Haunted by an abusive childhood, Audrey, a Korean American woman in her 30s, faces her emotional past. When her mother’s car accident brings her back to her parents’ home, she meets the man responsible for the accident. Their relationship builds, passions ignite, and they form a loving connection. Audrey and Eli are very different people, but they are haunted by their past in a similar way. Having lived through difficult times as children of immigrant parents, they carry their hurt and isolation in their adulthood with the accompanying confusion of how to care for family and themselves. Actors Moon Choi and Son Sukku sparkle as two people who find each other amid all the guilt, anger, and “han,” and, in doing so, find a way to heal. In her feature debut, marked with great vulnerability, writer-director Stephanie Ahn beautifully articulates the complicated emotional landscape of immigrant children who are now all grown up. Bedford Park is a heartfelt expression of human experience not often seen on screen. It is a film so many have been waiting for. — SS

DIRECTOR
Stephanie Ahn

SCREENWRITER
Stephanie Ahn

PRODUCERS
Gary Foster
Chris S. Lee
Nina Yang Bongiovi
Theresa Kang
Son Sukku
Russ Krasnoff

CAST
Moon Choi
Son Sukku
Won Mi Kyung
Kim Eung Soo
Jefferson White

A divorced doctor’s carefully constructed life in Cleveland is upended when his daughter’s debate aspirations and the unexpected return of a past love force him to confront his own choices and embrace a second chance. Noah (Chris Pine) is firmly entrenched in his life, which might be a bit lonely but allows him to care for his anxious daughter and his family medical practice. One night, though, he learns his old high school girlfriend Rebecca (Jenny Slate) has returned to town. Now with different life experiences, but the same attraction and shared history of heartbreak, they wonder if love is worth the inevitable pain and complications. Writer-director Rachel Lambert returns with a story told in a pitch-perfect winsome tone, with a sharp eye that captures essential truths, like to love is to lose. Featuring wonderful performances from Pine, Slate, and others, Carousel is a film about lovers, family, getting older — but maybe not growing up — and how change is the only constant in life. — SS

DIRECTOR
Rachel Lambert

SCREENWRITER
Rachel Lambert

PRODUCERS
Alex Saks
David Lipper
Robert A. Daly Jr.
Ian Gotler
Chris Pine

CAST
Chris Pine
Jenny Slate
Abby Ryder Fortson
Sam Waterston
Katey Sagal

In Tehran’s underground art scene, two young women build a blissful world of freedom and sisterhood. But when their creative circle is exposed, they must fight to save each other. Writer-directors Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz make their Festival directorial debut with a uniquely current film exploring artistic practice and community in contemporary Iran. Through bold cinematography and raw performances, the pair capture a clever, careful deconstruction of the line between theatricality and reality. The result is the permeation of a vibrant kindness and a creeping tension — a powerful, unexpected emotional rhythm. Central to the narrative is an authentic, radical care between women dedicated to holding one another in community through artistic and personal upheaval. As such, The Friend’s House is Here is a rare film audiences aren’t often gifted — one that reflects the softness and humanity of the Persian populace, a mass of passionate young artists for whom expression is an ultimate form of freedom. As life imitates art (and vice versa), the theater becomes a microcosm of modern Iran — the maintenance of artistic dignity the ultimate act of resistance. — CA

DIRECTORS
Hossein Keshavarz
Maryam Ataei

SCREENWRITERS
Hossein Keshavarz
Maryam Ataei

PRODUCERS
Hossein Keshavarz
Maryam Ataei

CAST
Mahshad Bahram
Hana Mana
Farzad Karen
Zohreh Pirnia

Haru and Luis love competing in Tokyo’s ballroom dance scene, but after tragedy strikes, Haru withdraws into isolation. When friends coax her back to the studio, she develops an infatuation with the new instructor. She must face what comes next as sparks fly. Director Josef Kubota Wladyka’s effervescent depiction of a woman dancing through her grief is as heartwarming as it is fun. Visually bold and brimming with whimsy yet grounded in emotional truth, the film pulses with vivid colors, vibrant music, and zesty characters. Acclaimed actress Rinko Kikuchi brings profound sensitivity and endearing charm to the role of Haru, deftly balancing the weight of a mourning widow with the spark of newfound desire. Breakout dance numbers offer a window into her fantastical imagination, featuring invigorating choreography matched by a camera that feels just as kinetic. While the film is anchored by processing grief, Haru’s journey bursts with so much messy life that it serves as a joyous reminder of the beauty of living, and living full out. — SO

DIRECTOR
Josef Kubota Wladyka

SCREENWRITERS
Josef Kubota Wladyka
Nicholas Huynh

PRODUCERS
Kimberly Parker Zox
Mao Nagakura
Josef Kubota Wladyka

CAST
Rinko Kikuchi
Alberto Guerra
Alejandro Edda
YOU
Yoh Yoshida
Damián Alcázar

After he’s kicked out of his Indiana high school, an American kid and his Lebanese mom hit the road west. Ramzi Bashour’s lyrical debut feature is a rippling reflection on westward motion. Expansive landscapes literally and narratively unfurl epic canvases large enough to hold this duo’s dual exploration of home. Lubna Azabal (Strangers, 2008 Sundance Film Festival) and Daniel Zolghadri (Lurker, 2025 Sundance Film Festival) deliver remarkably connected central performances and are joined by Festival familiar Dale Dickey (Winter’s Bone, 2010 Sundance Film Festival). A personal story tracing the impact of a longitudinal experience of this country — its variety and the unusual circumstances under which any person traverses it — grapples with definitions of home, histories of diaspora, and the disruptive but good work of education. An allegory about the way forward motion often leads to return, Hot Water brings beginnings and endings into insightful alignment. — AC

DIRECTOR
Ramzi Bashour

SCREENWRITER
Ramzi Bashour

PRODUCER
Jesse Hope
Max Walker-Silverman
Josh Peters

CAST
Lubna Azabal
Daniel Zolghadri
Dale Dickey
Gabe Fazio

After 8-year-old Josephine accidentally witnesses a crime in Golden Gate Park, she acts out in search of a way to regain control of her safety while adults are helpless to console her. Writer-director Beth de Araújo creates a tense, devastating, and transcendently empathetic portrait of a young girl wrestling with a newly discovered fear and anger she can neither escape nor fully comprehend after her encounter with violence. Greta Zozula’s precise cinematography escalates the unease, frequently placing us in Josephine’s vulnerable, frustrated perspective as the film finds a bold and unique visual language to represent how the experience continues to haunt her. Mason Reeves delivers a searching, tender performance as Josephine. As her fiercely protective father and sensitive mom, Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan give keenly felt turns as parents who are totally devoted to their struggling, beloved child but are ill-equipped to navigate the upheaval their family faces. Philip Ettinger does unforgettable work in a crucial, complex supporting role. — HZ

DIRECTOR
Beth de Araújo

SCREENWRITER
Beth de Araújo

PRODUCERS
David Kaplan
Josh Peters
Beth de Araújo
Marina Stabile
Mark H. Rapaport
Crystine Zhang

CAST
Mason Reeves
Channing Tatum
Gemma Chan
Philip Ettinger
Syra McCarthy
Eleanore Pienta

When a frustrated playwright and middle school theater teacher finds out his ex-girlfriend has started dating his nemesis, the school’s principal, he decides to ruin the principal’s chances of winning the Blue Ribbon of Academic Excellence. In her colorful, constantly surprising feature debut, director Giselle Bonilla delivers a darkly funny, delightfully twisted ode to the inspirational power of spite. Alexander Heller’s screenplay offers a witty takedown of public school performance culture and riffs on the politics of the theater world as it follows Doug Leibowitz down his unhinged path for revenge and recognition. Will Brill captivatingly embodies Doug’s stewing toxic resentment as his personal and professional torment transform him from an uncharismatic sad sack into a hilariously dastardly antihero. Brill’s bravura work is supported by veteran actors Rob Lowe and Gillian Jacobs as the couple whose relationship spurs Doug’s quest for revenge, as well as the spirited comic turns of the talented young performers portraying the eager middle school theater troupe he influences with his antics. — HZ

DIRECTOR
Giselle Bonilla

SCREENWRITER
Alexander Heller

PRODUCERS
Rob Lowe
Greg Lauritano
Alexander Heller
Findlay Brown
Jordan Backhus

CAST
Will Brill
Gillian Jacobs
Rob Lowe

A teenage girl stages an elaborate musical about the one day her high school wishes it could forget. In her striking debut feature, writer-director NB Mager boldly wades into the thorny aftermath of a school tragedy with thoughtfulness and a refreshing recentering of the young people most directly affected. Working tonal miracles in her script’s balance of dark humor and heartbreak, Mager brings us front and center into the absurdist reality many students in America know all too well — one where adults’ empty promises, reactivity, and platitudes obscure genuine emotional processing. At the heart of it all is a breakout performance from Alyssa Marvin, who embodies Meg in all her layered complexity and affecting persistence as she looks to heal from the impossible. A tender testament to the power of theater told with unconventional charm, Run Amok presents a singular vision that subverts catharsis and honors the lingering lack of answers. — AS

DIRECTOR
NB Mager

SCREENWRITER
NB Mager

PRODUCERS
Julie Christeas
Frank Hall Green

CAST
Alyssa Marvin
Patrick Wilson
Margaret Cho
Sophia Torres
Elizabeth Marvel
Molly Ringwald

Anna, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee with a cognitive disability, cares for her aging parents in a fragile balance of meeting one another’s needs. When a Florida heat wave shatters their family and Anna’s routine, her future is uncertain until she creates a world where she can thrive. Liz Sargent’s intimate debut drama examines the shifting demands placed on a unique — and uniquely vulnerable — family in a Florida suburb. Working with a terrific ensemble, the writer-director details the struggles of Anna (newcomer Anna Sargent, the director’s sister), fellow adopted sibling Emily (Ali Ahn), and devoted father Bob (Victor Slezak), who is succumbing to dementia. Expanded from Sargent’s acclaimed short (2023 Sundance Film Festival), Take Me Home exposes the indignities of the American health care system and the structural challenges faced by disabled people. The film also gently and imaginatively traces a path for Anna’s independence and connection to a community of chosen family. By turns quietly devastating and bracingly optimistic, Take Me Home confronts us with an impossible situation, while holding out hope for Anna’s future. — MC

