigured and unseen footage shot from the beginning of Trump\u2019s campaign during the network\u2019s series \u201cThe Circus.\u201d
But Vinnie Malhotra, the network\u2019s senior VP of documentaries, unscripted and sports programming, says viewers shouldn\u2019t expect a polemic. \u201cIt will appeal to everybody, to any interested observer of American politics,\u201d he says, noting that multiple distributors have inquired about a possible theatrical run. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to let events and the words of the candidate speak for themselves in a v\u00e9rit\u00e9 approach, so it has more of a serious tone than the series.\u201d
How will this fly with as divisive a candidate as Trump? \u201cI think people will see what they want to see in it,\u201d Malhotra says. \u201cSome may want us to be a little harder at times, some a little easier at times. We\u2019ve tried to be as observational and objective as possible, without giving a lot of editorial opinion. It\u2019s hard to say what emotional sparks it\u2019s going to ignite, but it\u2019s such a personal story to so many people that it\u2019s bound to incite a lot of emotions in whoever watches it.\u201d
The fest\u2019s New Climate program was created with a far stronger agenda. \u201cThis summer, we were talking with Robert Redford and [Sundance Institute board of trustees chair] Pat Mitchell about the dearth of environmental films being made in the past couple of years, and wondering if there was something we could do to draw awareness to them,\u201d Cooper says, citing such impactful films as \u201cBlackfish\u201d and \u201cThe Cove.\u201d \u201cPre-election, it seemed the subject wasn\u2019t being discussed that much, either, so it became even more critical.\u201d
The proposed effort came on the heels of Sundance Institute\u2019s new grant program with the Rauschenberg Foundation to fund four climate change projects, then evolved into a fest section after films like Jeff Orlowski\u2019s \u201cChasing Coral\u201d and its accompanying virtual reality short, which document the destruction of coral reefs, were submitted in the fall.
But while the effort to affect climate change policies is inherently political, not all filmmakers are gung-ho about taking that approach. \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying not to position Jeff as an environmental filmmaker \u2014 he\u2019s not an advocate, he just happened upon these things,\u201d says \u201cCoral\u201d producer Larissa Rhodes.
\u201cOur objective is: how do we get to communities that wouldn\u2019t naturally screen the film, like hunters and fisherman?\u201d Orlowski adds. \u201cThe challenge is how to build a campaign that goes beyond [preaching to] the choir.\u201d
A similar thought haunts HBO Documentary Films prexy Sheila Nevins, who\u2019s arguably done more for nonfiction films than any exec in history. She\u2019s proud of the war doc \u201cCries From Syria,\u201d which premieres Jan. 22 and airs on HBO on March 13.
\u201cIt\u2019s like a horror movie, yet it\u2019s real,\u201d Nevins says. \u201cBut with social action docus, the people who really need to know [about the subject] are often not going to be sitting there watching them, so they\u2019re tough ones.\u201d
As dealmaking for Sundance titles more often takes place before and after the fest, Sundance has become \u201cless of a market for docus than it used to be, and more a political arena for ideas,\u201d Nevins adds. \u201cMost of the big buyers are making their own films and know all the filmmakers, so they don\u2019t need to go rushing to find the needle in the haystack. They own the haystack and have all the needles.\u201d And despite launching dozens of influential docs, Nevins admits that because narrative film has become more politically active, it\u2019s \u201cprobably a better way to change people\u2019s way of thinking, because the message comes under the story and docs may proclaim their message too obviously.\u201d
Several acquisition titles might prove Nevins\u2019 point, offering stories that could appeal to those uneasy with our next president\u2019s stance on the nuclear arms race, racial politics and other issues. These include the Alden Ehrenreich\/Jennifer Aniston-toplined Iraq War drama \u201cThe Yellow Birds\u201d; Dee Rees\u2019 post-WWII racism drama \u201cMudbound\u201d; Taylor Sheridan\u2019s Native American reservation thriller \u201cWind River\u201d; Michael Showalter\u2019s interracial romantic comedy \u201cThe Big Sick\u201d; Miguel Arteta\u2019s culture-clash comedy \u201cBeatriz at Dinner\u201d; and \u201cBushwick,\u201d an action thriller that envisions a multicultural civil war.
\u201cWe\u2019re premiering it the day after Trump\u2019s inauguration,\u201d says Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films, which produced \u201cBushwick\u201d and is co-repping sales with WME. \u201cI feel like there\u2019s a connective tie between them, and an opportunity to put a bigger spotlight on the movie.\u201d
In what seems like a political lifetime ago, Roadside Attractions co-president Howard Cohen teamed with Miramax to acquire the Obama biopic, \u201cSouthside With You,\u201d after its 2016 Sundance premiere. \u201cWe felt there was a lot of nostalgia for his presidency and wanted to release it at the end of the summer, while people were saying goodbye to them,\u201d says Cohen, who was pleased with its $6.3 million gross.
He sees potential for interest in political films that are well-received critically. \u201cI think people are very conscious of not only what the best films are, but also, \u2018What are we saying to the world by what movies we\u2019re awarding? What do we believe in as an industry?\u2019\u201d
Sony Pictures Classics co-president Tom Bernard used partnerships with the Girl Scouts and the YWCA to promote themes of female empowerment in his 2016 Sundance doc pickup \u201cThe Eagle Huntress,\u201d which has earned $2.5 million and counting in theaters. But he notes the difference between the success of Moore\u2019s \u201cFahrenheit 9\/11\u201d (at $119 million, still the top-grossing doc of all time) and his more recent work (last year\u2019s \u201cMichael Moore in Trumpland\u201d earned just $149,000 in theaters) as a cautionary tale.
\u201cPeople aren\u2019t going to see a movie just because it talks about hot-button issues,\u201d Bernard says. \u201cThey\u2019re going to see it because it tells a story, or says something unique with quality filmmaking. If you want politics, the movies are one of the last places you\u2019re gonna get \u2019em. You\u2019ve got Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, television, radio, newspapers. The American political landscape is so divided, I don\u2019t think people are going to buy a movie that doesn\u2019t agree with their positions. People have their own personal polarized media for their beliefs and points of view, and I don\u2019t think this is the time or place where political movies are going to work.\u201d
But as \u201cloyal opposition\u201d audiences for D\u2019Souza\u2019s films have proven, and the topsy-turvy political climate we\u2019re now entering has shown, anything is possible. And these films are being helped along by such outfits as Participant Media, Impact Partners, Good Pitch (organized by U. K.-based Britdoc), and The Fledgling Fund, which connect filmmakers with financing and other orgs to expand the reach of their message.
Cinereach (\u201cBeasts of the Southern Wild\u201d) produced and financed this year\u2019s LGBTQ-themed entry, \u201cBeach Rats,\u201d and backed seven other Sundance films with grants, including the criminal justice studies \u201cStrong Island,\u201d \u201cThe Force,\u201d and \u201cWhose Streets?\u201d
\u201cI don\u2019t think any of them will suddenly put an end to violence against people of color, but they\u2019re going to contribute to the conversation around the overreach of policing,\u201d says Cinereach co-founder Michael Raisler. \u201cThe more entertainment addresses the questions of our time, the more likely we are to see people use it as a bit of a cultural skateboard, moving them forward in how they see their world and move through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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