Two FMS-backed films invited to Sundance Film Festival

Two Filmstiftung-backed productions will be celebrating their world premieres at the 40th Sundance Film Festival. „The Outrun“ by Nora Fingscheidt will be shown in the "Premieres" section. "Eternal You” by Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck is screening in the "World Cinema Documentary Competition".

„The Outrun“ is the new film by the Berlinale and Film Award winner Nora Fingscheidt with the four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan in the lead role. Rona returns to her home on the remote Orkney Islands after more than a decade away. As she rediscovers the unique landscape in which she grew up, her childhood memories intermingle with the last period of her life dominated by addiction. Her departure to the city at the time and the subsequent years of hedonism in London ended in a painful downward spiral. But the encounter with the harsh nature of the islands gradually becomes a chance of a new life.

Fingscheidt collaborated with the author Amy Liptrot on the screenplay for her eponymous novel. „The Outrun“ is a production of Cologne-based Weydemann Bros., Brock Media and Arcade Pictures (both UK). Protagonist Pictures is handling world sales and serving as a co-producer, together with BBC Films, Screen Scotland, MBK and Studiocanal. The Filmstiftung NRW backed the production with 150,000 Euros, additional funding came from MBB, Moin Hamburg and the FFA. Studiocanal will release the film in German cinemas.

„Eternal You“ is a journey into the heart of a technological revolution and perhaps one of the biggest business ideas of the 21st century. Startups are using AI to create digital avatars that allow mourners to communicate with their deceased loved ones. What happens when the dream of immortality is turned into a product? The Grimme Award-winners Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck show what happens when people are deprived of their finite life. „Eternal You“ was produced by gebrueder beetz filmproduktion and is a co-production with WDR, NDR, BR, SWR, rbb, SRF / SRG SSR, VPRO and Docmine and in collaboration with ARTE, ORF, NRK, Concordia Studio (USA), Impact Partners (USA) and Motto Pictures (USA). The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW backed the documentary with 80,000 Euros. Additional support from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Creative Europe.

Sundance Film Festival

The festival’s 40th edition will be running from 18 to 28 January,  2024 and is one of the leading international festivals for independent cinema. It is organised by the Sundance Institute in Park City (Utah), which was founded by Robert Redford in 1981. The annual programme consists of fiction and non-fiction features, short films and episodic content. In addition, there are conversations with filmmakers, panel discussions and other events.

More information at festival.sundance.org

Photo credit: Weydemann Bros.