DIRECTOR
Liz Sargent

SCREENWRITER
Liz Sargent

PRODUCERS
Apoorva Guru Charan
Minos Papas

CAST
Anna Sargent
Victor Slezak
Ali Ahn
Marceline Hugot
Shane Harper

Assigned to a county-mandated drug court program, Cody Parsons embarks on the tenuous journey toward recovery amid the opioid epidemic in rural Ohio. Director Adam Meeks stays close to home in his debut feature, setting this recovery story in his hometown. His roots plunge this film to a subterranean depth, operating with an authenticity that gives great dignity to this portrait of a community engaged in profound struggle. Lending gravitas to the cyclical patterns of recovery brings the audience into the quietude and frankness of the battleground with addiction, illuminating the triumphs and failures that unfold daily in the fight to stay alive and the even more audacious struggle to live fully. This groundedness is supported by incredibly deft performances by Will Poulter (Glassland, 2015 Sundance Film Festival) and Noah Centineo. The leads embedded themselves in the community they portray for months and are joined on screen by local nonactors — a uniquely honest approach that lays bare consummately intimate truths. — AC

DIRECTOR
Adam Meeks

SCREENWRITER
Adam Meeks

PRODUCERS
Brad Becker-Parton
Martha Gregory
Stephanie Roush
Faye Tsakas
Sean Weiner
Tim Headington
Theresa Steele Page
Ellyn Daniels
Will O’Connor
Will Poulter

CAST
Will Poulter
Noah Centineo
Elise Kibler
Emily Meade
Annette Deao

When three American doctors — Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian — enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth. The war in Gaza has deeply involved another country: the United States. As the attacks intensified in Gaza and medical expertise and capabilities were decimated, American doctors felt a professional and moral obligation to act. Making the difficult but necessary triage decisions after an attack, caring for suffering children, and concerned for their own personal safety, the three physicians in American Doctor are impressive individuals from different backgrounds and experiences, unified in their desire to ease suffering and raise their voices as citizens to demand action from their own government. From Gaza hospitals to the halls of American power, director Poh Si Teng unflinchingly depicts a terrible reality and also shows a path forward to engage on such a difficult issue with humanity and collective action. — SS

DIRECTOR
Poh Si Teng


PRODUCERS
Poh Si Teng
Kirstine Barfod
Reem Haddad

Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story. Acclaimed playwright and director Luis Valdez recognized early on the profound impact of seeing one’s own humanity reflected onstage and on screen. He used theater to ignite change while working alongside farmworkers and Cesar Chavez, and he made films that amplified Chicano experiences. His work expanded audiences, bringing in people who had rarely seen their stories told before. Now, director David Alvarado reveals the fuel behind his legendary career. Alvarado brings us close to Valdez, charting his career milestones and enduring cultural influence. He employs vibrant stylistic choices, using split screens, remarkable archival footage rescued from decay, and a pachuco narrator who tells it like it is by interjecting candid commentary throughout. Alvarado ensures Luis Valdez’s contributions are unmistakable and that his message — “America is Chicano” — resonates proudly, which feels especially vital for today. — SO

DIRECTOR
David Alvarado

PRODUCERS
David Alvarado
Lauren DeFilippo
Everett Katigbak
Amanda Pollak

An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer. Turning the lens on a celebrated filmmaker is no easy task, particularly one whose work is as groundbreaking, sensual, and life-affirming as Barbara Hammer’s. Yet, director Brydie O’Connor does her justice. Weaving a kinetic tapestry of archival footage guided by Hammer’s own voice, the film offers an intimate front-row seat into the mind of a visual poet. Barbara Hammer was deeply concerned with who makes history and who is left out, which motivated her to record her life, her body, her lovers, and the joy found in her lesbian identity. O’Connor’s portrait is an inspiring tribute and candid document of artistic process, capturing the persistence, unabashed ambition, and inevitable tensions such drive creates. Barbara Hammer’s work opened the door for so many artists, and her legacy, so deftly captured here, reminds us why. — SO

DIRECTOR
Brydie O’Connor

PRODUCERS
Elijah Stevens
Brydie O’Connor
Claire Edelman

Joybubbles discovers he can manipulate the telephone system by whistling a magic tone. Born blind and yearning for connection, his early obsession unwittingly lays the groundwork for a subculture that shapes the future of hacking and technology. A film as uplifting as its protagonist’s chosen name, Joybubbles recounts the story of Joe Engressia, a lonely boy who turned his love for the telephone into a way to connect with the world. One of the first “phone phreaks,” protohackers who used technology to subvert the monopoly of the global telecom network, he defied a paternalistic, ableist society to fulfill his dreams of living an independent life — and insisted on having fun along the way. From operating the Zzzzyzzerrific Funline and adopting the name Joybubbles, to renouncing adulthood’s responsibilities and declaring himself a perpetual 5-year-old, he reclaimed a childhood haunted by trauma to spread joyful wonder to anyone willing to listen. Rachael J. Morrison brings that same sense of delight to her feature debut, creatively employing playful archival material to illustrate Joybubbles’ unforgettable story, told in his own voice. — BT

DIRECTOR
Rachael J. Morrison

PRODUCER
Sarah Winshall

An environmental nuclear bomb looms in Utah. Two intrepid scientists and a political insider race the clock to save their home from unprecedented catastrophe. Urgency emanates from this sober record that local Utah filmmaker Abby Ellis logs in human history — a chapter of monumental ecological and social consequence unfolding in our shared home. Intertwining the inextricable fates of the Great Salt Lake and the millions of people who live, work, and travel surrounding it, Ellis achieves an existential scope that is both terrifying and motivating, wrought with divinity and doom. Balancing beautifully the perspectives, burdens, contributions, and challenges of Utah’s top political leaders, agricultural providers, and scientific thinkers, The Lake captures the intricate complexity that binds these communities together. In tackling this epic tale about the power and responsibility of knowledge and how to disseminate it, Ellis is a responsible, constructive steward of her lineage both as a Utahn and an environmental filmmaker. — AC

DIRECTOR
Abby Ellis

PRODUCERS
Fletcher Keyes
Abby Ellis

A polar bear is forced to navigate a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. When a sacred predator is branded a nuisance, it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape. Filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman return to Churchill, Manitoba — affectionately known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World” — to deepen the inquiry begun in their award-winning short film. The result is a striking portrait of the fraught coexistence between polar bears and humans, guided by an Inuit narrator whose insights resist simplification. The film traces this relationship with nuance, revealing how these arctic creatures deal with being constantly monitored, photographed, and redirected. There is a thrill in watching a polar bear outwit human efforts to contain it, underscoring the bears’ resilience and the fragility of the systems that attempt to control them. By challenging the conventions of a nature documentary and favoring confrontation over moralism, Nuisance Bear invites us to reconsider our assumptions about wildlife as spectacle. — AT

DIRECTOR
Gabriela Osio Vanden
Jack Weisman

PRODUCERS
Michael Code
Will N. Miller
Teddy Leifer

An unprecedented look inside one of the greatest media experiments to hijack American screens. Rare archives from New York’s underground capture a world of creators who shattered rules, defied censors, and transformed our televisions into a free-speech battleground where anyone could be a star. The internet and social media platforms may have given birth to influencers and content creators, but decades before their popularization, public access television such as New York City’s Manhattan Cable Television opened up the floodgates for technological free expression. With no editorial input allowed, ordinary New Yorkers had carte blanche to create — from the interactive Grube Tube to Glenn O’Brien’s underground scene free-for-all TV Party and the pioneering LGBTQ+ series The Emerald City. But when sexually explicit programming pushed the boundaries and stirred public debate, First Amendment court battles followed. David Shadrack Smith takes viewers through the unfiltered creativity and chaos of this paradigm-shifting new technology, which presaged today’s media-driven world. As Public Access cheekily warns, “Brace yourself! Nothing you have ever seen before can prepare you for this.” — BT

DIRECTOR
David Shadrack Smith

PRODUCERS
Sara Crow
Anne-Marcelle Ngabirano

When the small town of Marion, Kansas, is thrust into the international spotlight after a police raid on the Marion County Record and the death of its 98-year-old co-owner, a fierce debate ignites about the abuse of power, journalistic ethics, local journalism, and the United States Constitution. In politically turbulent times, existential tumult can coalesce into an overwhelming storm. Like lightning in a bottle, director Sharon Liese (Parker, 2023 Sundance Film Festival) captures the story of the Marion County Record raid, a perfectly illustrative microcosm of the moment. The specificity of this story, its lively and distinctive players, and its weighty ethical and democratic consequences make not only for a gripping watch, but an orienting, sobering, grounding experience amidst an onslaught of state overreach, press suppression, and threats to journalism as we know it. Diligent storytelling, kaleidoscopic perspectives, rich context, and generosity in allowing its audience to reach their own conclusions make Seized an excellent antidote to the threats it so potently captures. Liese returns to the Sundance Film Festival with this crucial contribution to journalistic discourse. — AC

DIRECTOR
Sharon Liese

PRODUCERS
Sharon Liese
Sasha Alpert
Paul Matyasovsky

From deep behind enemy lines, a hidden chapter of American military history is uncovered, prompting the question of whether reckoning with the past can bring peace to those who lived it. The Vietnam War’s first Black special operations team reunites to tell their story. As a teenager, Ed Emanuel proudly joined the military and marveled at the world from his first ever plane to Vietnam. When the flight captain announced Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, a dreadful new reality struck Emanuel — the fight for the civil rights of his own people was sparking to a new level. So, what the hell was he doing in Saigon? Soul Patrol is an immersive journey through the identity crisis of what it meant to be a “soul brother” fighting in Vietnam. Director J.M. Harper crafts precious archival footage, reenactments, and testimonies to awaken a history that has disappeared behind narratives of imperial legacy and military stoicism. Soul Patrol is a radiant journey through shame and isolation, as Emanuel reunites his team, attempting to heal their common trauma. — SF

