Sundance London 2016, Picturehouse Central

If you’re a serious cinephile, chances are you’ve been tempted by a trip to Sundance Film Festival. But with double-digit flight times and triple-digit prices, a trip to Utah isn’t always the easiest of expeditions. Just as well, then, that Sundance also comes to London. This June, Picturehouse Central will host a mini-version of the US festival, with a selection of this year’s features, short films, and a series of panel discussions.

The festival opens on June 2 with a screening of Tallulah. Sian Heder’s debut feature, it stars Ellen Page and Alison Janney in the lead roles, reprising an on-screen partnership last seen in Jason Reitman’s Juno. Where once they played a step-mother-and-daughter duo, they now put in turns as a kind of improvised parental unit, an unlikely pair – Page, an itinerant free spirit, and Janney a severe academic – thrown together against the odds.

Later highlights include Wiener-Dog, Todd Solenz’s typically leftfield feature in which a dachshund is the thread on which a series of short stories are hung. With Greta Gerwig and Danny DeVito in lead roles, this could well prove an indie hit; it’s certainly got cult credentials.

For fans of documentaries, Life, Animated is essential. It tells the story of Owen Suskind, a young boy living with autism who remained silent for almost four years until Disney films offered him a means of expression.

Rounding off proceedings on June 5 is Goat which we caught at this year’s Berlinnale. A harrowing portrait of fraternity life, we deemed it ‘an electrifying picture of teen machismo and masochism.’

Click here to view the full list of screenings, including some festival favourites from yesteryear.

You can purchase tickets for individual screenings (6 May for Picturehouse members, 9 May for non-members) or buy a Festival or VIP pass (5 May).