Sundance announces premieres from Kelly Reichardt, Todd Solondz, some guy named Werner Herzog

Adding to the initial, Nick Jonas-heavy lineup of films it announced last week, earlier today the Sundance Film Festival released a list of feature and documentary films that will have their world premieres in Park City next month. Films on the Premieres slate are out of competition, but since they mostly hail from established filmmakers—and most of those are Sundance alums—they don’t really need the boost an award can give to an obscure, but worthy, film.

Variety breaks down this year’s lists, beginning with Premieres, which features several projects we’ve written about before here on The A.V. Club: There’s Kelly Reichardt’s new movie with Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, and Michelle Williams, for example, and Todd Solondz’s Welcome To The Dollhouse pseudo-sequel Wiener-Dog. Margaret (2011) director Kenneth Lonergan will be bringing his latest, Manchester By The Sea, which also deals with the aftermath of a tragic incident, and before his life gets completely taken over by Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi will present the family comedy Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Veteran producer James Schamus will make his directorial debut with the Philip Roth adaptation Indignation, and Whit Stillman will return to Sundance with another literary adaptation, Jane Austen’s Love & Friendship. And several name actors will be putting on their director’s hats for Sundance this year, including John Krasinski (The Hollars, co-starring Anna Kendrick), Diego Luna (Mr. Pig), and American Horror Story’s Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic).

The Documentary Premieres lineup doesn’t have quite as much star power as its fictional counterpart, but it does have arguably the biggest name in existential despair, Werner Herzog, presenting his new documentary Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World, which features this very Herzog-ian description: “Does the Internet dream of itself? Explore the horizons of the connected world.” Spike Lee also makes an appearance with a documentary about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown To Off The Wall. But the documentary subjects include many recognizable names: Frank Zappa, Robert Mapplethorpe, Maya Angelou, Norman Lear, Richard Linklater, and the mother/son duo of Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper will all be profiled.

Reflecting the ever-narrowing prestige gap between film and TV, Hulu’s time-travel miniseries 11/22/63 will receive a special screening at the festival, as will Starz’ Steven Soderbergh-produced The Girlfriend Experience.

This is just a sampling of the many offerings announced today; you can read the rest over at Variety.