DIRECTOR
J.M. Harper

PRODUCERS
Sam Bisbee
Danielle Massie
J.M. Harper
Nasir Jones
Peter Bittenbender

The assassination of a beloved Palestinian American activist in Southern California ignites a 40-year quest for justice, revealing the roots of a dangerous political movement that thrives today. Activist, teacher, and poet Alex Odeh was a leading voice in his community, advocating in the media for peace and justice through dialogue and respect for all people. In October 1985, he was assassinated by a tripwire bomb placed in his office. Despite evidence and suspects identified at the time, no one has ever been held accountable for this horrible act of political violence. Using archival footage and contemporary investigation, directors Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans take us back to the time of Odeh’s murder and trace the extremist forces that may have been behind his death and the disturbing ramifications that remain today. With a gripping style and surprising revelations, Who Killed Alex Odeh? asks a question that has never been more relevant and in need of answering. — SS

DIRECTORS
Jason Osder
William Lafi Youmans

PRODUCERS
Dawne Langford
William Lafi Youmans
Jason Osder
Daniel J. Chalfen

Over one transformative summer in rural New Zealand in 2006, 14-year-old Sid Bookman discovers desire, identity, and the internet as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by. Paloma Schneideman, mentored through Jane Campion’s film program, crafts 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. With aching recognition, we’re inescapably drawn into Sid (newcomer Ani Palmer in a stellar breakout performance) — her trying on of identities, mimicry, feigning of maturity, shame, and longing for acceptance — as she endears herself to a group of older teens, the first generation for whom sexual curiosity is entwined with the internet. Schneideman’s voice is fresh and vibrant, her intimate, shallow-focus photography drawn to faces and bodies, full of precarity and vulnerability and perfectly attuned to these young people. The film breathes with specificity and authenticity, ironically rendering so sharply an interior life that is, by its nature, so obscure. — JN

DIRECTOR
Paloma Schneideman

SCREENWRITER
Paloma Schneideman

PRODUCERS
Vicky Pope
Thomas Coppell

CAST
Ani Palmer
Rain Spencer
Noah Taylor

In an English girls boarding school, two teenage best friends grapple with the challenges of girlhood — friendship, boys, studies, and growing up — and embark on their school project, falling in love. In her thoroughly funny, stylish debut feature, Molly Manners (In My Skin, One Day) offers a wry, poignant story about best friendship. Brought to life through standout debut performances from Galaxie Clear and Marni Duggan, Minna and Flic exist entirely in each others’ worlds — their perfectly synchronous thoughts and movements playfully accented by Manners’ visual style. Charming, adorably self-centered, codependent, and snide, they audition together for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (despite Shakespeare being rubbish) and — knowing that love makes one “worldly” — decide their school project will be to fall in love with the first person they see: their geography teacher (Alice Englert). They hatch a plan, enamored of their own cleverness (“We should probably dream about her.”), but their synchronicity soon falters. Extra Geography offers a bittersweet lesson in unsinkable friendship: in life, love, and Shakespeare, someone always gets upstaged. — JN

DIRECTOR
Molly Manners

SCREENWRITER
Miriam Battye

PRODUCER
Sarah Brocklehurst

CAST
Marni Duggan
Galaxie Clear
Alice Englert
Aoife Riddell

Tee girl Isabel feels strangely drawn to Dr. Palanca, the president of the country club where she works. However, after piecing together a violent picture of what lies beneath the club’s pristine surface, she realizes that what began as an innocent infatuation is actually rooted in a sinister shared history. Displaying an extraordinary command of his surreal and unnerving visual language, first-time filmmaker Rafael Manuel adapts his award-winning 2020 short film of the same name to chilling effect. Manuel plumbs the depths of Filipino identity and national consciousness to uncover ominous fragments and cracks that defy picture-perfect unity. Through a stylized, colorful approach lensed with care and precision by cinematographer Xenia Patricia, Manuel takes us into a world where violence and control are exerted with the subtle flick of a wrist or tip of a hat. Painting a scathing portrait of class disparities and post-colonial power structures in ways that are both quiet and unsettling, Filipiñana announces the arrival of an accomplished writer-director who unflinchingly confronts his country’s past, present, and future. — AS

DIRECTOR
Rafael Manuel

SCREENWRITER
Rafael Manuel

PRODUCERS
Jeremy Chua
Alex Polunin
Bianca Balbuena
Bradley Liew
Nadia Turincev
Omar El Kadi
Rafael Manuel

CAST
Jorrybell Agoto
Carmen Castellanos
Teroy Guzman
Carlitos Siguion-Reyna
Isabel Sicat
Nour Houshmand

11-year-old Iris learns her estranged father, Aris, is back in town for his own father’s funeral. Determined to know him, Iris tracks him down to a dilapidated shipyard, where he’s been keeping to himself. What begins as a stubborn attempt to reconnect slowly unfolds into a fragile bond. Christos Passalis (Aris) and Maria Petrova (Iris) each deliver a downright exceptional performance, burrowing this ragamuffin story deep into the bones of the viewer. Particularity of place, a lovely score, and confident direction make for a stellar debut feature by Myrsini Aristidou. This Cypriot filmmaker offers a perspective from within her home country that is all the more beautiful for its grit and honesty. Lending an unusual degree of complexity to its young protagonist, HOLD ONTO ME (Κράτα Με) explores through minute moments rendered in exquisite nuance how a lineage of paternal fracture manifests itself. Mapping how far the echoes of our closest relationships reach, this is a film that travels and illuminates every distant corner of young Iris’ emotional landscape — a deeply gratifying journey. — AC

DIRECTOR
Myrsini Aristidou

SCREENWRITER
Myrsini Aristidou

PRODUCERS
Myrsini Aristidou
Monica Nicolaidou

CAST
Christos Passalis
Maria Petrova

In Vilnius in 2022, Marija has a revelation that she wants to divorce her husband, Vytas, right before Russia invades Ukraine. Forced to confront their crumbling relationship, they navigate the process of divorce as it collides with the ongoing war. Writer-director Andrius Blaževičius creates a sensitive and timely film that delicately inflects a compelling domestic drama with insight about the complicated experience of navigating daily life in an increasingly war-torn world. Just as they are dissolving their union, Marija and Vytas find that many of the values on which they’ve built their safe and comfortable lives feel in danger of crumbling. They are forced to juggle their anger and fear over a war igniting on their doorstep; a desire for normalcy for themselves and their clear-eyed daughter, Dovile; and the need to be on the side of right. While focused on the separating couple’s precarious path forward, Blaževičius’ script also sharply illustrates the myriad ways the Russian invasion impacts the entire cast of complex, believable characters who cross into the film’s frame. — HZ

DIRECTOR
Andrius Blaževičius

SCREENWRITER
Andrius Blaževičius

PRODUCERS
Marija Razgutė

CAST
Marius Repšys
Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė
Amelija Adomaitytė
Indrė Patkauskaitė
Gintarė Parulytė

In the border city of Juárez, Mexico, where violence against women is perpetrated with impunity, an unlikely defender emerges with a desperate call for change. Inspired by true events. Writer-director Suzanne Andrews Correa, an award-winning Sundance Film Festival shorts alum, returns to the Festival with a harrowing portrait of one woman pushed to extremes by an oppressive culture of violence, intimidation, and silence. Adriana Paz (Emilia Pérez) delivers a charged performance as Luz, a woman haunted by damage done to herself, her co-workers, and friends, who is desperate to protect her teenage daughter. Correa’s electric direction and Maria Sarasvati Herrera’s disorienting cinematography reinforce Luz’s constant, propulsive fear and evoke a sense of the stalking dangers that surround her as she carries out her transgressive acts of defiance. Veteran actor Teresa Sánchez adds texture and nuance as Ximena, who leads the search for the disappeared and murdered, offering her own hard-fought resistance to the stifling, violent misogyny that envelopes their community. — HZ

DIRECTOR
Suzanne Andrews Correa

SCREENWRITER
Suzanne Andrews Correa

PRODUCERS
Gabriela Maire
Edher Campos
Mynette Louie

CAST
Adriana Paz
Teresa Sánchez
Jennifer Trejo
Eme Malafe
Guillermo Alonso

In the sprawling African metropolis of Lagos, a fiercely independent young cab driver meets a band of radiantly reckless sex workers whose sisterhood pulls her into danger and joy, setting her on a journey toward her own transformation. Lady is a strong woman in a man’s world. A taxi driver on today’s streets of Lagos, Lady makes enough money to care for herself and her grandmother while most Nigerians must choose between breakfast and lunch. When her oil-producing motherland eliminates fuel subsidies for its citizens, Lady’s childhood friend, Pinky, propositions her to join ranks with her boss who is looking for a night driver for his ladies. Director Olive Nwosu’s exciting debut feature pulses with the potent energies and complex realities in Lagos. LADY radiates the love and dreams between people, the choices made to forge pathways for living through debilitating circumstances and intergenerational traumas, and the sea change of a new generation, rising to DJ Revolution’s call to decolonize their minds and take back their lives. — SF

DIRECTOR
Olive Nwosu

SCREENWRITER
Olive Nwosu

PRODUCERS
Alex Polunin
John Giwa-Amu
Stella Nwimo

CAST
Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah
Amanda Oruh
Tinuade Jemiseye
Binta Ayo Mogaji
Seun Kuti
Bucci Franklin

