"The Sundance Film Festival concludes its 2026 edition this weekend, marking its final year in its iconic home of Park City, Utah, before moving on to its new host city in Boulder, Colorado next year. As we continue to look back at the hefty legacy of queer films that premiered there over the years, this week we'll revisit a landmark lesbian drama that put a beloved '80s icon back in the spotlight, and kickstarted the career of one of the most representative filmmakers of the New Queer Cinema wave."
"Premiering at Sundance in 1998, High Art, The film (directed by then first-time feature director Lisa Cholodenko) follows Sydney (Radha Mitchell), a young aspiring editor at a renowned photography magazine, who one day learns that she and her boyfriend James (Gabriel Mann) are living underneath world-famous retired photographer Lucy Berliner (played by '80s Brat Pack icon Ally Sheedy)."
"As Sydney befriends Lucy and convinces her to shoot a feature for her magazine, she falls into her bohemian and sexually fluid circle of party friends (which includes Lucy's on-&-off German girlfriend Greta, deliciously played by Patricia Clarkson), as well as the heavy drug addictions that simultaneously binds them together and is slowly destroying them."
High Art premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998 and centers on Sydney, a young aspiring editor at a photography magazine. Sydney discovers that she and her boyfriend James live beneath retired photographer Lucy Berliner, played by Ally Sheedy. Sydney befriends Lucy and persuades her to shoot a magazine feature, entering a bohemian, sexually fluid circle including Lucy's on-and-off German girlfriend Greta, played by Patricia Clarkson. The narrative examines heavy drug addiction among creative people and how addiction entwines with artistic practice while eroding relationships. The film launched director Lisa Cholodenko's career and marked a notable comeback for Ally Sheedy.
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