Sundance Film Festival reveals drama, documentary contenders

LOS ANGELES — The dramatic contenders at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival span history, genre and setting, from the slave days in the South to the gay-sex scene today in Los Angeles’ Korean spas.

Recent Sundance success stories include Colin Trevorrow’s hyper-charged career trajectory, from premiering his first feature at Sundance in 2012 to directing the summer smash “Jurassic World”; and “Fruitvale Station” director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan, who followed up their 2013 Sundance hit with this year’s “Creed.”

The festival’s domestic documentary slate features stories of unsung heroes, such as ALS advocate and former NFL star Steve Gleason, and perspectives on gun violence and social media.

Titles include “Newtown,” about the community’s recovery from the 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school, and “Audrie & Daisy,” about two teenage victims of online bullying.

Cooper and Groth said there’s a sexy undercurrent to the international dramas: A group of college brainiacs try to lose their virginity in “Brahman Naman” from India; a mermaid falls in love with a man in Poland’s “The Lure”; a woman forms a relationship with a wolf in Germany’s “Wild”; and “Male Joy, Female Love” from China is described as a portrayal of “an unlimited cycle of love stories.”