Photo Credit: Bayard & Me / Courtesy of Sundance Institute

(Update to our previous post on Sundance Film Festival screenings.)

The 2017 Sundance Film Festival lineup was announced recently for the annual festival in Park City, Utah coming up next month. The festival takes place January 19-29 and tickets are on sale now.

Sundance has long been one of the more LGBTQ-inclusive mainstream film festivals with screenings and premieres of great films including How to Survive a Plague, Pariah, Keep the Lights On, Dope, Other People and more. Check out all the LGBTQ-inclusive films, art projects, virtual reality experiences, as well as other diverse intersectional offerings coming to Sundance this year.  (As updates continue to be posted, please refer to the Festival site for schedules.  These are listed in alphabetical order, and synopses are taken directly from the Sundance program.)

Axolotl Overkill / (Director and screenwriter: Helene Hegemann) — Mifti, age 16, lives in Berlin with a cast of characters including her half-siblings; their rich, self-involved father; and her junkie friend Ophelia. As she mourns her recently deceased mother, she begins to develop an obsession with Alice, an enigmatic, and much older, white-collar criminal. Cast: Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Arly Jover, Mavie Hörbiger, Laura Tonke, Hans Löw, Bernhard Schütz. World Premiere

Bayard & Me / U.S.A. (Director: Matt Wolf) — A master strategist and tireless activist, Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the U.S. and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence.  Bayard was also 30 years older than his boyfriend, Walter Naegle. In the 80’s, Bayard decided to adopt Walter for legal protection.  Walter reflects on the love story that unfolded at a time when gay marriage was inconceivable, and reflects on the little known phenomena of intergenerational gay adoption and its connection to the civil rights movement. 

Beach Rats / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Eliza Hittman) — An aimless teenager on the outer edges of Brooklyn struggles to escape his bleak home life and navigate questions of self-identity, as he balances his time between his delinquent friends, a potential new girlfriend, and older men he meets online.Cast: Harris Dickinson, Madeline Weinstein, Kate Hodge, Neal Huff. World Premiere

Call Me by Your Name / Italy, France (Director: Luca Guadagnino, Screenwriters: James Ivory, Luca Guadagnino) — The sensitive and cultivated Elio, only child of the American-Italian-French Perlman family, is facing another lazy summer at his parents’ villa in the beautiful and languid Italian countryside when Oliver, an academic who has come to help with Elio’s father’s research, arrives. Cast: Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, Victoire Du Bois. World Premiere

Gente-fied / U.S.A. (Creator: Marvin Lemus) — Seven characters deal with the effects of change in LA’s Boyle Heights.  Bicultural millennials and old-school business owners hustle to create spaces that celebrate their Latino identities – even while faced with rent hikes, a housing crisis, and a steady stream of outsiders threatening to gentrify their barrio.  Cast: Edsson Morales, Alicia Sixtos, Victoria ortiz, Yareli Arizmendi, Salvador Velez Jr., Rafael Sigler.  World Premiere

God’s Own Country / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Francis Lee) — Springtime in Yorkshire: isolated young sheep farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker, employed for the lambing season, ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path. Cast: Josh O’Connor, Alec Secareanu, Ian Hart, Gemma Jones. World Premiere

Sueño en otro idioma (I Dream in Another Language) / Mexico, Netherlands (Director: Ernesto Contreras, Screenwriter: Carlos Contreras) — The last two speakers of a millennia-old language haven’t spoken in 50 years, when a young linguist tries to bring them together. Yet hidden in the past, in the heart of the jungle, lies a secret concerning the fate of the Zikril language. Cast: Fernando Álvarez Rebeil, Eligio Meléndez, Manuel Poncelis, Fátima Molina, Juan Pablo de Santiago, Hoze Meléndez. World Premiere

