Canadian filmmaker Chris Nash’s slasher film In a Violent Nature will make its world bow at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

The film is one of a handful world premieres involving Canadians, which include a documentary by Boat Rocker’s Matador Content.

The films are among 82 feature-length films representing 24 countries announced as part of the festival’s 40th edition, which will take place in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.

In a Violent Nature — written and directed by Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based Nash — is produced by Shudder Originals, with Toronto International Film Festival programmer Peter Kuplowsky and Shannon Hanmer among the producers.

Shudder, the AMC Networks-owned horror streamer, has also acquired distribution rights to the film. In a Violent Nature follows the resurrection and rampage of an undead monster in a remote wilderness. It will make its premiere in the festival’s Midnight section.

War Game, a political thriller feature documentary by Boat Rocker Media-owned New York and L.A.-based company Matador Content is directed by Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber. It will premiere in the Special Screenings section. The doc is produced by Jack Turner and Mark DiCristofaro of Matador Content, Nick Shumaker and Jessica Grimshaw for Anonymous Content, and Moss under his Mile End Films West banner.

Executive producers include Boat Rocker’s Ivan Schneeberg, David Fortier and Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin for Matador Content, and Dawn Olmstead and David Levine for Anonymous Content. Warren Littlefield of The Littlefield Co., and Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz of Quaker Moving Pictures are also executive producers on the film.

War Game, shot over two days in Washington D.C., documents an unscripted role-play exercise in which a bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the U.S. military after a contested election. Boat Rocker and U.S.-based Anonymous Content first announced the partnership to co-finance and co-sell the doc in February.

Also making its world premiere is the Canada-France-Haiti copro Kidnapping Inc., a dark comedy directed by Haiti-born filmmaker Bruno Mourral. The film is co-written by Mourral, Gilbert Jr. Mirambeau and Jasmuel Andri.

Kidnapping Inc. is produced by Montreal-based Périphéria, France’s Promenades Films, BHM Films, and Haiti’s Muska Films. Yanick Létourneau is producing for Périphéria, and Samuel Chauvin for Promenades. Gaëthan Chancy, Mirambeau and Mourral also produced. Shot in Haiti, Mourral’s debut feature follows the misadventures of two hapless kidnappers who find themselves in the middle of a political conspiracy. Kidnapping Inc. will be distributed in Canada by Filmoption International, with a theatrical release set for 2024.

Also debuting is the doc Sugarcane from Julian Brave NoiseCat of the Secwepemc Nation in B.C. and Canadian journalist Emily Kassie. The film looks at an investigation into the abuse of children at a residential school near Sugarcane Reserve in British Columbia. It is produced by Kellen Quinn and Kassie under her U.S.-based Kassie Films banner, and Hedgehog Films, Fit Via Vi and Impact Partners, also based in the U.S.

Rounding out the list of Canadian coproductions making their world premieres is Winner, a Winnipeg-shot film written, directed and produced by U.S. filmmaker Susanna Fogel, is based on the true story of NSA contractor Reality Winner, who was prosecuted for exposing Russia’s hacking of the 2016 election in the U.S.

The film is also produced by Amanda Phillips, Shivani Rawat, Julie Goldstein, Scott Budnick, and Ameet Shukla. Executive producers include Daniel Bekerman, Dani Melia, Peter Saraf, Myron John Tataryn, Terry Dougas, Connor Flanagan, Ben Yano, Michael B. Clark and Alex Turtletaub.

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival will run in-person from Jan. 18 to 28 in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles available online in the U.S. from Jan 25 to 28.

Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Festival