Sundance Satellite Film Festival at Moonstruck Drive-In

Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) is partnering with Sundance Film Festival to host a Sundance Satellite Film Festival in Houston January 28 through February 2, 2021 at Moonstruck Drive-In Cinema at East River. Expanding beyond its Utah home, the Festival has created a network of partnerships to bring feature films and customized local programming -- talks, events, artist meet-ups -- to communities across the country. As one of the only three 2021 Sundance Film Festival world premiere locations in Texas, The Moonstruck Drive-In Cinema at East River world premiere showings will accommodate up to 150 cars, making it one of the largest satellite locations in the country.

CODA / U.S.A. 
World Premiere: Thursday, January 28 at 7:30PM 
Director and Screenwriter: Siân Heder // Producers: Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger
As a CODA – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents. Cast: Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin. 

I Was a Simple Man / U.S.A. 
World Premiere: Friday, January 29 at 7:30PM 
Director and Screenwriter: Christopher Makoto Yogi // Producers: Sarah S. Kim, Christopher Makoto Yogi, Matthew Petock, Yamato Cibulka
As a family in Hawai'i faces the imminent death of their eldest, the ghosts of the past haunt the countryside. Cast: Steve Iwamoto, Constance Wu, Kanoa Goo, Chanel Akiko Hirai, Tim Chiou, Boonyanudh Jiyarom. 

Passing / U.S.A. 
World Premiere: Saturday, January 30 at 7:30PM 
Director and Screenwriter: Rebecca Hall // Producers: Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Margot Hand, Rebecca Hall
Two African American women who can "pass" as white choose to live on opposite sides of the color line in 1929 New York in an exploration of racial and gender identity, performance, obsession and repression. Based on the novella by Nella Larsen. Cast: Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Camp. 

Mayday / U.S.A.
World Premiere: Sunday, January 31 at 7:30PM 
Director and Screenwriter: Karen Cinorre // Producers: Jonah Disend, Lucas Joaquin, Karen Cinorre, Sam Levy
Ana is transported to a dreamlike and dangerous land where she joins an army of girls engaged in a never-ending war along a rugged coast. Though she finds strength in this exhilarating world, she comes to realize that she's not the killer they want her to be. Cast: Grace Van Patten, Mia Goth, Havana Rose Liu, Soko, Théodore Pellerin, Juliette Lewis. 

Judas and The Black Messiah / U.S.A.
World Premiere: Monday, February 1 at 8PM
Director: Shaka King, Screenwriters: Will Berson, Shaka King, Producers: Ryan Coogler, Charles D. King, Shaka King
FBI informant William O’Neal infiltrates the Illinois Black Panther party when J. Edgar Hoover fears charismatic leader Chairman Fred Hampton will emerge as a Black Messiah. O’Neal lives in fear of discovery and cannot escape the deadly trajectory of his betrayal. Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Lil Rel Howery, Martin Sheen.

Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir / U.S.A.
World Premiere: Tuesday, February 2 at 7:30PM 
Director: James Redford // Producers: Karen Pritzker, Cassandra Jabola
Amy Tan has established herself as one of America's most respected literary voices. Born to Chinese immigrant parents, it would be decades before the author of The Joy Luck Club would fully understand the inherited trauma rooted in the legacies of women who survived the Chinese tradition of concubinage.