Eight European docs are selected for Sundance World Cinema Documentary Competition. In total twelve films will compete for top spot. All films are world premieres.
The 2020 selections are:
Acasa, My Home Romania, Germany, Finland. Director: Radu Ciorniciuc. In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, nine children and their parents lived in perfect harmony with nature for 20 years–until they are chased out and forced to adapt to life in the big city.
The Earth Is Blue as an Orange Ukraine, Lithuania. Director: Iryna Tsilyk.To cope with the daily trauma of living in a war zone, Anna and her children make a film together about their life among surreal surroundings.
Epicentro Austria, France, U.S.A. Director and screenwriter: Hubert Sauper. Cuba is well known as a so-called time capsule. The place where the New World was discovered has become both a romantic vision and a warning. With ongoing global cultural and financial upheavals, large parts of the world could face a similar kind of existence. (pictured above)
Into the Deep Denmark. Director: Emma Sullivan. In 2016, a young Australian filmmaker began documenting amateur inventor Peter Madsen. One year in, Madsen brutally murdered Kim Wall aboard his homemade submarine. An unprecedented revelation of a killer and the journey his young helpers take as they reckon with their own complicity and prepare to testify.
The Painter and the Thief Norway. Director: Benjamin Ree. An artist befriends the drug addict and thief who stole her paintings. She becomes his closest ally when he is severely hurt in a car crash and needs full time care, even if her paintings are not found. But then the tables turn.
The Reason I Jump United Kingdom. Director: Jerry Rothwell
Based on the book by Naoki Higashida this immersive film explores the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people around the world.
Saudi Runaway Switzerland. Director and screenwriter: Susanne Regina Meures Amjad, a young, fearless woman from Saudi Arabia, is tired of being controlled by the state and patronized by her family. With an arranged marriage imminent, a life without rights and free will seems inevitable. Amjad decides to escape. An unprecedented view inside the world’s most repressive patriarchy.
The Truffle Hunters Italy, U.S.A., Greece. Directors: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw. In the secret forests of Northern Italy, a dwindling group of joyful old men and their faithful dogs search for the world’s most expensive ingredient, the white Alba truffle. Their stories form a real-life fairy tale that celebrates human passion in a fragile land that seems forgotten in time.
