The 2024 edition of Sundance has begun and so we look ahead to 10 films that we can’t wait to see.

Handling the Undead (Thea Hvistendahl/ Norway/ 2023/ 98 mins)

The newly dead rise from the grave on a Summer day in Oslo, complicating the grief of three bereaved families. Have they returned for good, or is this resurrection indicative of something else? Adapted from the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In), Thea Hvistendahl’s debut feature is more like The Returned than The Night of the Living Dead. Reuniting the pairing of Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie from The Worst Person in the World, this melancholy drama has some serious pedigree and is one of most exciting prospects at the festival.

Frida (Carla Gutierrez/ USA, Mexico/ 2023/ 88 mins)

The image of Frida Kahlo has become so ubiquitous that it has almost become kitsch, adorning such mundane items tea towels, mugs, and t-shirts. Carla Gutierrez’s documentary seeks to redress that. Drawing from the artist’s own journals, letters, and interviews, Frida utilises vivid animation to bring this extraordinary woman and her vibrant, painfully personal art back to life.

The Moogai (Jon Bell/ Australia/ 2024/ 86 mins)

Australia has produced some of the most indelible horror of recent years and The Moogai looks to be another great example of scary Antipodean goodness. When a young Aboriginal couple bring home their second baby, it coincides with the infant’s mother beginning to see a malevolent spirit. She begins to suspect that the spectre is planning to steal the child away.  Refreshingly focussing on an indigenous family, it’s also intriguing that it’s a couple’s second baby being targeted, making it less likely that The Moogai will be a straight metaphor for the fear of new parenthood.

Kidnapping Inc. (Bruno Mourral/ France, Canada, Haiti/ 2024/ 103 mins) Not too many films have come from Haiti, and Bruno Mourral’s Kidnapping Inc. isn’t likely to inspire an influx of filmmakers into the country. Drawing on the Central American nation’s reputation as the kidnapping capital of the world, the film follows a pair of mercenary kidnappers that get drawn into a political conspiracy. Life imitated art when three members of the film crew were themselves abducted, necessitating intervention from the governments of Haiti and Hispaniola neighbours the Dominican Republic to free them. All of this suggests that Mourral’s thriller will feel chillingly authentic.

Between the Temples (Nathan Silver/ USA/ 2024/ 111 mins)

With a super-intriguing cast featuring Jason Schwartzman, Carol Kane, and Triangle of Sadness standout Dolly de Leon, Between the Temples is a screwball comedy based on writer/director Nathan Silver’s own experience. Schwartzman plays a cantor who forms a bond with his old music teacher, played by Kane when she decides do study for a late-life bat mitzvah. With a workshopped script reminiscent of Mike Leigh and John Cassavetes, and a chance to see the great Carol Kane in a rare leading role this promises to be a heart-warming and witty treat.

Girls Will Be Girls (Shuchi Talati/ India/ 2024/ 90 mins)

We’ve seen a million coming of age tales – Sundance can’t seem to resist them – but there’s always room for one more, and Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls, the sole Indian film at the festival, has a unique take. Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) is a rebellious 16-year-old looking forward to getting stuck into her adulthood, and any boys who come here way. Her plan is derailed by her mother (Kani Kusruti), not because she disapproves, but because she wants a part of the action, having had no dumb hedonistic period of her own, having had Mira when she was young. It’s a really fun premise and a fresh spin on a careworn narrative.

Love Me (Sam Zuchero, Andy Zuchero/ USA/ 2024/ 92 mins)

This post-apocalyptic romance from brothers Sam and Andy Zuchero has one of the weirder narrative at the festival. A love story between a satellite and a buoy that takes place over billions of years after humans have gone extinct, it sounds like a hard sell. Not so, for the two romantic objects are embodied in human form by indie darlings Kristen Stewart (who also appears at Sundance in Love Lies Bleeding) and Steven Yuen. Apparently a multimedia project, it could be great or it could go decisively the other way. Whatever the outcome, it’s likely to get one of the biggest responses of the whole festival.

Veni Vidi Vici (Daniel Hoesl, Julia Niemann/ Austria/ 2024/ 86 mins) We’ve had a lot of films with an ‘eat the rich’ theme recently, but brutal comedy Veni Vidi Vici posits that the rich are far more likely to eat you. Billionaire family the Maynards are so rich they can live entirely without accountability. Patriarch Amon (Lsurence Rupp) loves to hunt, but his wealth means he doesn’t just have to stick to animals. Produced by Ulrich Siedl, the involvement of the Austrian king of ultimate bleakness should give an indication of the world view at play in Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann’s film, but for those who can handle the astringent, acquired taste Veni Vidi Vici could be a highlight.

Layla (Amrou Al-Kadhi/ UK/ 2024/ 100 mins)

A British-Arab drag queen questions their self of self after they fall in love for the first in Amrou Al-Kadhi’s partly-autobiographical drama. Drawing on their own experiences as a drag performer, Al-Kadhi’s first feature has taken six years to bring to the screen. Focusing not just on the characters, but the spaces – the nightclubs, dressing rooms, and beauty supply stores – which provide a safe haven for a performer. A tale of self-acceptance and community love.

Brief History of a Family (Jianjie Lin/ China, France, Denmark, Qatar/ 2024/ 99 mins)

Another debut feature, Jianjie Lin’s mystery takes place in post-one-child policy China. A middle-class family have their lives disrupted by their son’s enigmatic friend after an incident at the boys’ public school brings them together. The newcomer tests the bonds of the family and hidden secrets come to the surface. The dynamics of what constitutes a family have changed in China in the last few years and the synopsis suggests a narrative that will offer compelling insight into a policy that intertwined the personal and political like little else.

Sundance Festival runs from Thu 18 to Sun 28 Jan 2024. Online screenings run from Thu 25 to Sun 28 Jan 2024