Sundance Film Festival 2015: Biggest films from Dark Horse to The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Documentaries to look out for include the illuminating Listen to Me Marlon

Marielle Heller's The Diary of a Teenage Girl is debuting at the Sundance Film Festival (Sundance Institute)

Independent film fans are converging on Utah’s Park City as the Sundance Film Festival gets underway state-side.

The annual event, running from 22 January to 1 February, showcases exciting new work from both US and international filmmakers, including feature-length movies, short films and documentaries.

Two of this year’s Best Picture Oscar nominees, Whiplash and Boyhood, premiered at Sundance, with the latter winning Best Film Drama at the Golden Globes. Both movies join the likes of Winter’s Bone, Precious and Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Listen to Me Marlon

Influential actor Marlon Brando tells his own life story from beyond the grave thanks to unearthed, never-before-seen-or-heard archive tapes in this illuminating documentary from Stevan Riley.

Listen to Me Marlon makes use of unseen and unheard Marlon Brando tapes

Results

Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders star in this healthy living gym drama from Andrew Bujalski. A lonely divorcé, an acerbic trainer and a fitness guru aim to turn around their lives but only end up complicating things.

True Story

Oscar nominee Felicity Jones stars alongside Jonah Hill and James Franco in Rupert Goold’s debut film about the relationship between an investigative journalist and the Most Wanted murderer claiming his identity.

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

Brett Morgen’s portrait of the late Nirvana frontman is the first documentary to be fully-authorised by his family. Art, music and home movies from Cobain’s personal archive are blended with interviews with those closest to him.

An unseen image of Kurt Cobain at home

Dark Horse

This British life-affirming documentary centres on a poor Welsh mining town that breeds a champion racehorse who embodies their hopes and dreams, only for him to suffer a terrible accident.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Bridesmaids’ Kristen Wiig stars in this exciting adaptation of Phoebe Gloekner’s acclaimed graphic novel, with newcomer Bel Powley in the lead as a young woman discovering her sexuality in the Seventies. Features both live action and animation.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl is debuting at the Sundance Film Festival

Z for Zachariah

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie and Chris Pine star in this post-apocalyptic tale from Craig Zobel. The story follows a young woman who believes she is the last human left on Earth before meeting a dying scientist on the look-out for fellow survivors.

Mistress America

Noam Baumbach’s new comedy sees his muse, Greta Gerwig, teach her easily-influenced step-sister the ways of the world in New York.

Greta Gerwig and Lola Kirke in Mistress America (IMDB)

Chuck Norris vs. Communism

Romanians create an underground cinema club to watch smuggled banned movies in this documentary about the power of film to change individuals and societies.

H.

Visual artists Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia give the Helen of Troy story a modern reboot in H., which follows the lives of two New York women called Helen. Involves meteor crashes, missing people and a lot of subconscious tension.