Documentaries spotlighting the talents of EGOT winner Rita Moreno and dance pioneer Alvin Ailey are among the lineup of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, which will be presented virtually due to the ongoing pandemic.
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It will premiere January 29. Directed by Mariem Pérez Riera, the film chronicles Moreno from her early years in Puerto Rico through her childhood as an immigrant in New York City and the racial bias she faced in the studio system, while breaking down barriers and overcoming sexism and identity discrimination with integrity.
Director Jamila Wignot’s Ailey, about the late visionary who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will debut January 30. Wignot evokes Ailey’s memories through archival footage and audio recordings. Also featured are interviews with company dancers and choreographers, who give insight into Ailey’s process and legacy.
The annual festival, which willl run January 28-February 3, will also include a host of films featuring stage favorites and alums: Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Ehle in John and the Hole; Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, and Bill Camp in Rebecca Hall's Passing; Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smoove, Lavell Crawford, and Henry Winkler in On the Count of Three; Michael Greyeyes, Chaske Spencer, Jesse Eisenberg, Kate Bosworth, Phoenix Wilson, and Julian Gopal in Wild Indian; and Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, and Reed Birney in Mass.
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