Sundance preview
Jan. 23 — Happy Friday, everyone! It’s a magical time in movie land – Oscar nominations were announced yesterday, with “Sinners” landing a record-breaking 16 nominations (the previous record was 14). Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” picked up 13.
But these aren’t surprises to me! The biggest shocks I didn’t see coming include “F1” landing a Best Picture nomination (sure!), Kate Hudson landing a Best Actress nomination (I am truly kind of gagged by this one), and Delroy Lindo picking up a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in “Sinners.” Now, we all get to sit through two long months of precursors and more campaigning. Check out the full list of nominees here.
As one season comes to an end, another begins. The Sundance Film Festival started yesterday, celebrating one more time in Park City before moving to Boulder, Co. for the 2027 event. I am attending virtually this year, and I’ve come up with a list of 10 movies I’m most excited about.
Without further ado … Action!
💛 Thank you for being a friend! The “Golden Girls” Kitchen, a pop-up event for all your “Golden Girls” super fans, is coming to Pullman Yards for a limited time starting Feb. 19.
📺 SCAD has announced the lineup for its 2026 SCAD TVfest, including Jeff Probst, Ali Larter, and Lili Reinhart.
✍️ After becoming the new home for the Sundance Institute’s Episodic Lab, Dunaway Gardens has announced that it will also launch a new Playwright Lab later this spring.
🍿 The Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition drama continues. Attempting to quell concerns about the theatrical model, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos told the New York Times that if Netflix closes on the WBD deal, all Warner Bros. films will keep a 45-day theatrical window.
📽️ And now, a little bit of a shameless plug from me – my friend Aaron Strand’s film “Withdrawal,” which has been sweeping the film festival scene, is coming back to Georgia for a limited run! “Withdrawal” will be playing at The Plaza Theatre Jan. 30 through Feb. 5. It’s great! Check it out!
This week’s newsletter includes an interview with local filmmakers embarking on a new partnership with Assembly Studios, and an interview with acclaimed sound designer Eugene Gearty. We’ve also got a review of the new film “H is for Hawk,” plus what’s at the movie theaters this week, a new edition of Spotlight, and some reading and listening recommendations for your lunch break.
Thanks for reading!
Sammie
🎉 Celebrate Food Service Workers! Join Giving Kitchen on Sun., March 15, at Truist Park for THE culinary tasting of the year! Team Hidi 2026, fueled by Georgia Natural Gas, brings nearly 100 top food & beverage partners. Get details and tickets here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Local production companies partner with Assembly Studios to boost independent film production
🤝 Two local film production companies have partnered with Assembly Studios, planning to produce their next slate of films using the studio’s resources.
Autumn Bailey Entertainment (ABE) and Braveheart Entertainment announced the partnership with Assembly in December of last year. According to a press release, both companies aim to “build a sustainable model for high-quality, character-driven storytelling that blends artistry, efficiency, and innovation.”
Autumn Bailey-Ford, founder of Autumn Bailey Entertainment, said that she first began considering the possibility of a partnership while chatting with a group of film producers at a mixer hosted by Assembly Studios in September of last year. Around that time, Ty Walker, founder of Braveheart Entertainment, began having similar thoughts about how partnering with a local studio might help boost indie production. Assembly, which is managed by Universal Production Services, seemed like the perfect fit.
Step Inside SCAD TVfest
SPONSORED BY SCAD
🎬 Dive into the world of television at SCAD TVfest, happening February 4–6 at SCADshow in Midtown! Georgia’s premier TV festival brings fans, students, and creators together for exclusive panels, screenings, and conversations with the stars and creative minds behind today’s most talked-about shows.
Explore stories from network, cable, and streaming television while gaining insider insight into the creative process. Whether you love drama, comedy, or reality TV, SCAD TVfest offers unforgettable access and inspiration.
✨ Visit scadtvfest.com to buy your tickets today!
Sound designer Eugene Gearty talks ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ ahead of SCAD screening
🎧 Oscar-winning sound designer Eugene Gearty, who came on as SCAD’s chair of Sound Design in December, is set to give a Q&A following a screening of Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” at SCADshow today.
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is one of a number of films Gearty has designed the sound for, including numerous collaborations with filmmakers like Ang Lee, Martin Scorsese, and Joel and Ethan Coen. The screening is part of today’s event called SCADFILM In Focus: The Art of Sound.
⚔️ I recently got to speak with Gearty about his work on films like “Eternal Sunshine,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and more. Check out our conversation here.
‘H is for Hawk’ explores isolation in the wake of grief
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
🦅 To anyone who has experienced grief of any kind, there’s a recognizable pattern that takes over. Sometimes, after a loss, you throw yourself into something so fully – work, hobbies, romance, whatever it may be – as a way to make sure you have no time to think about anything else, especially not the person who died.
In 2007, writer Helen Macdonald handled the sudden passing of their father (Alisdair Macdonald, the famed photojournalist) by diving back into a hobby they’d long left in the past: Macdonald purchased a hawk.
