(Los Angeles) Sexuality and Iranian women are the themes of the Sundance film festival which begins next month, organizers revealed on Wednesday.
Located in the mountains of Utah in the western United States, Sundance (January 19 to 29) is making its comeback in person, after two years of interviews and conferences via screens.
Renowned for having highlighted a large number of independent productions, the American festival will welcome Hollywood stars such as Anne Hathaway, Emilia Clarke, Jason Momoa or even Emilia Jones, the actress of CODAremake of the Franco-Belgian film The Aries Family and winner of the Best Picture Oscar in 2022.
On the documentary side, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields questions the sexualization of women through the story of actress Brooke Shields, who rose to fame at the age of 12 for her portrayal of a child prostitute in the drama The little (1978).
The documentaries Judy Blume Forever and The Disappearance of Shere Hite recount the harassment suffered by the authors Judy Blume and Shere Hite for having discussed women’s sexuality in their respective works.
Attacks that drove Shere Hite, including the bestselling book The Hite Report (1976) on the female orgasm was a sexual revolution, to leave the United States in the 1990s.
These documentaries allow viewers “to look at history from a different point of view”, commented John Nein, head of programming at Sundance.
The documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything tackles the black and homosexual roots of rock’n’roll through the intermediary of Little Richard, legendary rocker of the 1950s.
The films each offer “a chance to engage with history in a very different way” through “a trailblazer”, explained John Nein.
The programming is also part of the news with films made by and about Iranian women.
The documentary Jonam and feature films The Persian Version and Shayda explore the history of women in Iran and its diasporas, at a time when the country is the scene of demonstrations denouncing the violence of the authorities against them.