The 13th annual Sun Valley Film Festival, kicking off Feb. 28, will aim to once again to capture the spirit of storytelling by celebrating poignant films at the Idaho ski resort town.
This year’s festival kicks off with “Ezra,” directed by Tony Goldwyn and starring Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne and Robert De Niro, and concludes March 3 with a screening of “Sugarcane,” a documentary about missing children at a Native residential school that recently won a directing trophy for Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat at Sundance.
The programming team also chose multiple films from first-time feature filmmakers, including Sophia Sabello and Pablo Feldman’s “Edge of Everything,” Annie Baker’s “Janet Planet,” Marc Marriott’s “Tokyo Cowboy,” Caroline Lindy’s “Your Monster,” while the documentary line-up includes Maggie Contreras’ “Maestra” and Lisa D’Apolito’s “Shari & Lamb Chop.”
Panels and starry tributes are planned at the fest, with movies screening at the Argyros Theater in the Sun Valley Performing Arts Center. “We’re very much an extension of the community, and over the last few years, the area has given back in ways we couldn’t have expected, which has really strengthened the overall strategy of the festival,” says Teddy Grennan, executive director and SVFF co-founder, who praises the fest’s “wildly curious and educated audience.”
Popular on Variety
Filmmaker Alice Gu, whose 2020 doc “The Donut King” won trophies at SXSW and Sun Valley, is back at the festival with a dynamic new short that’s based on true events. “Shimmer (Inspired by Eva Young)” tells the story of a man who leads a double life as a doctor by day and drag performer by night. At the Miss International National USA pageant, Dr. Ethan (and alter-ego, Ai Mei Shimmer) must rush to the hospital to save a patient, exposing his secret passion.
“Sun Valley is my favorite festival,” says Gu, calling it a filmmaker-forward celebration. “This was a true passion project, something I felt I absolutely had to make, and I put all of my resources into getting it done.” Gu is next working with IMAX on a documentary focusing on Chinese elephants.
The festival will pay tribute to producer Ted Hope, “Nyad” screenwriter Julia Cox and star Annette Bening, plus filmmaker David O. Russell. Hope will receive the Pioneer Award presented by Variety, which recognizes an industry innovator whose work on-screen or behind the camera embodies the trailblazing spirit. During his 35-year career, Hope has been a producer on more than 70 films, earning 25 Oscar nominations and six wins.
Cox will receive the High Scribe Award, while Bening and Russell will be honored at the Vision Dinner. Russell will also participate in a Q&A screening of his Oscar-nominated 2013 film “American Hustle,” while Bening will participate in a special screening of the 2023 short, “Ten Thousand Mile Bridge.”
The festival will host the High Scribe Screenwriters Lab panel, and there will be daily Coffee Talks. Also up for discussion: The emergence of AI and how it has integrated itself into filmmaking. “This year, we’re doing a panel on AI, because, whether we like it or not, it’s going to be a part of the industry,” Grennan says. “There’s certainly valid resistance towards aspects of AI, especially when it comes to financial security, so we know it’s a hot topic. We want to have a serious conversation about its impacts on the industry at large.”
TIPSHEET
WHAT: 13th Annual Sun Valley Film Festival
WHEN: Feb. 28 – March 3
WHERE: Sun Valley, Idaho
WEB: sunvalleyfilmfestival.org
