The talking points from the indie film festival.

In the age of #metoo, film festivals and awards ceremonies have more responsibility than ever to shine a light on social injustice. Fortunately at Sundance – that Utah crucible of indie curiosity, which started over the weekend – thoughtful patterns emerge.

Feature documentaries about heavyweight feminist icons could not be better timed: together, the likes of Westwood: Punk Icon Activist, Jane Fonda In Five Acts, Seeing Allred and Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. form a kaleidoscopic group-portrait of women who’ve triumphed in arenas dominated for too long by men.

Just as opportune are satires of white-privilege. In rapper Mr Boots Riley’s absurdist dark comedy Sorry To Bother You, a telemarketer (played by Atlanta’s Mr Lakeith Stanfield) discovers the ability to sell anything to anyone, while Mr Sebastián Silva’s Tyrel explores a bros’ birthday cabin trip from the perspective of its only black guest. Both could follow in the slipstream of the masterful Get Out.

Past, present and future sit cheek by jowl. Juicy period biopics have modern resonances: in Colette, Ms Keira Knightley plays the transgressive French novelist whose beloved novel Chéri detailed a romance between a younger man and an older woman with shades of France’s current president. Ms Chloe Sevigny’s Lizzie, the tale of the 19th-century Massachusettian accused of killing her father and stepmother with an axe, should be a treat for real-crime disciples.

Fast forward to today, younger filmmakers explore the emotional dangers and visual innovations offered by technology, notably Mr Bo Burnham’s Insta-fable Eighth Grade and the formally ingenious Search, a thriller told entirely on a computer screen directed by ex-Google creative Mr Aneesh Chaganty. Two female auteurs tackle the future through apocalyptic two-handers between an older man and a younger woman: directed by The Handmaid’s Tale’s Ms Reed Morano, I Think We’re Alone Now (which pairs Ms Elle Fanning with Mr Peter Dinklage) dovetails nicely with Leave No Trace, whose director Ms Debra Granik gave Ms Jennifer Lawrence her breakthrough in Winter’s Bone.

Finally, there are quixotic gambles for one-time darlings. Mr Gus Van Sant, whose Milk won Oscars and whose Columbine drama Elephant won the Palme d’Or, has been quiet since his last film, suicide drama A Sea Of Trees, which was booed at Cannes and currently holds a 11 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The director’s potential comeback is Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot, starring Mr Jonah Hill, Ms Rooney Mara and a jowly Mr Joaquin Phoenix in a wheelchair. Everyone loves a comeback, but will Mr Van Sant’s latest be an Elephant or a turkey?

In addition to the above, here are five films that have particularly caught our eye:

Mr Idris Elba’s directorial debut is a revenge crime-thriller set in London and Jamaica. Based on Mr Victor Headley’s 1992 novel, it co-stars The Maze Runner’s Mr Aml Ameen, This Is England’s Mr Stephen Graham and Mr Elba himself.

As adept at comedy (The Death Of Stalin) as she is at the bleakest drama (Black Mirror’s “Crocodile”), Ms Andrea Riseborough has already established herself as one of the UK’s most imaginative actresses. Here she plays a woman convinced she was kidnapped as a child, alongside Mr Steve Buscemi and Ms Ann Dowd (the formidable Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale).

A film of impeccable cine-literary pedigree, Mr Paul Dano adapts Mr Richard Ford’s novel about a disintegrating marriage in 1960s Montana. Mr Jake Gyllenhaal and Ms Carey Mulligan lead a script Mr Dano co-wrote with his partner Ms Zoe Kazan. Expect Mad Men/Revolutionary Road vibes.

Ms Desiree Akhavan, whose debut Appropriate Behaviour delighted Sundance in 2014, directs the story of a teenage orphan (Ms Chloë Grace Moretz) forced to attend a “de-gaying” camp by her conservative aunt. American Honey’s mesmeric Ms Sasha Lane plays Cameron’s best friend “Jane Fonda” (an aptly ever-present name at this year’s festival).

After her stellar 2017, the American actor of the moment tackles the subject of the moment. Ms Laura Dern (Twin Peaks, Big Little Lies, The Last Jedi) plays a journalist who re-examines her memory of her first sexual relationship. In the wake of “Cat Story” and the unprecedented wave of first-person pieces on the subject of consent, this could be the defining film of the festival.

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