By: admin Category: FILM Date: 12.Jan.2014

You’d think it strange that every year right in the middle of award season, most of the LA film industry deserts the city in favor of a small mountain resort in the middle of Utah. If anything, you can’t fault Hollywood for planning ahead. Movie-shopping season is officially on as Sundance kicks open its doors next week for the 30th time. While Sundance has traditionally been a launching pad for lesser-known filmmakers and actors, household A-listers have always enjoyed a strong presence at the festival, and this year is no exception.

But if your time at Sundance is limited (or if, like most, you aren’t going at all), here are our picks of nine movies you should see – or mentally store and see when they open in cinemas later this year.

The Great Budapest Hotel
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Léa Seydoux

In many people’s minds, Wes Anderson can do no wrong. The Rushmore director, whose last venture to the big screen was in 2012 with Moorise Kingdom, brings to Sundance his latest, The Great Budapest Hotel, where mystery, drama and whimsy unfold around the theft of a Renaissance painting set in a European hotel between World War I and II. Opens in cinemas March 7.

God Help The Girl
Director: Stuart Murdoch
Starring: Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray, Pierre Boulanger, Cora Bisset

Stuart Murdoch, frontman of Scottish indie darlings Belle and Sebastian, turned this once musical project into a full length movie in 2012. Premiering at Sundance and following at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, God Help The Girl follows confused bohemian-girl-du-jour Eve as she forms a band and figures out her life.

Frank
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Domnhall Gleeson

Described as “wonderfully funny”, Frank appears to be one of the more offbeat movies premiering at Sundance. A musical-themed comedy of sorts about an eccentric pop band fronted by Fassbender who goes around wearing a large fake puppet head, Frank also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Domnhall Gleeson, who help round up the WTF factor.

Dear White People
Director: Justin Simien
Starring: Kyle Gallner, Dennis Haysbert, Tessa Thompson

Funded entirely via indie fundraising website Indiegogo, Dear White People is a satirical, semi-autobiographical comedy about racial identity and the commodification of blackness. Dear White People has been met with solid pre-Sundance buzz – the movie was named Indiewire and Tribeca Film Institute’s Project of The Year – so watch out for this one.

Lilting
Director: Hong Khaou
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Morven Christie, Leila Wong

Sundance alumn Hong Khaou is back in Park City with Lilting, a touching, poignant movie about two people, a mother and a young man, who are brought together by the death of the woman’s son, who also happens to be the man’s boyfriend.

A Most Wanted Man
Director: Anton Corbijn
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Willem Defoe, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl

Anton Coribjn’s 2007 George Clooney-starring character thriller The American may not have garnered the same amount of acclaim as 2007’s Control, but the anticipation behind Corbijn’s new project, A Most Wanted Man, is still sky high. It may be because it stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Willm Defoe, or it may be because it is based on John Le Carre’s popular novel of the same name. Whatever the reason, expect lines for this one.

Love Is Strange
Director: Ira Sachs
Starring: Marisa Tomei, Alfred Molina, John Lithgow, Cheyenne Jackson

Ira Sachs brought us one of our favorite Sundance movies of the past decade. In 2005, Forty Shades of Blue deservedly took home the Grand Prize for drama at the Sundance Film Festival. While some may argue Sachs’ future projects never quite managed to capture Blue‘s success again, Sachs’ movies are always fondly anticipated. Love Is Strange is one such movie, about a newlywed gay couple who is forced to live apart. Tender, touching and understated, this is one of Sachs’ best.

Ping Pong Summer
Director: Michael Tully
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, Lea Thompson, John Hannah

Susan Sarandon stars in this coming-of-age story, set in 1985 in Ocean Park, about a ping pong and hip hop-obsessed teenage boy named Rad Miracle on a family summer vacation. Yes, Rad Miracle.

White Bird in a Blizzard
Director: Gregg Araki
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, Angela Bassett, Gabourey Sidibe

Gregg Araki’s first feature film since 2010’s mediocre-at-best Kaboom stars newcomer-of-the-hour Shailene Woodley as the titular character in a turmoil of emotions after her mother suddenly disappears. It is based on Laura Kasischke’s novel of the same name.