Picturehouse and the non-profit Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of feature fiction and documentary films, a specially curated programme of UK-produced short films and a Gregg Araki retrospective for the 10th edition of Sundance Film Festival: London 2023, taking place from 6 to 9 July at Picturehouse Central.

The Festival will present 11 feature films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort in January, specially curated for London by the Sundance Institute programming team in collaboration with Picturehouse. The festival will close on 9 July with the UK premiere of You Hurt My Feelings, from acclaimed filmmaker Nicole Holofcener (Lovely & Amazing, Enough Said). The Brooklyn-set comedy-drama stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep, Seinfeld) and Tobias Menzies (The Crown) as a couple whose marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears his honest reaction to her latest book.

The Festival previously announced that it will open on 6 July with the UK premiere of Scrapper, written and directed by Londoner Charlotte Regan. Charlotte is a Sundance Ignite Fellow and was named as a 2020 Screen International Star of Tomorrow. The film stars Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats, Triangle of Sadness) and newcomers Lola Campbell and Alin Uzun. Theo Barrowclough produces, and the executive producers are Michael Fassbender, Eva Yates, Farhana Bhula, Conor McCaughan, Daniel Emmerson and Jim Reeve.

Alongside the opening and closing night films, the Festival will present work by bold filmmakers who explore modern love and identity. Ira Sachs (Little Men, Keep The Lights On) directs Passages, starring Ben Whishaw (Women Talking), Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is The Warmest Colour) and Franz Rogowski (Great Freedom) in the intimate story of a gay couple whose marriage is thrown into crisis when one of them begins a passionate affair with a younger woman. Andrew Durham’s Fairyland is a stylish coming-of-age drama based on Alysia Abbott’s memoir Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father. The film is told from the perspective of a young girl being brought up by her single gay father in San Francisco in the 1970s and stars Emilia Jones (CODA), Scoot McNairy (Argo), Geena Davis (Thelma & Louise) and singer-songwriter Adam Lambert.

Past Lives is an astonishing and deeply romantic film which stars Greta Lee (Russian Doll), Teo Yoo (Decision To Leave), and John Magaro (First Cow). It is a stunning debut from writer and director Celine Song and follows a reunion between two childhood friends as they contemplate their relationship and their own lives. Mutt follows Feña (Lio Mehiel), a young trans guy bustling through life in New York City, who is afflicted with an incessantly challenging day that resurrects ghosts from his past. This compelling film is directed, written, and produced by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, a Chilean-Serbian filmmaker raised between Chile, New York City, and Serbia – and it won the 2023 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting for Lio Mehiel’s performance.

The 2023 Festival continues the Sundance tradition of supporting original work from established and emerging voices in filmmaking. Once again, the line-up includes a short film programme that is dedicated to UK productions, highlighting some of the amazing talent in the Short Film art form, in films either produced in the UK or made by filmmakers based in the UK. In addition to hosting the debut features from Andrew Durham, Bethann Hardison, Celine Song, Charlotte Regan and Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, the Festival will also host co-directors Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou’s Talk To Me. A crowd-pleasing horror-thriller for the Instagram-generation, which follows a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, becoming hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far.

As in previous years, the London edition will provide a compelling documentary strand. Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson’s engrossing and topical Fantastic Machine (winner of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival), takes the audience on a voyage through the life of the video camera. Weaving and contrasting some of the most iconic, harrowing, and viral images in our collective memory with user-generated footage, Danielson and Van Aertryck intricately fashion an argument about how humans see themselves. Filmmakers Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn transport their audience to a symphonically, aesthetically, and emotionally vibrant world in Going Varsity in Mariachi (winner of the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival). This energetic documentary captures the highs and lows of a high-school mariachi band in Texas, as they compete in the state championship and students must juggle school life while embracing their heritage. Invisible Beauty looks back at the incredible impact Bethann Hardison has had over the last five decades, as an activist, model, and muse. Co-directed by Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng (Halston, Dior and I), the fashion revolutionary reflects on her personal journey and the cost of being a pioneer. Anton Corbijn’s (Control, The American) charming feature documentary debut, Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis), is an entertaining tribute to the days of analog creativity and artistic risk. Corbijn’s film explores the duo behind a generation of iconic album covers, Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, aka the innovative design studio Hipgnosis. Interviewees in the film include Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, Roger Waters and David Gilmour.

Joana Vicente, CEO of Sundance Institute said: “We are looking forward to introducing a wonderful selection of films to audiences in London and can’t wait to be back at Picturehouse Central. These films are provocative, moving, and entertaining, and created by some truly visionary storytellers. We know that alongside a compelling series of conversations and industry programme, it will be an outstanding 10th edition of the Festival.”

Clare Binns, Managing Director, Picturehouse Cinemas added: “We are delighted to host the tenth Sundance Film Festival: London showcasing the finest independent cinema direct from the 2023 Sundance Film Festival held in January. We look forward to celebrating with the London film community in July for an exciting 4 days filled with bold and thrilling UK premieres on the big screen, inspiring talks and special guest appearances, I am personally thrilled that Gregg Araki will be joining us all at the Festival, whose work exemplifies Sundance and independent film.”

In an exclusive repertory strand, the Festival will present three films by the radical American filmmaker, producer, writer, and editor, Gregg Araki, whose filmmaking is closely associated with the New Queer Cinema movement. The Festival are thrilled that Araki will be in London to attend the special screenings and Q&A sessions: The Doom Generation, which has been remastered in 4K for an uncensored director’s cut, follows two troubled teenage lovers (Rose McGowan and James Duval) who pick up a drifter (Xavier Red) and embark on a journey full of sex, violence and convenience stores; David (Mark Howell), Craig (John Lacques) and Alicia (Darcy Marta) are a triangle of young lovers in Three Bewildered People In The Night who find angst and despair as they sort out their feelings and sexuality in a late-night coffee shops – the film is having its first public UK showing at Sundance Film Festival: London; Mysterious Skin is adapted from Scott Heim’s 1995 novel and tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who both experienced sexual abuse as children, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), while the other (Brady Corbet) retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.

The Festival’s second-annual Industry Programme will run alongside the Festival’s public screenings and events. Each industry passholder will have exclusive access to more than 15 industry-only events during the festival, including intimate roundtable meetings, keynotes, masterclasses, themed panel discussions and daily networking drinks. The Festival is thrilled to welcome producer Anthony Bregman (Flora and Son, In The Heights, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, You Hurt My Feelings) to London to deliver an in-person industry keynote talk. New this year is a live pitching session where emerging filmmakers can pitch their idea and get instant feedback from a panel of experts from across production, financing, distribution and festivals.

Following popular wins for the Academy Award®-winning CODA, Jim Archer’s Brian and Charles, Bo Burnham’s critically acclaimed Eighth Grade and the Academy Award®-winning Icarus, audiences will again have the opportunity to cast votes after screenings, with the Audience Favourite award being announced at the close of the festival.

Sundance Film Festival: London Ticket Passes are on sale now, with priority booking for Picturehouse Members and Sundance Film Festival Ticket Passholders on sale from 10:00am, 3 May. General ticket sales will open at 10:00am on 9 May. Tickets can be purchased today with a Sundance Film Festival ticket pass; buy yours now at picturehouses.com/sundance. Become a Picturehouse Member now at picturehouses.com/membership.

We are committed to offering a number of Festival screenings and events with access options for people who are deaf and hard of hearing; more details will be published on the website. For any questions or for more information please email enquiries@picturehouses.co.uk.

More information will be available at picturehouses.com/sundance. Join the conversation on social media with #sundancelondon.