Five BFI-backed titles heading to Sundance 2018

Yardie (2017)

Five films supported by the BFI and the National Lottery will be heading to Park City for the 2018 Sundance film festival, with three world premieres and two US premieres for BFI-backed films.

Among the titles screened will be Yardie, the directorial debut of British star Idris Elba, which will have its world premiere. Elba’s film, shot in Kingston, Jamaica and London, is based on the novel by Victor Headley and tells the story of a young man’s rite of passage through the Jamaican criminal underworld. 

Also screening for the first time will be Colette, directed by Wash Westmoreland and starring Keira Knightley as the talented French author and Dominic West as the abusive husband who took credit for her work.

They will be joined by An Evening with Beverly Luff Lin, a comedy from British director Jim Hosking and starring Aubrey Plaza and Emile Hirsch, which will also have its world premiere at Sundance.

Beast, a psychological thriller by British director Michael Pearce and I Am Not a Witch, the debut feature of Zambian-Welsh film-maker Rungano Nyoni will have their US premieres after their appearance at this year’s BFI London Film Festival and will be joined by other UK titles on general release. 

Ben Roberts, Director of the BFI Film Fund, commented: “Our thanks as ever to [programmers] John [Cooper], Trevor [Groth], David [Courier] and John [Nein] for being such champions of British independent film, and congratulations to the talented teams behind the five BFI and National Lottery-backed films announced as part of the programme and the other UK filmmakers announced today: Claire McCarthy, Armando Iannucci, Lorna Tucker, Bart Layton and Stephen Loveridge.”

The 2018 Sundance film festival will run 18-28 January.