In a town where pleasure equals being possessed by spiritual beings, Bayu aspires to be the shaman of a trance party so he can fundraise enough money to prevent an impending eviction. Levitating is a visceral ride through the esoteric world of trance dance hypnosis, led by Bayu, a young, talented spirit channeler. His powerful flute can transport open-hearted dancers to inhabit creature energies from the land and usher them into a collective hallucination realm. But modernizing forces surrounding Bayu and his instrument threaten with increasingly distracting elements, which he must learn how to balance and integrate into his focus so that his flute maintains the ability to care for those it possesses. Director Wregas Bhanuteja expertly wields the languages of music, dance, joy, pain, banter, and narrative power in this outstanding coming-of-age film that is also a tale of how an Indigenous community comes together — and stays together — through its own traditions to withstand capitalist forces. — SF

DIRECTOR
Wregas Bhanuteja

SCREENWRITERS
Wregas Bhanuteja
Defi Mahendra
Alicia Angelina

PRODUCERS
Siera Tamihardja
Iman Usman
Amalia Rusdi

CAST
Angga Yunanda
Anggun
Maudy Ayunda
Bryan Domani
Chicco Kurniawan

After losing their livelihood in a village, a Kosovar family is forced to move to the capital in pursuit of a place in a hypercapitalist society. Shame and Money is a finely crafted portrait of hardworking people striving for a decent life while navigating relentless pressures and chronic instability. Shaban, a traditional head of the household, wants to be the provider, yet his mother’s savings keep the family afloat, and accepting help from a wealthy brother-in-law comes with additional challenges. With his pride steadily bruised and dignity slipping out of reach, Shaban drifts closer to an unseen edge — raising the question of how much more he can possibly endure. Director Visar Morina (Exile, 2020 Sundance Film Festival) approaches this complex story with great precision and confidence. Shame and Money is a masterclass in nuanced performances, especially from leads Astrit Kabashi and Flonja Kodheli, who inhabit Shaban and his wife, Hatixhe, with grace, empathy, and deep humanity. — AT

DIRECTOR
Visar Morina

SCREENWRITERS
Visar Morina
Doruntina Basha

PRODUCERS
Fabian Altenried
Sophie Ahrens
Kristof Gerega
Pia Hellenthal
Visar Morina

CAST
Astrit Kabashi
Flonja Kodheli
Kumrije Hoxha
Fiona Gllavica
Alban Ukaj

Amid the late ’80s pop craze and rising HIV epidemic, 12-year-old Boaz uncovers a devastating secret about the father he idolizes that threatens to tear his family apart. Across a yearslong journey, Boaz seeks to heal the wound and reclaim the father-son bond he never stopped yearning for. On the heels of his impressive first feature, Karaoke, Moshe Rosenthal crafts a captivating, deeply moving father-son story that explores the upheaval in a family after a startling revelation. Tell Me Everything is told with warmth and intimacy through the experience of Boaz, a boy nearing his bar mitzvah and manhood, yet still trying to understand masculinity and his father, his perspective blurred by confusion and fear. In exploring the truth, Boaz leaves his childhood behind with every step, carrying his shame, guilt, and anger into adulthood. Propelled by phenomenal performances, richly detailed storytelling, a vibrant visual sensibility, and a vivid evocation of the ’80s, Tell Me Everything is a poignant story of family, reckoning, and the search for a father — or maybe just the attempt to truly see him. — JN

DIRECTOR
Moshe Rosenthal

SCREENWRITER
Moshe Rosenthal

PRODUCERS
Alona Refua
Maya Fischer
Roi Kurland
Ben Giladi
Emilie Georges
Naima Abed

CAST
Yair Mazor
Ido Tako
Assi Cohen
Keren Tzur
Mor Dimri
Neta Orbach

A son of one of America’s wealthiest families creates a communist revolutionary base in rural Massachusetts as a means of disrupting the capitalist system he grew up in, but has now come to despise. It’s the starting point of an astonishing journey. Fergie Chambers is a communist who, as heir to one of the wealthiest families in American history, has the ability to create his vision of the world in a way that few do. He funds people and projects, like a Marxist-Leninist collective in Massachusetts, that seek to destroy the hypercapitalist structure that he himself is a product of. With his resources, it should be easy, but why isn’t it? From director Sinéad O’Shea comes a fascinating study of the power money has to make and destroy, and what access to astronomical wealth does to a person and those around him. All About the Money is a documentary for our times of concentrated wealth and power, and the dream of creating another world while still being mired in this one. — SS

DIRECTOR
Sinéad O’Shea

PRODUCERS
Sinéad O’Shea
Claire McCabe
Harry Vaughn
Katie Holly
Sigrid Dyekjær

The love story of a London-based Lebanese journalist and a Syrian activist and cameraman as told through 13 years of personal archives across revolutions, war, and exile. — “Can you find a story and film it?” “Yes, but who are you? All I know is that you’re from the BBC.” — Although they wouldn’t realize it yet, this text exchange begins the love story of filmmakers Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak. With international journalists banned during the Syrian civil war, outlets like the BBC must rely on activists on the ground to provide footage. Trading text messages and voice notes between London and Aleppo, Boulos tasks Habak to capture editorially approved stories, but, gradually, theirs shifts from a working relationship to something more. Immersive and emotional, Birds of War traces their parallel lives — Boulos becoming disenchanted with journalism, Habak facing the inevitable fall of Aleppo — as they grow closer. As both Syria and Boulos’ homeland of Lebanon undergo dramatic developments, the couple reflects on the sacrifices made because of politics and war, but also on what they’ve gained. — BT

DIRECTORS
Janay Boulos
Abd Alkader Habak

PRODUCERS
Sonja Henrici
Janay Boulos
Abd Alkader Habak

After his teenage son goes missing, Daniel scours the depths of the Vistula River, torn between the dread of a fatal leap and the hope that his son may still be alive. The Vistula River is hauntingly transformed into a purgatory for grieving father, Daniel, as he painstakingly scours each of its winding turns, pulled between the uncertainty of life and death in his search for any trace of his missing son, Krzysztof. Director Michał Marczak intuitively lets his camera drift between the placid surface of Poland’s longest river and the murky secrets of its depths, mirroring the stoic façade and inner tumult of a father torn between hope and grief. As weeks stretch into months and years, Daniel’s search slowly expands beyond the physical realm, and into the digital world, when he begins to chart the darkened halls of his son’s online footprint in an effort to understand how systems of connectivity can lead a generation to the abyss of isolation. — JH

DIRECTOR
Michał Marczak

PRODUCERS
Monika Braid
Michał Marczak
Rémi Grellety
Katarzyna Szczerba
Karolina Marczak

In May 2021, a U.K. Home Office dawn raid triggers one of the most spontaneous and successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory. In Scotland’s most diverse neighborhood, hundreds of residents rush to the streets to stop the deportation of their neighbors. The morning in Glasgow, the first day of Eid, started as any other. However, when neighbors heard through community message networks that two local men were snatched up for deportation, hundreds of people left their breakfast tables, work Zoom calls, and daily lives to rush down to Kenmure Street to save them by putting their bodies on the line. Though mostly strangers, and with almost no planning, this extremely diverse group organized themselves, taking on essential roles to allow the collective to achieve their goal: protecting their own from government forces going after the weakest among them. An inspiring and profoundly moving portrait of what “normal” citizens are capable of in the face of injustice, Everybody To Kenmure Street reminds us of the power that is always inherent in the people. — SS

DIRECTOR
Felipe Bustos Sierra

PRODUCERS
Ciara Barry
Felipe Bustos Sierra

A routine school commute turns terrifying when a cable car’s wire snaps, leaving eight passengers — including six schoolboys — dangling 900 feet above a ravine in the remote Himalayan foothills. With 10 hours before the remaining cable is expected to fail, a group of rescuers races to save them. With a startling sense of immediacy, Hanging by a Wire transports viewers to rural Battagram, in northern Pakistan, to witness this harrowing scene unfold, which quickly becomes international news. With the clock ticking and pressure mounting, regional authorities, army commandos, and courageous local community members undertake dramatic risks to save the cable car passengers. Fault lines around class emerge in the process, begging the question of whose knowledge and expertise is valued and whose is instead dismissed, as well as why proper transportation infrastructure is lacking in these remote areas. Drawing from up-close drone footage, on-the-ground recordings from the assembled community of onlookers, and skillful reenactments featuring actual participants from the incident, director Mohammed Ali Naqvi constructs a riveting, unforgettable documentary thriller. — BT

DIRECTOR
Mohammed Ali Naqvi

PRODUCERS
Mohammed Ali Naqvi
Bilal Sami

As a Nairobi journalist probes a land battle entangling the local government and a powerful multinational corporation, covered wounds are revealed and family secrets are exposed. Journalist and co-director Bea Wangondu knows that for the Kikuyu people, land is identity. But a history of colonialism in Kenya stripped communities of their land, leaving many to labor under harsh conditions on the ancestral soil now owned by corporations. Set against the beautifully captured richness of the landscape, Wangondu’s investigation lays bare the scars of this legacy, centering the voices of Kikuyus. She and co-director Andrew H. Brown weave together a nuanced portrait featuring workers exposing exploitation, a rallying legal battle for land restitution, dreams of life beyond the fields, and finally, Wangondu’s own painful family secrets. A persistent and deeply invested guide, Wangondu leads a pursuit of truth where the lush terrain stands as a living witness to historical trauma and the enduring resilience of those fighting to reclaim the land and their futures. — SO

DIRECTORS
Andrew H. Brown
Bea Wangondu

PRODUCERS
Moses Bwayo
Andrew H. Brown
Bea Wangondu
Mike Morrisroe
Joseph Njenga

Filmed over 10 years, one girl’s epic journey from Syria to Germany and back again. She and her family navigate war, exile, and heartbreak in a foreign land, illuminating the complexities of the refugee experience. Co-directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes bring a palpable blend of sensitivity and nuance to their portrayal of the Syrian refugee Isra’a and her loved ones, following them across time, borders, and shifting circumstances. It is clear that the filmmakers fully realize the weight of the trust and privilege that comes with undertaking a longitudinal project: to witness the experiences, challenges, and quiet joys of a remarkably resilient family forced to leave their beloved Aleppo. Even as Isra’a settles confidently into her new home in Cologne, tension builds when Western freedoms push against the comforting stability of Syrian traditions, straining once-tight bonds. An intimate and affecting exploration of rupture, resilience, and the search for belonging, One In A Million radiates heart and empathy, leaving a lasting impression. — AT

