New films by Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman, and Bao Nguyen round out the feature documentary programming for this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Sundance announced today that Jarecki and Kaufman’s The Alabama Solution and Nguyen’s The Stringer would both have their world premieres at the festival later this month. Both docs will screen out of competition in the Premieres section.
The Alabama Solution, directed and produced by Jarecki and Kaufman, observes the efforts of incarcerated men to reveal a cover-up amid the failures of America’s prison system. Jarecki’s 2003 documentary Capturing the Friedmans won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize before scoring an Oscar nomination. His 2015 doc series The Jinx: The Life and Death of Robert Durst won a Primetime Emmy and helped popularize both true crime non-fiction and doc series in non-theatrical programming. Kaufman makes her feature directorial debut with The Alabama Solution after producing Alexis Boom’s Rogers Ailes doc Divide and Conquer and episodes of series including The Innocence Files and the second season of The Jinx.
Nguyen, meanwhile, returns to the festival after winning strong reviews last year with the Netflix music doc The Greatest Night in Pop. His The Stringer, produced by Fiona Turner and Terri Lichstein, examines the story behind an iconic photo from the Vietnam War. Nguyen also debuted his 2020 Bruce Lee doc Be Water at Sundance.
“Adding these two nonfiction features to our robust slate of documentary offerings at the Festival, both told by filmmakers who have been a part of our Sundance community for many years, completes our programming with compelling explorations around justice and truth-telling,” said Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming, in a statement from the festival.
Docs previously announced for this year’s Sundance Film Festival include Seth Scriver and Peter Scriver’s Endless Cookie, Ryan White’s Come See Me in the Good Light, and Zackary Drucker’s April & Amanda. This year’s 15-film Oscar shortlist for best documentary feature includes 10 titles that premiered at Sundance 2024, furthering the festival’s status as the official launchpad for documentaries on the circuit. Sundance runs from January 23 to February 2, 2025.
