Sundance First Look: 'Sin Nombre' and 'Afghan Star'

Above: An image from Sin Nombre (click below to enlarge)

In a little under a month from now, Cinematical will once again invade the Sundance Film Festival looking to bring back word on what's shaping up to be a pretty fantastic slate of new movies. But why wait until then to begin exploring some of these flicks -- consider us your one-stop-shop before, during and after the Sundance Film Festival for news, reviews, interviews, images, trailers, clips and posters. Click here for all our Sundance coverage.

Above you will see a brand new image from the buzzed-about dramatic thriller Sin Nombre, directed by the very talented Cary Joji Fukunaga. I've watched at least one of Cary's short films and he's definitely an emerging director who I know we'll see plenty from in the future (trust me -- remember that name). From the Sundance site: "A social-political thriller in the tradition of American film noir, Sin Nombre is set on the border, where Mexico becomes the crucible and the fearsome gangs of today's Mexican countryside, the gauntlet, to freedom. The stories of Sayra, a teenager living in Honduras and hungering for a brighter future, and teen gang members Smiley and Casper, for whom the Mara Salvatrucha is nearly their entire universe, become interlaced on the train to the border, a journey that will determine the future of their lives." Sin Nombre is screening in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section.





Aside from Sin Nombre, Cinematical has also received several new images from the film Afghan Star, which is screening in the World Cinema Documentary Competition section. From the Sundance site: "After 30 years of Taliban and wartime rule, pop culture is creeping back into Afghanistan. Director Havana Marking has captured it in this inspired documentary, Afghan Star. An American Idol–type contest set in Afghanistan? What more intriguing inroad into a region usually represented in our news media by death and violence? To understand the magnitude of this film, we must look at the facts-2,000 contestants compete for a chance to be the next Afghan pop idol. Three of them are women. In an unheard-of precedent, all genders, ethnic groups, and age sectors are equal. More than one-third of the country watches the show and votes with text messages. For many this represents their first encounter with any kind of democratic process. Marking follows the dramatic stories of four of the contestants over three months, from regional auditions to the finals in Kabul."