Silva’s “Nasty Baby” to Have Its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival

Sebastián Silva is planning to bring the nasty to next year’s Sundance Film Festival

The 35-year-old Chilean director’s latest project Nasty Baby will have its world premiere at the annual Utah-based film festival.

Sebastian Silva

Silva’s film will form part of the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT lineup, which celebrates “pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling.”

Nasty Baby centers on a gay couple trying to have a baby with the help of their best friend, Polly. The trio navigates the idea of creating life while confronted by unexpected harassment from a neighborhood man called The Bishop. As their clashes grow increasingly aggressive, odds are someone will get hurt.

Silva directs and stars in the film, alongside Tunde Adebimpe, Kristin Wiig, Reg E. Cathey, Mark Margolis and Denis O’Hare.

Starting a week later than usual next year due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the 2015 festival will run from January 22 to February 1.

Playing in Utah’s Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, 118 features were selected from 12,166 submissions, including 4,105 feature-length films and 8,061 short films. Officials then culled them down to the 2015 line-up with almost 30 countries represented and 45 first-time filmmakers, including 19 in competition.

Here’s a look at the first of the movies selected to be featured at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival with Latino talent:

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl / U.S.A. (Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Screenwriter: Jesse Andrews) — Greg is coasting through senior year of high school as anonymously as possible, avoiding social interactions like the plague while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl, his only friend. But both his anonymity and friendship threaten to unravel when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia. Cast: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon.

The Stanford Prison Experiment / U.S.A. (Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Screenwriter: Tim Talbott) — This film is based on the actual events that took place in 1971 when Stanford professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo created what became one of the most shocking and famous social experiments of all time. Cast: Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, Michael Angarano, Tye Sheridan, Johnny Simmons, Olivia Thirlby.

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION

The Second Mother / Brazil (Director and screenwriter: Anna Muylaert) — Having left her daughter, Jessica, to be raised by relatives in the north of Brazil, Val works as a loving nanny in São Paulo. When Jessica arrives for a visit 13 years later, she confronts her mother’s slave-like attitude and everyone in the house is affected by her unexpected behavior. Cast: Regina Casé, Michel Joelsas, Camila Márdila, Karine Teles, Lourenço Mutarelli. World Premiere

NEXT <=>

H. / U.S.A., Argentina (Directors and screenwriters: Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia) — Two women, each named Helen, find their lives spinning out of control after a meteor allegedly explodes over their city of Troy, New York. Cast: Robin Bartlett, Rebecca Dayan, Will Janowitz, Julian Gamble, Roger Robinson. World Premiere

Nasty Baby / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sebastian Silva) — A gay couple try to have a baby with the help of their best friend, Polly. The trio navigates the idea of creating life while confronted by unexpected harassment from a neighborhood man called The Bishop. As their clashes grow increasingly aggressive, odds are someone is getting hurt. Cast: Sebastian Silva, Tunde Adebimpe, Kristin Wiig, Reg E. Cathey, Mark Margolis, Denis O’Hare. World Premiere

Tangerine / U.S.A. (Director: Sean Baker, Screenwriters: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch) — A working girl tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart. Cast: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O’Hagan, Alla Tumanyan, James Ransone. World Premiere

Sundance Selects Releases Trailer for Silva’s “Crystal Fairy”

Sebastián Silva is turning up the quirky charm in his new road trip-themed movie.

Sundance Selects has released the trailer for the 34-year-old filmmaker’s latest project Crystal Fairy.

Sebastián Silva

In the film, Michael Cera stars an American expat road tripping with three Chilean brothers in Crystal Fairy.

It’s one of two Chile-set Sundance 2013 debuts starring Cera and directed by Sebastián Silva.

Their other film, Magic Magic, hits home video August 6 via Sony.

Gaby Hoffman co-stars as a free spirit who unexpectedly joins the group’s quest to find a legendary hallucinogenic cactus.

Sundance Selects will release Crystal Fair in select theaters on July 12.

Diaz’s “Fruitvale” Earns Two Sundance Film Festival Prizes

Melonie Diaz has become part of Sundance Film Festival history…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican actress’ latest project, Fruitvale, has become the first Sundance film to win the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic film since Precious in 2009.

Melonie Diaz II

First-time director Ryan Coogler was inspired to write the film after 22-year-old Oscar Grant was shot in the back and killed by Oakland transit police on New Year’s Day morning 2009. Fruitvale tells the story of Grant’s last 24 hours alive, as he attempts to become a better father, a better boyfriend and a better son and friend.

“It’s about human beings and how we treat each other,” said Coogler, “how we treat people that we love and how we treat people that we don’t know.”

Diaz portrays Sophina in the film, which sparked a bidding war after its premiere. Rights for the film were ultimately acquired by The Weinstein Company for approximately $2 million.

Meanwhile, Sebastián Silva’s earned the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic for helming the Chilean film Crystal Fairy, which centers on two people who clash during a road trip to Chile.

Who is Dayani Cristal?, a film produced by Gael García Bernal and Marc Silver, won the Cinematography Award, World Cinema Documentary. The film, directed by Silver and featuring García in some dramatic reenactments, centers on an anonymous body found in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a real-life human drama. The search for its identity leads the audience across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo.