Black Women's Stories Are Center Stage At Sundance 2022

For the second year in a row, amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Sundance Film Festival is offering its expansive slate online. Festival Director Tabitha Jackson and Producing Director Gina Duncan initially hoped to do a hybrid festival, offering in-person and virtual screenings. However, amid the Omicron surge, filmmakers and audiences are connecting in the comfort and safety of their own homes. Despite the shift in plans, this year’s films will reflect the ever-changing world that we know around us.

Sundance 2022 will run from January 20–30. This year there are several Black directors at the helm of some of the most highly anticipated films of the festival. Moreover, fans of the late Michael K. Williams will have a chance to see him in one of his final roles.

From a 1970’s set drama Alice, starring KeKe Palmer to the Regina Hall-produced Master, here are a few of the highlights.

Alice premieres Jan. 23.

02MasterIn her feature film debut, Mariama Diallo centers an elite New England university built on a Salem-era gallows hill. Regina Hall stars as Gail Bishop, a dean of students who discovers what lies behind the school’s immaculate facade. First-year student Jasmine Moore (Zoe Renee) confronts a cold and unwelcome new home, and literature professor Liv Beckman (Amber Gray) collides with colleagues who question her right to belong. Navigating politics and privilege, the three women encounter increasingly terrifying manifestations of the school’s haunted past and present.

Master premieres Jan. 21.

03AftershockCo-directors Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Eiselt present the searing documentary Aftershock, which centers on the Black maternal mortality crisis. The film follows two bereaved fathers following the deaths of their partners due to preventable childbirth complications and medical negligence. The two men galvanize activists, birth-workers, and physicians to reckon with one of the most urgent crises of our time.

Aftershock premieres Jan. 23.

Loading the player…04Honk For Jesus, Save Your SoulAmerican Nigerian writer-director Adamma Ebo presents Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul. Regina Hall stars as Trinitie Childs, a proud first lady of a Southern Baptist megachurch. Her church, Wander To Greater Paths once served a congregation in the tens of thousands. However, a scandal involving her husband, Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown), forced the church to close temporarily. Now Trinitie and Lee-Curtis must rebuild their congregation and reconcile their faith by any means necessary.

Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul premieres Jan. 23.