TIKTOK, BOOM.
Directed by Shalini Kantayya
Produced by Ross M. Dinerstein, Shalini Kantayya, and Danni Myn
U.S. Documentary Competition – 2022 Sundance Film Festival
2022 Sundance Film Festival – Virtual Screening Schedule:
WORLD PREMIERE
Sunday, January 23rd at 5:45 PM PST to 8:45 PM PST
Tuesday, January 25th at 7 AM PST to Wednesday, January 26th at 7 AM PST
About TIKTOK, BOOM.
Dissecting one of the most influential platforms of the contemporary social media landscape, TikTok, Boom. examines the algorithmic, socio-political, economic, and cultural influences and impact of the history-making app. This rigorous exploration balances a genuine interest in the TikTok community and its innovative mechanics with a healthy skepticism around the security issues, global political challenges, and racial biases behind the platform. A cast of Gen Z subjects, helmed by influencer Feroza Aziz, remains at its center, making this one of the most needed and empathetic films exploring what it means to be a digital native.
Director Shalini Kantayya, a Sundance Institute Documentary Film fellow, returns after the world premiere of Coded Bias at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. With this new work, Kantayya continues her engagement in the space where technology meets, amplifies, and opposes our humanity. Her incisive, current look at the power and complexity of tech continues to advance a conversation that is bettered by her careful stewardship.
About Director Kantayya
Shalini Kantayya’s CODED BIAS premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and now streams on Netflix. Kantayya’s debut feature, CATCHING THE SUN, premiered at the LA Film Festival and was named a New York Times Critics’ Pick. She is a TED Fellow, a William J. Fulbright Scholar, and an associate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
MIDWIVES
Directed by Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Produced by Bob Moore, Ulla Lehman, Mila Aung-Thwin, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
World Documentary Competition – 2022 Sundance Film Festival
2022 Sundance Film Festival – Virtual Screening Schedule:
WORLD PREMIERE
Monday, January 24th at 10 AM PST to 1 PM PST
Wednesday, January 26th at 7 AM PST to Thursday, January 27th at 7 AM PST
About MIDWIVES
Hla and Nyo Nyo live in a country torn by conflict. Hla is a Buddhist and the owner of a makeshift medical clinic in western Myanmar, where the Rohingya (a Muslim minority community) are persecuted and denied basic rights. Nyo Nyo is a Muslim and an apprentice midwife who acts as an assistant and translator at the clinic. Her family has lived in the area for generations, yet they are still considered intruders. Encouraged and challenged by Hla, who risks her own safety daily by helping Muslim patients, Nyo Nyo is determined to become a steady health care provider for her community.
Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing’s remarkable feature debut was filmed over five turbulent years in a country that has long been exoticized and misunderstood. The filmmaker’s gentle, impartial gaze grants unique access to these courageous women who unite to bring forth life. Filled with love, empathy, and hope, Midwives offers a rare insight into the complex reality of Myanmar and its people.
About Director Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing has worked as a freelance filmmaker in Myanmar since 2006, acting as director, producer, editor, and sound recordist after attending film schools in both Myanmar and Germany. Her documentary short BURMESE BUTTERFLY played festivals in more than 20 countries, and PERIOD@PERIOD won for Best Short at the Wathann Film Festival. MIDWIVES is her feature documentary debut.
EVERY DAY IN KAIMUKĪ
Directed by Alika Tengan
Written by Naz Kawakami, Alika Tengan
Produced by Jesy Odio, Chapin Hall, Alika Tengan, Naz Kawakami
Starring Naz Kawakami, Rina White, and Holden Mandrial-Santos
NEXT – 2022 Sundance Film Festival
2022 Sundance Film Festival – Virtual Screening Schedule:
WORLD PREMIERE
Sunday, January 23rd at 4 PM PST to 7 PM PST
Tuesday, January 25th at 7 AM PST to Wednesday, January 26th, 7 AM PST
About EVERY DAY IN KAIMUKĪ
Naz, a cynical and charismatic 20-something, has spent his entire life in tranquil O’ahu, Hawaiʻi, skateboarding with his friends and hosting a nightly radio show where he spotlights emerging musicians. When his girlfriend Sloane nabs the chance to move to bustling New York, Naz begins preparing for their big move, planning every detail down to his cat’s absurd flight plan. Even when dreaming about what life outside the island might look like, however, Naz wonders whether uprooting his world is the right decision, and if anywhere will ever really feel like home when he’s always been an eternal outsider.
Alika Tengan strongly impresses with his pensive and lyrical first feature, evoking the urban and adamantly local Hawaiian landscape of Kaimukī. Anchored by Naz Kawakami’s unassuming lead performance and steeped in the honest messiness of millennial adulthood, Every Day in Kaimuki is a slice-of-life, kaleidoscopic exploration of what it means to leave everything you’ve ever known behind.
About Alika Tengan
Alika Tengan is a Hapa Hawaiian/Asian filmmaker based out of Honolulu, HI. His short films Mauka to Makai and Moloka’i Bound have won awards at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival and ImagineNative respectively. The feature-length script for Moloka’i Bound was selected for the inaugural Indigenous Black List. The short Moloka’i Bound is now streaming on the Criterion Channel.
