2024 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour to Showcase Award-Winning Shorts Across the U.S.
The nonprofit Sundance Institute has unveiled the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour, a 110-minute compilation of seven outstanding short films curated from this year's festival selections. Set to travel across the United States and internationally, the tour will visit over 50 theaters and independent art house venues from June 2024 into 2025, offering film enthusiasts a unique opportunity to experience a variety of dramatic and thrilling short films.
The Sundance Film Festival, known for its support of independent filmmakers, received a record-breaking 12,098 short film submissions in 2024, selecting 53 to screen. The annual short film tour, part of the festival's program, showcases a selection of these films, providing a platform for fresh ideas and ambitious storytelling from emerging filmmakers. "Despite an industry-shifting year in filmmaking, short films continue to strengthen its art form," stated Mike Plante, Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival. "This year’s showcase is a collection of shorts from the 2024 Festival that proves just how fertile the format continues to be for fresh ideas from ambitious and dynamic emerging filmmakers."
The tour’s initial schedule includes screenings in cities such as Durham, NC; Santa Barbara, CA; New York, NY; Akron, OH; Cincinnati, OH; Wilmington, DE; Sacramento, CA; Albuquerque, NM; Austin, TX; Williamstown, MA; Riverside, CA; Anchorage, AK; Cleveland, OH; Hanover, NH; Columbus, OH; Reno, NV; Kansas City, MO; Stamford, CT; and Philadelphia, PA. More locations will be added throughout the year. For a complete and updated list of dates and theater locations, visit the Sundance Institute's website.
Featured films in the tour include:
- ALOK / U.S.A. (Director: Alex Hedison) — A biography of Alok Vaid-Menon, a nonbinary author, poet, comedian, and public speaker. Executive-produced by Jodie Foster.
- Bug Diner / U.S.A. (Director: Phoebe Jane Hart) — An animated comedy about a diner run by a mole with a secret crush and workplace fantasies. Winner of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Jury Award: Animation.
- Dream Creep / U.S.A. (Director: Carlos A.F. Lopez) — A horror film about a couple who wakes up to sounds from an unlikely orifice.
- Essex Girls / U.K. (Director: Yero Timi-Biu) — A drama following a Black high school girl in Essex on a journey of self-discovery.
- Pathological / U.S.A. (Director: Alison Rich) — A comedy about a pathological liar who discovers her lies have become true.
- Pisko the Crab Child is in Love / Japan (Director: Makoto Nagahisa) — A comedy about Pisko, whose father is a crab, finding love and companionship.
- The Masterpiece / Spain (Director: Àlex Lora Cercós) — A drama involving a wealthy couple and two scrap dealers who might hold something the couple desires. Winner of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Grand Jury Prize.
For four decades, Sundance has been a champion of short filmmaking, launching the careers of many renowned filmmakers, including Damien Chazelle, Taika Waititi, and Wes Anderson. The 2024 tour continues this tradition, bringing the latest in independent short films to a broader audience.