DIRECTORS
Itab Azzam
Jack MacInnes

PRODUCERS
Raney Aronson-Rath
Will Anderson
James Bluemel
Andrew Palmer

An investigation into laboratory research on animals exposes a hidden world in which it’s not just the animals getting hurt. The story of Dr. Lisa Jones Engel, a primatologist turned animal welfare advocate, asks whether harming animals and ourselves in science’s name is justified. Animal testing, specifically on primates, has long been controversial, but its supposed necessity for medical breakthroughs has made many in the medical community and general public accept it. Sentient questions this assumption with an open mind and deep research, drawing on evidence and testimony from people on the front lines of animal experimentation around the world, some of whom have been traumatized by what they’ve seen and done. With disturbing footage from highly secretive laboratories and a rigorous approach that includes conflicting voices, a complicated portrait of the efficacy of animal testing for the betterment of humankind emerges. Director Tony Jones asks us to consider, with great empathy to animals and humans alike: While we might have a need to test on animals, do we have a right? — SS

DIRECTOR
Tony Jones

PRODUCER
Ivan O’Mahoney

After #MeToo broke the cultural silence on gender violence, international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson fights against the weaponization of defamation laws to silence survivors. One of the strengths of Australian director Selina Miles’ engrossing documentary is the anger it ignites — an energizing anger born not of helplessness, but of clarity. Miles’ vérité approach creates intimacy, while extensive archival footage exposes both the personal cost and the systemic bias shaping legal battles faced by Jennifer Robinson and others. Silenced reveals a pattern: When women speak out, powerful systems move to discredit and punish them. The result is a visceral, globally connected portrait of women who refuse to be quiet. Silenced reminds us that awareness is not enough; change requires vigilance, solidarity, and the willingness to speak even when speaking comes at a cost. — AT

DIRECTOR
Selina Miles

PRODUCER
Blayke Hoffman

In the remote highlands of Montenegro, a shepherd mother and daughter proudly defend their ancestral mountain from the threat of becoming a NATO military training ground, stirring memories of the violence that shattered their family. Gara, To Hold a Mountain’s guiding light, is living proof that not all heroes wear capes. She spends long days herding sheep, making cheese, and fighting to protect her favorite place in the world — all while ensuring that young Nada grows up kind, capable, and empowered. In To Hold a Mountain, co-directors Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić craft a tender, visually stunning portrait of a remote mountain community of women driven by strenuous work and grassroots resistance. Despite their daily hardships and the lasting effects of generational trauma, they remain loving and dignified, nurturing not only one another, but also the animals they rely on for sustenance. The film powerfully captures the significance of love and persistence at a time when the past haunts and the future feels under attack. — AT

DIRECTORS
Biljana Tutorov
Petar Glomazić

PRODUCERS
Biljana Tutorov
Petar Glomazić
Quentin Laurent
Rok Biček

Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place. Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] documents the emotional and vital work of MACPRA (Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance). This alliance, made up of repatriation specialists representing all Michigan tribes, fights to bring their Ancestors and funerary objects home from settler colonial institutions like museums, libraries, and archives. Adam and Zack Khalil’s monumental and formally daring film follows the pressing struggle to rebury Indigenous human remains that have been held in sterile storage, laying bare the history of Indigenous collections and the battle to recognize and enforce the laws intended to facilitate their repatriation to the communities they were originally stolen from. Using an essayistic approach alongside vérité portraits, the film celebrates the courageous individuals who carry out this hard and emotionally draining labor of return. — AP

DIRECTORS
Adam Khalil
Zack Khalil

PRODUCERS
Steve Holmgren
Adam Khalil
Zack Khalil
Grace Remington
Jacque Clark
Franny Alfano

When runaway teen Ju-Ju is embraced by a tribe of misfit youths in Kabukicho, she finds belonging for the first time — until betrayal and despair twist her haven into a prison, and she’s left with one way to take back control. An extreme juxtaposition of formal radiance and narrative dread, Makoto Nagahisa’s latest feature is a transcendently colorful gut punch. Following We Are Little Zombies (2019 Sundance Film Festival) and his most recent short, Pisko the Crab Child is in Love (2024 Sundance Film Festival), Nagahisa executes his signature hypervibrance and unique character direction with finesse. Nana Mori bravely embodies Ju-Ju, pendulating between the embrace of a decadent Tokyo street-kid culture and the call of her ambition toward saviorhood. Nagahisa taunts us with an urban world that’s beautifully rotten and addictive — a twisted labyrinth for both character and viewer, at the center of which is an expansive darkness that’s impossible to shake. A one-of-a-kind, energetic approach to generational trauma and youth culture, BURN exhibits a brand of nihilism that’s challenging, and rewarding, to experience. — CA

DIRECTOR
Makoto Nagahisa

SCREENWRITER
Makoto Nagahisa

PRODUCERS
Yasuo Suzuki
Kazunori Seki
Takeyasu Koganezawa

CAST
Nana Mori

The untold origins of artificial intelligence lie not in machines but in power, revealing the fantasies behind the hype that got us here and where we go next. Director Valerie Veatch returns to the Sundance Film Festival to navigate the torrential rapids of artificial intelligence with this mind-expanding investigative essay documentary that excavates the philosophical, cultural, and political forces driving the global AI boom. Ghost in the Machine approaches ubiquitous questions like “What is AI?”, “Who is building it?”, and “What will humans become?” by exploring how emerging technologies have historically reshaped identity, culture, and global power, while also exposing the current fronts of human exploitation without which AI would not function. Veatch interviews a wide variety of historians, philosophers, sociologists, journalists, and thinkers from around the world to lend fresh perspectives on what AI is, how it works, and how people can maintain a sense of agency in a threatening and overbearing tech-driven world. — SF

DIRECTOR
Valerie Veatch

PRODUCER
Valerie Veatch

Twelve-year-old Lil Ant struggles to connect with his father when he begins to see surreal, almost spectral visions of boys drifting around his neighborhood. Their presence reveals a link between father and son, laying bare the threads that bind family, legacy, and place. Set in the working-class Watts neighborhood in South Los Angeles, writer-director Walter Thompson-Hernández’s moving family drama focuses on a fraught father-son relationship. Big Ant is just out of prison and struggling to reconnect with his wife, Lozita (Danielle Brooks), and adolescent son, Lil Ant, a sensitive artist yearning for a role model. Adapted from his acclaimed short (2022 Sundance Film Festival, Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction), Thompson-Hernández audaciously combines social and magical realism, charting the emotional trajectory of a conflicted dad and his restless son. Dense with allusions to Greek mythology, but grounded in documentary detail, the film has its head in the clouds without losing sight of the street-level conditions that shape its characters’ lives. If I Go Will They Miss Me is a loving, lyrical portrait of life under the LAX flight path. — MC

DIRECTOR
Walter Thompson-Hernández

SCREENWRITER
Walter Thompson-Hernández

PRODUCERS
Josh Peters
Saba Zerehi
Ben Stillman

CAST
Danielle Brooks
J. Alphonse Nicholson

On a remote Scottish isle, siblings Isla and Sandy hunt birds and talk to mythical beings while fighting off outsiders. Their lives change when Daniel, an awkward official, arrives to relocate them. Relocating a pair of siblings is easier said than done in Louis Paxton’s delightful, uproariously funny, heartwarming first feature. A comedic inflection of Scottish island folklore, The Incomer draws us into its eclectic vision through sublime deadpan humor, formal inventiveness, a sprinkling of animation and fantastical creatures, and the charm of its oddball characters. Having lived in isolation and mistrustful of mainland folk, Isla and Sandy (brilliantly played by Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke) initially try to toss Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson) off the island — literally. But several days and one initiation ritual later, there’s a thaw. The siblings share their lore and Daniel speaks of mainland virtues, like avocados and the internet. Their interactions are fresh and funny, but there’s also a poignant exchange around belonging. These three people — who have experienced isolation, loss, and loneliness — lower their guard and embrace human connection. — JN

DIRECTOR
Louis Paxton

SCREENWRITER
Louis Paxton

PRODUCERS
Shirley O’Connor
Emily Gotto

CAST
Domhnall Gleeson
Gayle Rankin
Grant O’Rourke
Emun Elliott
Michelle Gomez
John Hannah

A journey to Michoacán’s hypermasculine rodeos descends into the subconscious of memory, queer desire, and longing, leading to a reckoning with the wounds and beauty of a home left behind. “I brought you here to Penjamillo so you could see a little bit of what it’s like to be a young queer ranchero,” explains Efraín Mojica, who makes their feature directorial debut with Jaripeo, alongside Rebecca Zweig. Mojica serves as our guide into the vibrant world of the “jaripeos,” rural rodeos that draw macho cowboys, drunken revelers, and — enabled by the bacchanalian atmosphere — hidden queer encounters. Through vérité and Super 8 footage, the camera captures secret glances and fleeting touches and lingers lovingly on the riders’ bodies — manifestations of machismo as filtered through a queer lens. Mojica and Zweig construct rich portraits of queer rancheros sharing memories and confidences in warm, sometimes flirty, conversations and bring their past experiences to life in indelible, stylized dreamscapes celebrating queer self-expression, desire, and belonging. Jaripeo invites viewers to enter this space of traditional, performative masculinity and discover what lies beneath its surface. — BT

DIRECTORS
Efraín Mojica
Rebecca Zweig

PRODUCER
Sarah Strunin

As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient. Waiting to begin her first-day orientation for her new night nurse job at a luxury retirement community, Eleni notices an energy in the geriatric exercise pool. There’s something unexpected about how the bodies are coming together in the water, the mental energy, the tone of conversation, and the way her new client turns around, out of the blue, to stare straight into her eyes. Debut director Georgia Bernstein’s atmospheric, psychosexual thriller palpably explores how emotion, deception, and sexual obsession can come together in the liminal space between caregivers and the people they care for. Night Nurse is a bold and visually luscious film that delivers a tense, clever ride that keeps the viewer in constant precarious balance, guessing what is madness and what is a dangerously scintillating manipulation. — SF

