Kodak had a momentous 2023 with more than 60 movies shot on film (led by Oscar frontrunners “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” and “Poor Things”), and 2024 gets off to a promising start, led by Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders,” Luca Guadignino’s “Challengers,” and Robert Eggers‘ “Nosferatu.”
In addition, there’s M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap,” Ilya Povolotsky’s “Grace,” and John Andreas Andersen’s “NR. 24,” with many more to come.
Plus, there are the following Sundance premieres: Jane Shoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow,” Aaron Shimberg’s “A Different Man,” Nathan Silver’s “Between the Temples,” and Thea Hvistendahl’s “Handling the Undead.”
“Challengers” (Amazon MGM Studios, April 26)
Guadagnino’s first comedy is a love triangle about the sexual tension of tennis with queer undertones. It stars Zendaya as a championship tennis star/coach opposite Mike Faist as her husband, and Josh O’Connor as her ex-lover and his childhood best friend, thrust into a grudge match tennis competition. The 35mm film-friendly director reunites with cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (“Suspiria,” “Call Me By Your Name”) for a movie that he describes as “hyperkinetic,” “fairly fizzy,” and “sexy.”
“The Bikeriders” (Focus Features, June 21)
Nichols’ ’60s drama about the rise of a fictional Chicago motorcycle club got pushed back by Disney last year because of the SAG/AFTRA strike and was picked up domestically by Focus Features. Inspired by the 1967 photo book by Danny Lyon, it stars Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, and Michael Shannon. Cinematographer Adam Stone shot 35mm anamorphic with the Panavision Millennium XL2 and Panavision G-Series lenses. Stone told IndieWire: “We love to use film and Panavision equipment to capture naturalistic imagery. When it came to ‘Bikeriders,’ our commitment to this ethos was strong. We wanted to breathe life into Danny’s gritty docu-style photographs through celluloid. However, there were challenges. Filming actors on motorcycles demanded a lot of planning. Maneuvering large camera systems around talent on bikes was daunting.”
“Trap” (Warner Bros., August 2)
The psychological thriller set at a concert marks the first film under Shyamalan’s new first-look deal at Warner Bros. Shot in 35mm by Mukdeeprom, it stars Josh Hartnett, Hayley Mills, and the director’s daughter, singer Saleka Shyamalan, who performs at the concert.
“Nosferatu” (Focus Features, December 25)
Eggers’ on-again-off-again reworking of the legendary silent vampire film by F.W. Murnau (1922), later remade by Werner Herzog in 1979, finally gets released as a Christmas feast. Shot in 35mm in color by go-to cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, the film boasts a desaturated look reminiscent of 19th-century Romanticism. It stars Bill Skarsgård as the infamous Count Orlok, Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter, and Nicholas Hoult as her husband Thomas Hutter. The rest of the cast includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and, of course, Willem Dafoe (who played “Nosferatu” star Max Schreck in “Shadow of the Vampire”). The director said he wanted to make an old-school Gothic movie that’s actually scary.
“Grace” (Bodega Films,TBD)
This picaresque Russian ode to cinema premiered last year in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Shot in 16mm by cinematographer Nikolai Zheludovich (“Pigeon’s Milk”), it concerns a father (Gela Chitava) and his teenage daughter (Maria Lukyanova) who live on the road in their van, traveling to remote villages with their pop-up drive-in theater equipment.
“NR. 24” (TBD)
Andersen’s Norwegian biopic concerns apprentice Gunnar Sønsteby (Sjur Vatne Brean) from Rjukan, who decides to resist Nazi Germany on the day of the invasion, later becoming leader of the “Oslo gang,” carrying out daring acts of sabotage that make him Norway’s greatest war hero. Shot in 35mm film by cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth (“Handling the Undead”).
Sundance 2024 Premieres
“I Saw the TV Glow” (A24)
Schoenbrun’s (“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”) latest meta-cultural exploration follows two teenagers (Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine) who bond over their love of a TV series, only to see reality blur after it’s mysteriously canceled. Shot in 35mm by Eric K. Yue (“A Thousand and One”) with the Arricam LT and Zeiss Master Prime lenses, they wished to convey the deep sense of loneliness and isolation with a rich color palette yet with grainier blacks.
“Between the Temples”
Silver’s (“Thirst Street,” “Stinking Heaven”) late-coming-of-age comedy stars Jason Schwartzman as a cantor who experiences a crisis of faith when his grade school music teacher (Carol Kane) reenters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student. Shot in 16mm by Sean Price Williams (“Funny Pages,” “Tesla”) with the Super 16mm, Aaton XTR, and a mix of S16 and S35 Zeiss Super Speed lenses, among others.
“Handling the Undead” (Neon)
Documentary director Hvistendahl (Adjø Montebello) tackles horror from “Let the Right One In” author John Ajvide Lindqvist (who co-scripted). It’s about three grieving families in Oslo who must contend with a strange electric field that awakens the city’s newly dead. Shot in 35mm by cinematographer Rokseth, the film reunites Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie from “The Worst Person in the World.”
“A Different Man” (A24)
Schimberg’s (“Chained for Life”) psychological thriller is about an aspiring actor (Sebastian Stan) who undergoes radical reconstructive facial surgery, only to lose out on a role about his former life. Shot in 16mm by cinematographer Wyatt Garfield (“Manodrome”), the film co-stars Reinsve and Adam Pearson (“Under the Skin”).
