9 Latinx Films That Debuted at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival That Are Worth Your Attention

The Sundance Film Festival is regarded as one of the most prestigious film venues in the country. Founded by acclaimed actor and director Robert Redford, the Sundance Institute began in the 1980s as a place to, “bolster the field of independent storytelling and help emerging artists hone their craft.” The Sundance Film Festival is known for launching the careers of many famous American directors including the Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, and Steven Soderbergh.

Sundance Film Festival is one of the most competitive festivals in the country and the acceptance rate is notoriously low. For the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, there were 2,132 feature film submissions from across the globe. Only 73 feature films were accepted into the 2021 festival lineup, almost 2 percent of all submissions.

The yearly festival typically takes place in Park City, Utah near the Olympic Park, which housed the 2002 Winter Olympics. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival hosted a hybrid film festival with online and in-person offerings across the country and globe. This year, the full slate of the Sundance Film Festival included 141 films and projects. About half of the lineup were works directed by women and filmmakers of color. In 2020, the Sundance slate included 118 feature films which is almost 1.5 times more films than this year. The reduction in films, however, did not impact Latinx representation at the festival.

Sundance Film Festival has a history of premiering some of the most important Latinx films in U.S. cinema. In 2002, Sundance premiered the Real Women Have Curves directed by Patricia Cardoso and starring America Ferrera, Lupe Ontiveros, and George Lopez. The film is a Mexican American teenage coming-of-age story. It was awarded both the Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Competition Awards: Audience Award and the Special Jury Award for Acting. Real Women Have Curves was also selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2019.

In 2012, Sundance Film Festival premiered Mosquita y Mari directed by Aurora Guerrero starring Fenessa Pineda and Venecia Troncoso. The film is about the intimate relationship between two young Chicana high schoolers. Mosquita y Mari is, arguably, one of the most important U.S. Latinx queer films. In 2017, Sundance Film Festival premiered the first three episodes of the Gentefied short-form episodic series, prior to the show being acquired by Netflix. The series follows three Mexican-American cousins who try to preserve their family-owned taco shop. Sundance Film Festival has been a place where many of the most well-respected U.S. Latinx films and TV shows first premiered.

With a rich history of premiering excellent Latinx cinema, here are our top five films Latinx films from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival to watch out for:

1. Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It directed by Mariem Pérez Riera

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

Rita Moreno was the first Latina EGOT winner—receiving an Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and Oscar—and is best known for her Academy Award-winning role in the 1961 musical West Side Story. In Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, Puerto Rican director Mariem Pérez Riera explores Moreno’s 70-year-long career from the achievements to the struggles. The film is executive produced by Norman Lear and Lin-Manuel Miranda. It provides a deep dive into the racism and sexism Moreno faced as a young actress and the connections to the current experiences of women in Hollywood. Riera provides an intimate, vulnerable portrait of Moreno as a young girl and the woman that she truly is.

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It was produced in partnership with the THIRTEEN’s American Masters series and Norman Lear’s Act III Productions. It will premiere on PBS later this year.

2. The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet directed by Ana Katz

The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet, directed by Argentinian filmmaker Ana Katz, is a non-linear black-and-white film about the exploration of a young Sebastian’s life (performed by Daniel Katz). The film takes place over many years as Sebastian moves, changes jobs, and starts his own family. One day, as Sebastian works in a field, an asteroid crashes to earth making it difficult to breath if standing. The only way to stand properly when walking is to wear a circular helmet with a breathing tube. The film throws many curve balls to the audience with scenes cutting between days and even years. Stylistically, The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet tries to manipulate the traditional linear model of storytelling to highlight the complex, important, and unique moments in a person’s life.

3. Son of Monarchs directed by Alexis Gambis

Son of Monarchs (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

Son of Monarchs, directed by Alexis Gambis, tells the story of Mexican biologist Mendel (portrayed by Tenoch Huerta Mejía) who lives and works in New York studying monarch butterflies. When his grandmother dies, Mendel returns to Mexico for the funeral and confronts his familial strife. The film is a pointed critique of the U.S. immigration policies, the natural migration patterns of the monarch butterfly, and ancestral and animalistic connections between people.

Son of Monarchs won the 2021 Sloan Prize, which is an annual award for a Sundance Film Festival film on the topic of science or technology, or that depicts a protagonist that is a scientist, engineer, or mathematician.

Learn more about Son of Monarchs and any upcoming screenings by visiting their website.

4. USERS directed by Natalia Almada

USERS (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

Is the warm glow of a tablet or TV the new caretaker? USERS, directed by Mexican-American filmmaker Natalia Almada, explores technology as a mother, babysitter, and teacher for the next generation. Almada utilizes footage of her own children enthralled by television with a meditative voiceover on the impact of screens, wifi, and technology. The voiceover is generated by a machine derived from Almada’s pre-recorded voice. The eerie mechanical voice leads the viewer across the globe and into Almada’s home to explore parenting and technology.

USERS was awarded the 2021 Documentary Directing Award, making Almada the first person to win this award at Sundance Film Festival twice. Her film El General won the Documentary Directing Award in 2009.

5. The Pink Cloud Directed by Iuli Gerbase

The Pink Cloud (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

Written and filmed years prior to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Pink Cloud, directed by Brazil filmmaker Iuli Gerbase, is a haunting look at a mysterious gas that forces people to stay quarantined inside. The film takes place over the span of many years inside an apartment with Giovana (performed by Renata de Lélis) and Yago (performed by Eduardo Mendonça), two lovers that navigate the pressures of a relationship while being trapped indoors. The Pink Cloud brings up issues of mental health, elder and child care, and dealing with reality when cooped up indoors for years. The film is a stark look into a global lockdown and is certainly apropos with our current situation.

6. 4 Feet High Directed by María Belén Poncio and Rosario Perazolo Masjoan

4 Feet High (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

4 Feet High directed by Argentinian artists María Belén Poncio and Rosario Perazolo Masjoan tells the story of young 17-year-old Juana (performed by Marisol Agostina Irigoyen). Juana, who is disable and in a wheelchair, transfers to a new school and explores her sexuality and identity. 4 Feet High was presented at Sundance Film Festival as both a series and a VR experience that allows viewers to experience the story from Juana’s perspective.

7. The Changing Same Directed by Joe Brewster and Yasmin Elayat

The Changing Same (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

Filmmaker Michèle Stephenson, who is of Panamanian and Haitian descent, premiered the VR project The Changing Same, co-directed by Joe Brewster and Yasmin Elayat. The project is an episodic experience that travels through time and uses magical realism to explore racial violence in the U.S. The film makes connections between police altercations, mass incarceration, and a slave warehouse. The ambitious project provides an immersive point-of-view into the struggle for peace and equality.

8. R#J Directed by Carey Williams

R#J (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

R#J, directed by Carey Williams, is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet tragedy. It takes place entirely on smartphones with a cast of young people of color. The film features a musical soundtrack by Puerto Rican composer René G. Boscio. His musical style is defined as a “unique blend of acoustic and Latino instruments with modern, experimental electronics.”

9. CODA Directed by Siân Heder

CODA (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

Mexican actor and comedian Eugenio Derbez stars as a sarcastic but caring music teacher in CODA directed by Siân Heder. The title of the film stands for “Child of Deaf Adults” and follows high school aged Ruby (performed by Emilia Jones) who is the only hearing member of her deaf family. CODA was the most highly anticipated film at Sundance and sparked the largest bidding war of the festival season. The film was acquired by Apple for an astonishing $25 million. It won four awards at the festival, including the highly coveted U.S. Grand Jury prize.

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