DIRECTOR
Georgia Bernstein

SCREENWRITER
Georgia Bernstein

PRODUCERS
Edwin Linker
Liane Cunje
Veronica Barbosa
Georgia Bernstein
Lucy Rogers

CAST
Cemre Paksoy
Bruce McKenzie
Eléonore Hendricks
Colleen Rose Trundy
Mimi Rogers

After 20 years of chronicling his Puerto Rican family, a director and his mother face devastating losses. Through tears and laughter, they craft animations that bring their loved ones back to life, discovering that every act of creation is also an act of letting go. In TheyDream, director William David Caballero brings together decades’ worth of his family’s stories in a profoundly moving and creative work of intergenerational healing through art. At its center is Milly, Caballero’s mother, who dutifully bore the responsibility of caregiving for her father, mother, and husband as they dealt with aging and various health concerns. Working in close collaboration with Milly, Caballero uses miniatures and motion capture technology to transform old home movies and recorded conversations with departed family members into sometimes whimsical, often bittersweet animated sequences. Demonstrating deep vulnerability and candor, TheyDream and its stories of familial love and loss are both uniquely personal and universally resonant. Caballero was once told by a documentary professor that no one would ever want to see a film about his family. How wrong she was. — BT

DIRECTOR
William David Caballero

PRODUCERS
William David Caballero
Brad Jones
Erin Ploss-Campoamor
Elaine del Valle

In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her night — and possibly her life. Kogonada plays with — and returns to — form in this sensitive cinematic poem. Held within a stylish jaunt through the streets of Hong Kong, zi is a film with soul and a wavelike confidence that commits to recursivity as a mode and central theme. Kogonada regulars Michelle Mao, Haley Lu Richardson, and Jin Ha carefully portray transitory misfits, grappling with a clever fusion of existential anxiety, romantic misgiving, and personal memory. Somewhere between sci-fi and supernatural, a deep, easy warmth takes root. Following Columbus (2017 Sundance Film Festival), After Yang (2020 Sundance Film Festival), and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Kogonada crafts a decidedly contained film, exploring a pervasive sense of unmooring, yet cultivating an unrelenting sense of peace. Through the igniting/smoldering embers of relationships lost/forming, zi is an invitation to surrender to Kogonada’s truly indie world of temporal fragmentation. — CA

DIRECTOR
Kogonada

SCREENWRITER
Kogonada

PRODUCERS
Chung An
Christopher Radcliff
Benjamin Loeb
Kogonada
Haley Lu Richardson
Michelle Mao
Jin Ha

CAST
Michelle Mao
Haley Lu Richardson
Jin Ha

Immersive POV camera footage reveals electric performances, candid interviews, and intimate backstage life with Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Rancid, Beck, The Amps, and Bikini Kill — an all-access view inside an era-defining moment in music. While evacuating from the Palisades fires in January 2025, director Tamra Davis discovered a box of videotapes she shot in 1995 at Summersault, a little-known Australian indie music festival. With The Best Summer, Davis creates an oral and visual history of the tour, showcasing her treasure trove of never-before-seen footage. With her exclusive access, Davis captures band performances from her stage-adjacent perch, along with candid backstage banter and interviews conducted by Kathleen Hanna with the likes of Kim Gordon and Dave Grohl. A nostalgic time capsule, this 30-year-old archival film takes on a weighty significance by what it preserves and shares: rare moments of youth, friendship, and good music with arguably the coolest bands of the time. — KY

DIRECTOR
Tamra Davis

PRODUCERS
Tamra Davis
Shelby Meade

A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids television show.

DIRECTOR
Casper Kelly

SCREENWRITERS
Casper Kelly
Jamie King

PRODUCERS
Tyler Davidson
Drew Sykes
Raphael Margules
J.D. Lifshitz
Tracy Rosenblum

CAST
Cristin Milioti
Delaney Quinn
Topher Grace
Keegan-Michael Key
Michael Shannon
Patton Oswalt

Two star-crossed teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most — each other. A haunting and sensitive feature directorial debut from writer-director Adrian Chiarella, Leviticus promises a new, poignant entry into the canon of coming-of-age horror. An isolated Australian small town hosts the evils of religious fanaticism and its consequences for queer youth, creating an atmosphere that’s chilling and near-claustrophobic. Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen tenderly embody Naim and Ryan, magnetically attracted teens coming into their sexuality, yet facing physical and spiritual violence at every bend. At times sensual, and just as often thrilling, Leviticus shines as both a harrowing Midnight experience and a queer social horror. At the core of this merciless curse narrative is an authentic reflection on what it means to love queerly despite the persistent dangers from within and without. — CA

DIRECTOR
Adrian Chiarella

SCREENWRITER
Adrian Chiarella

PRODUCERS
Samantha Jennings
Kristina Ceyton
Hannah Ngo

CAST
Joe Bird
Stacy Clausen
Mia Wasikowska
Jeremy Blewitt
Ewen Leslie
Davida McKenzie

When a messy millennial underachiever accidentally gets alien-pregnant, she must overcome skeptical doctors, a useless baby daddy, and her oversharing mum in order to survive and reclaim her life. Bombastic directing duo THUNDERLIPS unleash their zany and imaginative debut feature into the world after the success of their short Help, I’m Alien Pregnant (2024). Marrying vivid, pregnancy body horror with the pitch-perfect delivery of Kiwi humor and self-deprecation, THUNDERLIPS immerse us into a realm 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. Slimy, uproarious, and living up to its unforgettable title in every way, Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant promises a giddy, gross-out good time. — AS

DIRECTOR
THUNDERLIPS

SCREENWRITER
THUNDERLIPS

PRODUCERS
Alix Whittaker
Morgan Leigh Stewart
Ilai Amar

CAST
Hannah Lynch
Yvette Parsons
Arlo Green
Jackie van Beek

After the death of her father, a grieving young girl moves to an isolated house in a new town with her mother and grandmother, only to discover there is something monstrous hidden in the town’s history and the woods behind their new home. Writer-director Vera Miao’s ambitious, potent feature debut explores the legacy of generations of immigration and racism through a distinct and original genre lens. Spanning centuries, Miao draws from a real-life historical atrocity and Chinese beliefs about the nature of the afterlife to compose a singular portrait of inherited trauma and a stirring ode to the persistence and resilience of diasporic communities. Kelly Marie Tran grounds the film with her portrayal of a mother’s desperate concern for her child, while Benedict Wong’s visceral performance brings the terror and tragedy of the past to the forefront with dreadful clarity. A sense of foreboding engulfs the film, as Heyjin Jun’s seamless cinematography amplifies the aura of suspense, suggesting the unhealed wounds of these characters and their world. As the goings turn increasingly supernatural, so too grows the specificity of Miao’s vision. — HZ

DIRECTOR
Vera Miao

SCREENWRITER
Vera Miao

PRODUCERS
Stephen Feder
Kiri Hart
Charles D. King
Poppy Hanks
Greta Talia Fuentes
Jason Michael Berman
Matthew Lindner
Jordan Moldo
Vera Miao

CAST
Kelly Marie Tran
Benedict Wong
Jimmy O. Yang
Aria Kim
Fiona Fu

Hana, a lovelorn medical student, becomes terrorized by a hungry ghost after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes. Natalie Erika James follows Relic (2020 Sundance Film Festival) with this revoltingly punchy, modern, and timely take on body horror. Through sickeningly syrupy scenes of literal and spiritual consumption, Midori Francis embodies Hana, a body-dysmorphic young woman bent on chasing her weight goal at all costs. The archetypal myth of the hungry ghost manifests literally, creating a uniquely tense atmosphere fit for a physically and metaphorically dangerous haunt. The viscosity of James’ exploration of haunting and body horror in the era of accessible weight-loss medications is especially poignant, as Saccharine works to deconstruct weight and fatness as metrics by which we classify antagonism and personal shortcoming. What if the desperation to conform is a destructive consumption itself? What if we manifest our own bottomless specters? — CA

DIRECTOR
Natalie Erika James

SCREENWRITER
Natalie Erika James

PRODUCERS
Natalie Erika James
Anna McLeish
Sarah Shaw

CAST
Midori Francis
Danielle Macdonald
Madeleine Madden

The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way. Strained by the responsibility of providing end-of-life care to her dying mother, Evy (Nina Kiri) seeks respite from the loneliness of her fragmented reality. Now living in a house full of sentimental keepsakes and memories, her sanity and structure lies within her work on a supernatural podcast, The Undertone. While she usually plays skeptic to the creepy (and often disturbing) audio files sent to her by co-host Justin (Adam DiMarco) for podcast fodder, the latest submission hits differently. A series of 10 unheard recordings from a young pregnant couple are unfurled one by one, each more ominous than the last. As Evy draws parallels to her current plight, hidden messages manifest, pushing her further toward madness. Writer-director Ian Tuason’s debut feature is unsettling to say the least. Deceptively terrifying in its conceit, Evy’s solitude manifests itself as a visceral audio-visual landscape, where the ring of a cell phone creates just as much of a jump scare as any monster ever could. — AM

DIRECTOR
Ian Tuason

SCREENWRITER
Ian Tuason

PRODUCERS
Dan Slater
Cody Calahan

CAST
Nina Kiri
Adam DiMarco
Michèle Duquet
Keana Lyn Bastidas
Jeff Yung

A father-to-be tries to figure out what is happening with the AI insanity, exploring the existential dangers and stunning promise of this technology that humanity has created. There’s something deeply compelling about art born out of acute anxiety — perhaps because it stems from vulnerability and a need for clarity. The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist grew out of co-director Daniel Roher’s profound unease about the future, especially the role artificial intelligence will play in shaping it. Together with Charlie Tyrell, Roher explores both the dazzling possibilities and risks of these fast-evolving tools, along with the price they may carry. Combining expert interviews, home videos, and animations, the film meets this pressing AI discourse with curiosity and heart, clarifying complex ideas while acknowledging how much remains uncertain and deeply human. Rather than claiming to have all the answers, The AI Doc offers a conversation that feels urgent, hopeful, and impossible to ignore. — AT

