LOS ANGELES — For documentary filmmakers, there’s no place like the Sundance Film Festival.
The mountainside festival which kicks off Thursday in Park City, Utah, has become known for launching nonfiction films to box office successes and awards, and this year is shaping up to be no different. The slate boasts a wide array of films about fallen titans, from Harvey Weinstein to Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes, music legends Miles Davis and David Crosby, two of Michael Jackson’s sexual abuse accusers, the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal, Apollo 11, Mike Wallace, Toni Morrison and Dr. Ruth.
In the past five years, three of the best documentary feature Oscar winners got their start at Sundance — “Icarus,” ”O.J.: Made in America” and “20 Feet from Stardom.” And most of this year’s Oscars shortlist premiered and won special honors at last year’s festival (like “Shirkers,” ”On Her Shoulders,” ”Of Fathers and Sons,” ”Dark Money,” ”Crime + Punishment” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening”) and some are considered shoo-ins for a nomination, like “Three Identical Strangers,” ”RGB,” ”Minding the Gap” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
“Sundance is the greatest launching pad,” said filmmaker Julia Reichert. “I can’t think of another festival that shows fiction and documentaries that puts as much honor, respect and spotlight on the documentary.”
The three-time Oscar nominee returns this year with “American Factory,” looking at what happened when a Chinese billionaire bought a closed General Motors factory outside of her hometown of Dayton, Ohio and created 2,000 manufacturing jobs in an area still suffering from the plant’s initial closure.