Venue: Sundance Film Festival (Premieres)Ĭast: Thandiwe Newton, Jeremy Bobb, Joris Jarsky, Jefferson White, Kai Lennox, Tanaya Beatty The next day, she sees the truck again and finds her crumpled note buried in the snow.

Annoyed, she leaves a note for the trespassers: This is private property, and they need to find another parking spot. Upon returning home from the makeshift funeral, she spots an unfamiliar red pick-up truck in her driveway. Death haunts the film’s opening sequences, as a solemn Sandra oversees her mother’s cremation and later buries the ashes. And a brash, violent feud traps us, making it impossible to look away from this often exhilarating, if occasionally overcooked, film.īased on mystery writer James Lee Burke’s short story, “Winter Light,” God’s Country follows university professor Sandra Guidry (an arresting Thandiwe Newton) navigating the rocky, unpredictable landscape of mourning. Crisp, steady shots of snow-powdered mountainous terrain sustain us. A solitary woman’s grief lures us into God’s Country, Julian Higgins’ slow-burn drama.