The year that Macdonald spent training that hawk turned into the 2014 memoir “H is for Hawk,” which has been adapted into a film by director Philippa Lowthorpe with a script from Lowthorpe and Emma Donoghue. On its face, “H is for Hawk” feels like your standard sort of weepy film about grief, and someone saved by the healing power of animal connection. But Helen’s story is more complex than that. Sometimes, the very thing that’s keeping you sane is also the thing that’s driving you crazy – the thing that grounds you can also be the thing that keeps you isolated. “H is for Hawk” considers the thorniness of that idea, accentuated by the beauty of Charlotte Bruus Christensen’s cinematography and anchored by a quietly moving lead performance from Claire Foy.
📸 Read my full review here.
At the Movies!
If you’re looking for a movie to see in theaters this week, here’s what you’ve got to look forward to!
Movies releasing this weekend:
🖥️ “Mercy” (pictured)
🦅 “H is For Hawk”
⚓ “Magellan”
Special Events:
🇯🇵 “A New Love in Tokyo” in 2K @ The Plaza (Friday-Wednesday)
🪓 “The Shining” in 35 mm @ The Plaza (Saturday-Tuesday)
❄️ “Misery” @ The Tara (Friday-Saturday)
💍 “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” @ The Tara (Friday)
🏰 “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” @ The Tara (Saturday)
👑 “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” @ The Tara (Sunday)
😈 “Despicable Me” @ Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Saturday-Sunday)
🃏 “Batman” @ Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Sunday-Monday)
🏹 “The Hunger Games” @ Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Sunday)
🎉 Celebrate Food Service Workers! Join Giving Kitchen on Sun., March 15, at Truist Park for THE culinary tasting of the year! Team Hidi 2026, fueled by Georgia Natural Gas, brings nearly 100 top food & beverage partners. Get details and tickets here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Jack O’Connell for ‘Sinners’ and ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’
🦴 If you’ve seen “Sinners,” then you know that there are more than a few times where Remmick – the Irish, dancing, bloodthirsty vampire played by Jack O’Connell – locks eyes with our protagonist Sammie (Miles Caton) and says his name with an amount of evil relish the likes of which I’ve never heard before. If you are reading this, you probably also know that my name is also Sammie. So, as you might imagine, the first time this happened, I got a real kick out of it. I walked around my apartment mimicking O’Connell’s cadence for days. I still do it sometimes.
In 2026, I’m still getting a real kick out of Jack O’Connell, most recently for his turn as Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, the Jimmy Savile-obsessed (Wow, I hated writing those words) satanic cult leader who serves as the villain in Nia DaCosta’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.” The film begins immediately after the events of last year’s “28 Years Later,” catching up with Spike (Alfie Williams) as he navigates this brand new world of horrors.
I can imagine that, if I were an actor playing a tiara-wearing cult leader whose main pop cultural reference is the Teletubbies, it might be tempting to get a little too silly with the whole thing. O’Connell wisely avoids that trap. He’s funny, don’t get me wrong – but between this and “Sinners,” O’Connell’s superpower really seems to be finding that perfect balance of humor, horror, and humanity. Despite Jimmy’s outward appearance, despite the way he speaks, and the funny turns of phrase he invokes, he is a terrifying force of nature.
That being said, he’s also deeply, terrifyingly human. In his best moments, O’Connell betrays to the audience a vulnerability that a lesser actor might have left by the wayside. For as much as he wants his followers to believe that he has the measure of this zombie-infested world figured out, he’s just as lost as everyone else. O’Connell, along with the other actors in the film, are accurately able to represent what it looks like when somebody is actually thinking on their feet – reacting to new information in real time while trying to maintain a sense of balance. O’Connell’s ability to keep that performativity grounded inside of a real person, to make it feel spontaneous instead of rehearsed, is truly special.
Lights, Camera, Action!
👄 This article from Allure is a little off the beaten path for us here at Scene, but since Valerie Monroe uses the marvelous face of Jessie Buckley as a jumping-off place for her larger point, I figured I could let it slide. Recently, we’ve seen a little bit of a backlash (small, but hopeful) to the era of facial conformity that arose concurrently with Instagram. Monroe writes beautifully about the purpose of a face, and her assertion that a face is meant to be read ties directly into acting, and what makes the very best movie star faces so memorable.
🐑 If you enjoy telling your friends about how Ang Lee reportedly hates working with sheep (so much so that a tremendous amount of CGI is used in those shots in “Brokeback Mountain”), then have I got a piece for you! For Vulture, Jackson McHenry extolls the virtues of sheep in period pieces, ruminating on their rich symbolism.
🎈 The “Blank Check” podcast is back with the first new miniseries of 2026! For the next several weeks, they’ll be covering the films of Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay, starting with her searing debut feature, “Ratcatcher.” Take a listen here.
🖊️ Today’s Scene was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.