Aliens & Adolescence: 48Hours Managers Head to Sundance

Posted 17th December 2025

An off season Vista Foundation 48Hours post to acknowledge the mammoth achievements of two of our regional managers - Alix Whittaker and Thomas Coppell who have both produced feature films that have been selected to premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

Big Girls Don’t Cry, directed and written by Paloma Schneideman, and produced by Thomas as well as Vicky Pope will premiere in competition in the World Dramatic Competition, celebrating powerful international voices. 

While Mum I’m Alien Pregnant, directed and written by duo THUNDERLIPS and produced by Alix alongside former national and Auckland regional manager Morgan Leigh Stewart and Ilai Amar will premiere as part of the ‘Midnight’ section, a showcase for bold, genre-bending storytelling.

Sundance Film Festival Programmers say Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant is a riotous body-horror comedy where the physical challenges of getting unexpectedly knocked-up by a well-meaning extraterrestrial are second only to the impossibility of figuring out parental boundaries and a long-term childcare plan. The ensemble cast shines, with Hannah Lynch at the helm in a breakout performance that grows from deadpan listlessness into empowered self-sufficiency as she grapples with the stark reality of her womb’s parasitic new tenant. 

Big Girls Don’t Cry is set over a transformative summer in 2006, where 14-year-old Sid Bookman discovers desire, identity and the internet, as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by. Starring Ani Palmer in a breakout role, alongside Rain Spencer (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Good Girl Jane), and acclaimed actor Noah Taylor (Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders). Sundance Film programmers say that the film has been crafted as an artful coming-of-age portrait of queer adolescence that beautifully inhabits the liminal space between youth and adulthood, desire and experience — a time when we’re conscious of everything, but lacking language for any of it. 

Both films were funded by Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga, the New Zealand Film Commission and will be released in New Zealand cinemas in 2026. 

Sundance is the most prestigious independent film festival in North America, receiving over 4000 entries per year, with spots being highly sought after and competitive. Only 10 films are selected in both the Midnight and World Dramatic Competition’s so any New Zealand film making it to Sundance is massive - let alone two in one year, let alone two from two of our 48Hours whanau who are both alumni of the competition. 

Thomas had this to say “I’m completely blown away to have the first feature film I’ve produced in competition at Sundance - it was the achievement I’ve dreamed of since I was a teenager watching Donnie Darko in my dungeon of a bedroom as a teenager. I’m over the moon for our director, our crew and our rangatahi cast who will all be launched by the film. And for our 48Hours whanau - It was in a 48Hours Wellington City Final that I scouted my first filmmaking team, this comp ripples forward in fascinating ways, I’m so excited to bring the vibrations, and learnings from Sundance back to Te Whanganui-a-Tara for the 2026 comp.”

Alix had this to say “This is a dream come true. I cannot thank our cast, crew, suppliers, and partners enough for believing in this vision, and in our team. THUNDERLIPS were 48Hours National Finalists in 2013, and have been working tirelessly on developing their feature film scripts for the last decade, this film is a huge testament to their tenacity. I’m enormously proud of them, and everyone who helped us bring this film to life.”