Sadly, we are not at Sundance this year. However, if you’re reading this, you may not be either! Regardless, we went ahead and did some internet scouring to find a few films you may like. Mind you, these won’t be hitting Blockbuster shelves for quite some time. For most filmmakers, Sundance is used as a market. Distributors strike deals with the filmmakers for a later-year release.

So if you’re in Park City this week, great. Check these out and report back. If you’re not, check out the trailers, and wait for this mass release!

Meru

Directed by outdoor extraordinaire Jimmy Chin and his Elizabth Chai Vasarhelyi, the film chronicles the assent of the Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru. Sundance Page

Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Jimmy’s words about the film:

“I’ve spent much of my life in the mountains as both a climber and as a professional photographer. I always wanted to make a film that gave an audience the visceral experience of going on a difficult alpine big wall climb. I hoped to give people a glimpse of the stakes, the risks and sacrifices involved.

But I also wanted to show that following your passions is not always a beautiful thing. It can be fraught with internal conflict, doubt and intractable compromise. I often ask myself: Where do you draw the line between following your heart and your responsibility to others?

When you’re making a movie on a mountain, the camera is an added appendage; one you often wish you didn’t have to carry. While shooting MERU, it was a real struggle just to keep the two small cameras we carried from getting destroyed.

I always say the rules of filming on a mountain climb are fairly straightforward. Shoot whenever you can. Don’t hold up the team. And don’t drop the camera.”

- Jimmy Chin

MERU Official Trailer from Jimmy Chin.

Racing Extinction

Louie Psihoyos, director of ‘The Cove’, comes at us again with another expose.

‘Racing Extinction’ is about how the human race has single handedly killed, potentially, half of the world’s species.

Hopefully, the heist aspect of the film doesn’t trump the actual message Psihoyos is trying to show the world. Sundance Page

Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

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My goal is to make a film that doesn’t just create awareness, but inspires people to get motivated to change this insane path we’re on. Films to me aren’t just entertainment — they are for me the most powerful weapon in the world, a weapon of mass construction.

- Louie Psihoyos