DIRECTOR
Daniel Roher
Charlie Tyrell

PRODUCERS
Daniel Kwan
Jonathan Wang
Shane Boris
Diane Becker
Ted Tremper

Singer, songwriter, and actor Courtney Love has long had an impact on rock and pop culture. Now sober and set to release new music for the first time in over a decade, Courtney is ready to reveal her story, unfiltered and unapologetic. Reflecting on the process of recording her new album, Courtney Love said, “Don’t do it until you can’t hold it in anymore.” That same ethos fuels Antiheroine, directed by Edward Lovelace and James Hall, who embrace the complexity, intensity, and unapologetic force Love embodies. These qualities helped make her an icon, but they also came with relentless scrutiny and impossible expectations. The film revisits the “love at first sound” connection between Love and Kurt Cobain — a relationship defined less by its length than by its extraordinary emotional voltage. It also traces the creative drive that led her to music and an electrifying film career, revealing a deepening self-awareness along the way. After years of watching others tell her story, Antiheroine marks the moment Courtney Love speaks entirely on her own terms — loud and clear. — AT

DIRECTORS
Edward Lovelace
James Hall

PRODUCERS
Julia Nottingham
Melanie Archer
Hattie Bridges Webb
Jon Lullo

Explores the circumstances that led to Brittney Griner playing basketball outside the U.S. despite being one of the best players in the sport, including her harrowing detainment, unwavering determination to secure her freedom, and her advocacy for the release of other wrongful detainees. The media frenzy surrounding the detainment and eventual release of Brittney Griner was highly politicized, fueled by speculation and attempts to leverage her narrative to advance political agendas. Now, director Alexandria Stapleton gives the floor to Griner to tell her story, alongside her wife, Cherelle, and an inner circle of friends and family. This intimate access grounds the film in Griner’s humanity, reminding us she is a wife, parent, daughter, sister, and friend — far more than just an athlete-turned-political pawn. Griner opens up about her childhood, the disappointment and fear surrounding her detainment, her harrowing experience in a Russian penal colony, and the complicated negotiations to get her home. It’s a riveting story of resilience, anchored by a family who never stopped pushing for her release and that of others. — SO

DIRECTOR
Alexandria Stapleton

PRODUCERS
Alexandria Stapleton
Stacy Scripter
Funmi Akinyode
Megan Goedewaagen
Carolyn Hepburn

After losing both her job and boyfriend, Jamie retreats to her small Texas hometown, where friends and flings from a fateful high school summer turn her life upside down. Celebrated Sundance Film Festival alum Josephine Decker (director of 2018’s Madeline’s Madeline and 2020’s Shirley) collaborates with acclaimed comedian — and here, writer-star — Iliza Shlesinger to bring to life this charming and sensual story of generational subversions and unexpected second chances. Shlesinger’s razor-sharp wit is in full form and pairs seamlessly with Decker’s vibrant cinematic eye, making for an empowering and refreshing look at the consequences and pleasures of past-meets-present collisions. Shlesinger mines personal experience for a powerful and ardent performance, revealing a rare and nuanced vulnerability. Turning the millennial coming-of-age narrative on its head with humor and heart, Chasing Summer offers a relatable stroll down the messy crossroads that coming home can bring — in all its chaos and possibility. — AS

DIRECTOR
Josephine Decker

SCREENWRITER
Iliza Shlesinger

PRODUCERS
Rob Guillermo
Ray Maiello
Nihaar Sinha
Houston King
Sam Pressman
Paula Paizes
Iliza Shlesinger

CAST
Iliza Shlesinger
Garrett Wareing
Lola Tung
Cassidy Freeman
Tom Welling
Megan Mullally

An outsider fueled by relentless determination works his way into the inner circle of the Wu-Tang Clan, where his ambition and creativity converge in the making of an album poised to ignite global controversy. Throughout music history, few albums have achieved the mythical status of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a 31-track double album packaged in an ornate, handcrafted silver box. Auctioned off to the highest bidder in 2015, only one copy will ever legally exist. While the public may not fully experience it for decades to come, its scarcity serves as a protest; an argument that music still has intrinsic worth in a digital age, not just as content, but as fine art. Director Joanna Natasegara unmasks the decades-long story of Dutch Moroccan rapper and producer Cilvaringz, who became the unlikeliest of disciples to his childhood heroes. The result of his relentless grit and determination culminated in one of the most controversial artifacts of our time, sparking discussions about the convergence of art, technology, and ownership. — AM

DIRECTOR
Joanna Natasegara

PRODUCERS
Joanna Natasegara
Abigail Anketell-Jones
Lauren Dark
Vanessa Kirby

Frank, serving a life sentence, takes a prison job caring for aging inmates with Alzheimer’s and dementia. What begins as a self-interested bid for parole becomes a profound, transformative bond with fellow inmate Louis, offering Frank a glimpse of redemption in an unforgiving place. In prison for murder, Frank (Kingsley Ben-Adir) accepts a post caring for fellow inmates in the hopes of winning parole. He’s assigned to frail, paranoid Louis (Rob Morgan), a once-feared inmate with early-onset dementia. Frank gradually wins his trust, but is soon confronted with his own memories and regrets. Anchored by Ben-Adir’s and Morgan’s quietly moving performances, Petra Biondina Volpe’s understated prison drama explores the potential for rehabilitation through caretaking. As Frank forms an unusually intimate and tender connection with Louis, the film thoughtfully reflects on memory, guilt, and identity and explores the difference between punishment and redemption. Avoiding the sensational tropes of the prison genre, Frank & Louis is a thoughtful story about the patient work of facing oneself while caring for others. — MC

DIRECTOR
Petra Biondina Volpe

SCREENWRITERS
Petra Biondina Volpe
Esther Bernstorff

PRODUCERS
Reto Schaerli
Lukas Hobi

CAST
Kingsley Ben-Adir
Rob Morgan
René Pérez Joglar
Rosalind Eleazar
Indira Varma

Midwestern bride-to-be Gail Daughtry has a “free celebrity pass” agreement with her fiancé — who uses it. With her relationship in crisis, Gail sets out on an epic journey through Hollywood to even the scales. Director David Wain’s fifth feature film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival follows wide-eyed Gail (a delightfully inspired Zoey Deutch) and her fellow hairdresser/bestie Otto on their quest to find and seduce Gail’s celebrity crush, the enigmatic and beguiling Jon Hamm. Unbeknownst to them, a pair of hapless mob enforcers are hot on their trail to reclaim an accidentally swapped briefcase full of secret (and very important) documents for their imperious boss. Traversing the streets of Los Angeles, they pick up a motley assortment of Hollywood hangers-on, all eager to assist Gail on her frenzied hunt for Hamm. Wain and co-writer Ken Marino brilliantly utilize and improve upon every adventurous caper movie trope imaginable. With daft dialogue, absurd sight gags, and cameos that never disappoint, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is an unhinged screwball comedy that is not to be missed. — AM & MC

DIRECTOR
David Wain

SCREENWRITERS
Ken Marino
David Wain

PRODUCERS
Anthony Bregman
Peter Cron
Ken Marino
David Wain
Crystine Zhang
Charles Zhong

CAST
Zoey Deutch
Jon Hamm
John Slattery
Ken Marino
Miles Gutierrez-Riley
Ben Wang

A desperate gallerist conspires to sell a dead body at Art Basel Miami. Cathy Yan returns to the Sundance Film Festival (her debut, Dead Pigs, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival) with this wickedly fun, corrosive satire of the contemporary art world. Preparing for her Art Basel premiere, gallerist Polina Polinski (Natalie Portman) hosts an early look for art influencer Dalton Hardberry (Zach Galifianakis) to review emerging artist Stella Burgess (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Dalton’s unimpressed with the gallery until he sees one piece that captures his attention and revs up the ruthless machine of the art world. Robust and precise with terrific performances by a stellar cast, The Gallerist reinforces Yan’s buoyant ability to survey society’s ills whilst illuminating poetic pools of beauty speckling the surrounds. — SF

DIRECTOR
Cathy Yan

SCREENWRITERS
James Pedersen
Cathy Yan

PRODUCERS
Ash Sarohia
Sophie Mas
Natalie Portman
Jonathan King
Tom McCarthy
Rae Baron
Zola Elgart Glassman

CAST
Natalie Portman
Jenna Ortega
Sterling K. Brown
Zach Galifianakis
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Daniel Brühl
Charli xcx
Youssef Kerkour

World champion tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King has had a game-changing impact on culture and sports. Rare archive and candid interviews with Billie Jean and those closest to her reveal how one woman put changing the world ahead of saving herself. The story of professional women’s sports could not be told without Billie Jean King. Her status is so iconic, some might lose sight of the real human being — her struggles, her flaws, and her all-consuming, competitive drive. In fighting for equity for herself and others, King was uncompromising, to the point of subordinating her personal well-being by hiding her sexual orientation and eating disorders. Directors Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff present Billie Jean King in full, in her own words, and with archival footage that brings the dark times and indelible victories to life again. With refreshing honesty and the hard-won perspective of having lived through it all, Give Me the Ball! is an electric portrait of one of the greatest of all time. — SS

DIRECTORS
Liz Garbus
Elizabeth Wolff

PRODUCERS
Liz Garbus
Elizabeth Wolff
Dominic Crossley-Holland
Dan Cogan
Chris James
Gentry Kirby

