Final Cut, French Remake Of One Cut Of The Dead, Drops Out Of Sundance Following Fest's Digital Move

On January 5, 2022, it was announced that the Sundance Film Festival would cancel its in-person events and move completely online. It was originally going to be a hybrid event with some online and some in-person events. The move came as more and more people contracted the Omicron variant of Covid. Things have been shifting all over the place, and now we have the news from The Hollywood Reporter that director Michel Hazanavicius is pulling his upcoming zombie film "Final Cut" (French title: "Z (comme Z)") from the 2022 Sundance line-up. 

In a statement, Hazanavicius said:

We fully support Sundance's decision to move the festival to a virtual format, as the safety of audiences and filmmakers is of paramount importance ... However, we believe that it is best to premiere Final Cut in a theater with a live audience and have made the difficult decision to remove the film from this year's festival. We wish Sundance and all the filmmakers involved an excellent festival and look forward to sharing Final Cut with audiences very soon.

"Final Cut" is a remake of the 2017 Japanese horror film "One Cut of the Dead." 

This is reportedly the first film to drop out of the festival, and as the site reports, this is the second year in a row that Sundance will be all virtual. The Sundance organizers put out a statement as well:

We had looked forward to screening Final Cut and due to the shift in our format they are no longer participating in the Festival. We respect the filmmaker's wishes to share their work in a different capacity. We remain committed to supporting filmmakers as we navigate the changing landscape to ensure independent artists get the visibility they deserve and while we're deeply disappointed to not gather as intended, the safety of our entire community must come first.

It's all very supportive, these statements, and it's honestly heartbreaking to see another year of cancellations and virtual events. I'm sure Sundance is in no danger of disappearing, but I do wonder about things like San Diego Comic-Con and SXSW. Sundance was set for January 20-30, 2022 in Park City, Nevada.

"Final Cut" stars Bérénice Bejo (who also starred in Hazanavicius' "The Artist"), Romain Duris, Grégory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield, and Matilda Lutz. It is produced by John Penotti, Noëmie Devide, Alain de la Mata, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maravalr, and Hazanavicius.