You no longer need to trek to the snowy slopes of Utah to sample independent cinema’s cutting-edge. For the second year running, Robert Redford is bringing the Sundance Film and Music Festival to London’s O2 Arena. Over four days from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th April, the festival will showcase the international, European or UK premieres of dozens of feature films and short films.
Live music plays a big part, too, with a range of artists from provocative electroclash musician Peaches (Friday) to rock and blues veterans Greg Allman and John Paul White (Saturday) and indie rock band British Sea Power (Sunday) performing in the indigO2. Peaches’ first film, the electro rock opera Peaches Does Herself, features in the festival line-up; White and Allman’s one-off performance follows a screening of the music documentary Muscle Shoals; while British Sea Power will perform their score to Penny Woolcock’s documentary about the British coast, From the Sea to the Land Beyond, alongside a screening of the film.
Other highlights include the UK premiere of Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love, starring Steve Coogan as porn impresario Paul Raymond; Upstream Color, Shane Carruth's follow-up to his fiendishly clever, low-budget, sci-fi mindbender Primer; In A World… a comedy about a voiceover artist, written, directed by and starring Lake Bell; Blood Brother, the award-winning documentary about a tourist helping children with HIV on the streets of India; and History of the Eagles Part One, a documentary about the iconic rock band, whose screening will be followed by a Q&A with band members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit.
Sundance London runs from 25-28 April at the O2, London
