The Atlantic

What Critics Are Looking Forward to at Sundance 2020

The annual film festival will kick off a new year in independent cinema this week.
Source: Sundance / Focus Features

With Oscar nominations out and the awards season drawing to a close, the moviemaking industry will descend on Park City, Utah, on January 23 for the Sundance Film Festival. Although the event is dominated by independent film rather than by studio heavyweights or middle-of-the-road awards contenders, it usually manages to set the tone for the year. Beyond producing surprise box-office hits, such as , , and , Sundance also offers a preview of the strategies that newer distributors such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and A24 are favoring as they seek out their own ways around mainstream competition.

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