Gosh! Napoleon is coming back to Sundance: Festival announces 53 short films, special screenings of festival favorites

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – The Sundance Film Festival is going to do whatever they feel like they wanna do. Gosh! One thing they are going to do is celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iconic film Napolean Dynamite during the 40^th anniversary of the festival.

Today brought the exciting announcement of special screenings and the names and synopses of 53 projects that will be part of this year’s short film program.

2024 PROGRAM: Sundance Film Festival announces 91 titles coming to Utah in 2024

The festival runs Jan. 18 – 28, 2024, and marks the 40^th anniversary of the Sundance Film Festival. Films can be screened in locations around Park City and Salt Lake City with online screenings being offered, as well.

As part of their short film announcement today, Sundance introduced some celebration screenings of popular films from Sundance history including the brand new 4K restoration of director and screenwriter Jared Hess’ quirky film Napoleon Dynamite.

Other popular screenings will be of festival favorites Go Fish, and Three Seasons, restorations of Mississippi Masala and The Times of Harvey Milk, plus screenings of The Babadook, Pariah, and a new digitally remastered extended version of DIG! XX.

Hess and wife, screenwriter Jerusha Demke Hess, as well as the film’s lead actor Jon Heder are all BYU alumni and are excited to be back at Sundance with a film that helped launch their careers.

“Returning to Sundance with Napoleon Dynamite feels like a homecoming. When it premiered at the festival 20 years ago, we never anticipated the incredible reaction it would receive,” said Jared Hess. “It’s always been a very personal film for Jerusha and me, so the love affair it’s had with audiences all these years continues to delight us. To commemorate its 20th anniversary, we are thrilled to screen this newly restored version of Napoleon Dynamite. The restoration team did an amazing job bringing to life new details from the original film’s negatives that we’d never seen before. We can’t wait to share it!”

Sundance has announced a robust short film program this year. Fifty-three short films were selected from over 12,000 submissions, the highest number on record for the festival. There were over 5,000 submissions from the U.S. with nearly 7,000 pouring in internationally. The short film program this year represents work from 22 countries. Submissions range from non-fiction and fiction entries to animation.

“Selecting the shorts for the Festival Program every year is an exercise in taking the pulse of film culture, and the outlook is always bright,” said Mike Plante, Senior Programmer, Short Film. “In our 40th year, the world of short films is more vibrant than ever. With so many ways to see and experience shorts now — at festivals and online through varied platforms — so many artists are coming to the art form and creating shorts that excite us, and short film fans, in new ways.”

For a full list of the 53 short films, as well as the full-length film offerings, and how they can be screened visit the Sundance Film Festival website.

The Sundance Institute champions short films globally and throughout the year, with select Festival shorts presented as a traveling program at theaters in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and more.

Short film submissions this year include the nonfiction film Winding Path, which follows Eastern Shoshone, University of Utah MD-PhD Student Jenna Murray during her summers on the Wind River Indian Reservation with her grandfather.

Sundance has a legacy of championing the independent storyteller and has provided the groundwork for some of today’s top filmmakers. The festival is a program of the nonprofit Sundance Institute. For ticket package information and schedules of events please visit the Sundance Film Festival website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.