I Love Dick / U.S.A. (Directors: Jill Soloway, Andrea Arnold, Kimberly Peirce, Executive Producers: Jill Soloway, Sarah Gubbins, Andrea Sperling, Victor Hsu) — Chris and Sylvere, a married couple in the intellectual community of Marfa, Texas, become obsessed with a charismatic artist named Dick. What follows is the unraveling of a marriage, the deification of a reluctant messiah and the awakening of the female gaze. The Festival will present the first three episodes of this Amazon original series, followed by an extended Q&A. Cast: Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Hahn, Griffin Dunne, Roberta Colindrez, India Menuez, Phoebe Robinson. World Premiere

If Not Love / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Rosemarie Troche, Key Collaborator: Bruce Allan) — A conflicted Christian man carries out a mass shooting. In his past: a same-sex hookup and self-loathing. What if events had unfolded differently? What if his partner had convinced him to face himself? Could that simple act change the course of history? Cast: Zachary Booth, Mitchell Winter.

Out of Exile: Daniel’s Story / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Nonny de la Peña) — In August 2014, Daniel Ashley Pierce’s family verbally and physically accosted him before kicking him out of the house because they disapproved of his sexuality. Built directly around audio Daniel recorded from that encounter, this project includes thoughts of hope and triumph from Daniel and three other LGBTQ youth. Cast: Daniel Ashley Pierce, Kyle Wills, Julene Renee, Cyntia Domenzain, Angel VanStark, Phoebe VanCleefe.

Strangers / U.S.A. (Directors: Mia Lidofsky, Celia Rowlson-Hall) — Newly single and bisexual Isobel rents out her spare room in a last ditch effort to keep the home she loves. Along with her lesbian best friend, she navigates the most complicated time in her life—emotionally, sexually, and professionally—while sharing her home with a new stranger each episode. The Festival will debut the first three episodes of this short- form episodic series. Cast: Zoë Chao, Meredith Hagner, Jemaine Clement, Breeda Wool, Matthew Oberg, Shiri Appleby. World Premiere

The Chances / U.S.A. (Director: Anna Kerrigan, Creators: Josh Feldman, Shoshannah Stern) — Best friends Kate and Michael, who are deaf, try their best to see their friendship through new changes in their lives, as Kate adjusts to being newly married and Michael attempts to get over his ex-boyfriend. The Festival will debut five episodes of this short-form episodic series. Cast: Josh Feldman, Shoshannah Stern, Aaron Costa Ganis, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, Darryl Stephens, Wilson Cruz. World Premiere

The History of Comedy / U.S.A. (Executive Producers: Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, Mark Herzog, Christopher G. Cowen, Co-Executive Producer: Stephen J. Morrison) — Utilizing archival footage punctuated by contemporary interviews with comedy legends and scholars, this is the history of not only what makes us laugh, but how comedy has affected the social and political landscape throughout history. The Festival will premiere two episodes of this docuseries, Spark of Madness and Going Blue, followed by an extended Q&A. World Premiere

The Little Hours / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeff Baena) — Medieval nuns lead a simple life in their convent. Their days are spent chafing at monastic routine, spying on one another, and berating the estate’s day laborer. Father Tommasso brings on new hired hand, a virile young servant forced into hiding by his angry lord. Introduced to the sisters as a deaf-mute to discourage temptation, he struggles to maintain his cover as the repressed nunnery erupts in a whirlwind of pansexual horniness, substance abuse, and wicked revelry.Cast: Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon. World Premiere

The Wound / South Africa (Director: John Trengove, Screenwriters: John Trengove, Thando Mgqolozana, Malusi Bengu) — Xolani, a lonely factory worker, joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best kept secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel. Cast: Nakhane Touré, Bongile Mantsai, Niza Jay Ncoyini. World Premiere

This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous / U.S.A. (Director: Barbara Kopple) — A groundbreaking film that portrays the journey of Gigi Lazzarato, a fearless woman who began life as Gregory, posting fashion videos to YouTube from his bedroom, only to later come out as a transgender female. With never-before-seen personal footage, the film spotlights a family’s unwavering love for a child. World Premiere

The 2017 Sundance Film Festival will take place in Park City, Utah from January 19 to 29^th. Find out more about attending here and keep up to date with announcements on Twitter at @SundanceFest.