After attending a workshop on how to write and sell a Hallmark movie, filmmaker John Wilson tries to use the same formula to sell a documentary about concrete. Documentarian and observational humor connoisseur John Wilson makes his feature directorial debut with a film that is effortlessly hysterical and genuinely hard to describe. The How to With John Wilson creator’s quick, permeating wit and boundless curiosity clock in, this time through the lenses of urbanism and, somehow, the institution of Hallmark. A heady comedic whiplash emerges as Wilson bounces between (literal) textures of the mundane. Underlying Wilson’s well-established, unique filmmaking language are both an intellectual specificity and a strangely leveling impulse — a fascination with the breadth of American life and the built environment that contains it. The History of Concrete rests on a pure, generative desire to give warmth to the invisibly ubiquitous, answering key questions such as: “Who removes the gum from our sidewalks?” This is an unassumingly strange, joyful documentary that no one else could have made, perfect for the chronically online, the studied philosopher, and everyone in between. — CA

DIRECTOR
John Wilson

PRODUCERS
John Wilson
Clark Filio
Shirel Kozak
Allie Viti

When fresh-faced Elliot lands a job with artist and provocateur Erika Tracy, his fantasies come true as she taps him to become her sexual muse. But Elliot finds himself out of his depth as Erika takes him on a journey into a world of sex, obsession, power, betrayal, and murder. In writer-director Gregg Araki’s latest feature, a sex-forward Los Angeles art gallery hosts a delightfully enigmatic sadomasochistic game, as Cooper Hoffman’s eager Elliot is pushed to the edge by the sharply sardonic Erika, masterfully portrayed by Olivia Wilde. More than an art-world satire or a celebration of depravity, Araki and Karley Sciortino’s quick-witted writing and circular narrative structure reveal a spunky yet earnest reflection on the current state of sex — challenging misaligned conceptions of kink/predation, exhibition, and generational predispositions toward sexual freedom and autonomy. I Want Your Sex is Araki’s 11th Sundance Film Festival premiere (following the episodic Now Apocalypse in 2019), constituting a fresh, prismatic validation of form for the auteur — an outrageously playful sexual crusade that only the one Gregg Araki could make. — CA

DIRECTOR
Gregg Araki

SCREENWRITERS
Karley Sciortino
Gregg Araki

PRODUCERS
Gregg Araki
Seth Caplan
Teddy Schwarzman
Michael Heimler
Courtney L. Cunniff
Karley Sciortino

CAST
Olivia Wilde
Cooper Hoffman
Mason Gooding
Chase Sui Wonders
Daveed Diggs
Charli xcx

Three storylines, spanning thousands of years, intersect and reflect on hope, connection, and the circle of life. From the 2017 Black List script by Colby Day (Spaceman), Andrew Stanton (Wall-E, Finding Nemo) constructs an elegantly interwoven triptych that contemplates the essence of humanity across three moments in time. A Neanderthal family, displaced from their home, struggles to survive, protect the children, and use primitive tools. In the present day, Claire (Rashida Jones), a driven post-grad anthropologist studying ancient proto-human remains, begins a relationship with a fellow student, Greg (Daveed Diggs). And two centuries later, on a spaceship bound for a distant planet, Coakley (Kate McKinnon) and a sentient onboard computer confront a disease afflicting the ship’s oxygen-producing plants. The artful, poetic way the film’s storylines intersect creates a profound, philosophical meditation on how we experience love, loss (of parents and children), mortality and the need for connection — with each other, the natural world, and technology — regardless of our time. — JN

DIRECTOR
Andrew Stanton

SCREENWRITER
Colby Day

PRODUCER
Jared Ian Goldman

CAST
Rashida Jones
Kate McKinnon
Daveed Diggs
Jorge Vargas
Tanaya Beatty

Joe and Angela are on thin ice, and tonight might be when it all falls apart. Unfortunately, their upstairs neighbors are about to arrive for dinner, and everything that can go wrong goes worse. A fiercely energized chamber dramedy, The Invite revitalizes the classic, largely bygone cinema of marital strife. Olivia Wilde’s scenes from a marriage are suitably raw and revealing, but also compassionate, deeply human, and incredibly funny. From a screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the film gleefully plunges two couples (Wilde and Seth Rogen; Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) into the crucible of a seemingly innocuous evening, delighting in its contortions as awkward small talk turns to the unearthing of long-tenured grievances, insecurities, codependencies, failed aspirations, and sexual FOMO. Constructing a vibrant aesthetic and brilliantly orchestrated interactions, Wilde finds a universe of space within one location, and her process — workshopping material with the cast, shooting chronologically (on 35mm!), and inviting them to explore as they worked — gives The Invite a remarkable authenticity. — JN

DIRECTOR
Olivia Wilde

SCREENWRITERS
Will McCormack
Rashida Jones

PRODUCERS
David Permut
Ben Browning
Megan Ellison

CAST
Seth Rogen
Olivia Wilde
Penélope Cruz
Edward Norton

A rural Iowa schoolteacher becomes a national voice against racism after leading a controversial 1968 lesson in discrimination with her all-white third-grade class. Now nearly 90, she refuses to hold back amid today’s fights about race, history, and power after a lifetime of speaking out. For more than 50 years, educator Jane Elliott has made it her mission to dismantle racism, regardless of the personal cost. She introduced her contentious “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” social experiment in the immediate aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination; subsequent media exposure — including the 1970 documentary The Eye of the Storm — took her lesson across the country. Back home in Riceville, Iowa, however, Elliott and her family faced a backlash that has left a lasting impact. As Judd Ehrlich’s compelling portrait demonstrates, she remains an unapologetic and outspoken force of nature, determined to use her privilege to effect change, especially now, when her message is needed the most. Jane Elliott Against the World is an urgent film for this moment — and Elliott isn’t about to quiet down. — BT

DIRECTOR
Judd Ehrlich

PRODUCERS
Judd Ehrlich
Max Powers
Elena Gaby

Previously unseen footage captured by Salman Rushdie’s wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, documents his journey. Following not just his physical rehabilitation, but also the restoration of his spirit and optimism. Inspired by Rushdie’s memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. Alex Gibney, a Sundance Film Festival alumnus, builds upon his body of work with his latest film that explores the ways religion, art, and free speech intermingle. Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie brings these threads together in a contemporary climate where outspoken artists are under unprecedented threat. Rushdie guides the film in his own words — through his historic career, his writing practice, and the momentous cultural weight of his work. Breathtaking proximity through narration and intimate footage detail his recovery from his 2022 attack, an event which has become darkly prescient in the intervening years. Gibney gives us a magnificent gift in documenting this literary titan and great thinker as he navigates questions around violence, forgiveness, and expression — questions whose answers are needed now more than ever. — AC

DIRECTOR
Alex Gibney

PRODUCERS
Alex Gibney
Erin Edeiken
Sruthi Pinnamaneni

The race to grab the last great prize in mountaineering, K2 in winter, left five dead. It exposed deep fault lines in alpinism today: pressures from commercialization, toxic effects of social media, and long-brewing tensions between those who’ve been marginalized and those who’ve always basked in the sport’s glory. In The Last First, master documentarian Amir Bar-Lev tells a complex, harrowing, and moving story that unpacks the industry of extreme mountain climbing and its changing culture. Focusing on a 2021 expedition, mountaineers John Snorri Sigurjónsson, an Icelander, and Pakistani father-son team Ali and Sajid Sadpara set out to be the first to summit K2 in the winter, when the mountain’s conditions are the cruelest. The men soon find themselves sharing the treacherous ascent with influencer climbers and their film crews, commercial expedition clients, and Nims, a Nepalese celebrity mountaineer, and his team of Sherpas. The Last First takes us to the icy heights and unpredictable weather of K2 and reveals a surprising and layered story — one of strategy and determination, class and caste, money and power — all under life and death circumstances. — KY

DIRECTOR
Amir Bar-Lev

PRODUCERS
John Battsek
Sean Richard
Sarah Thomson
Howard T. Owens
Ben Silverman

A rising pop star navigates the complexities of fame and industry pressure while preparing for her arena tour debut. A flashy, tongue-in-cheek hyper-pop mockumentary, The Moment is Charli xcx’s creative reflection on her own meteoric success with brat. Directed and co-written by “360” music video director Aidan Zamiri in his feature debut, the film has a stylishly effortless rhythm and a uniquely self-aware, ironic sense of humor. Charli xcx plays an exaggeratedly manic version of herself, surrounded by a cast of characters that mirror both the friends and foes of the era. Hailey Gates and Alexander Skarsgård personify near-diametrically opposed influences in Charli xcx’s dynamic career; pieces in the grand scheme of brat’s enduring cultural power. Behind the satire and Charli xcx’s celebrity is an earnest and heartfelt expression of the weight of success, the price of legacy, and the fight to preserve artistic integrity. The Moment is a film for fans and newcomers alike — a lively, current, dazzling capsule of one of the most iconic artists of our time. — CA

DIRECTOR
Aidan Zamiri

SCREENWRITERS
Aidan Zamiri
Bertie Brandes

PRODUCERS
Charli xcx
David Hinojosa

CAST
Charli xcx
Rosanna Arquette
Kate Berlant
Jamie Demetriou
Hailey Gates
Alexander Skarsgård
Arielle Dombasle
Kylie Jenner
Trew Mullen
Mel Ottenberg
Richard Perez
Isaac Powell
Rachel Sennott
Rish Shah
Tish Weinstock
Michael Workéyè

A decade-long global journey chronicles the ever-changing record holders of the title of oldest person alive. What begins as a portrait of longevity becomes a meditation on the passage of time, the randomness of fate, and the joy and profound human experience of being alive. The oldest human being on the planet is not someone you encounter suddenly, nor someone you know for long. As the years go by, and Sam Green meets the next, and the next, oldest person in the world, his personal fascination with what the title means becomes entangled with his own experience of time, and the joys and pains of his own life. Green’s work has been a cornerstone of documentary filmmaking for a generation of artists. With one of his most intimate films yet, he returns to the Sundance Film Festival with his unique mixture of wry wit, earnest feeling, and formal play. In The Oldest Person in the World, the profound and silly experience of being alive is articulated in a way only film can do. — SS

DIRECTOR
Sam Green

PRODUCERS
Alison Byrne Fields
Josh Penn

A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. Already an established documentarian and having just made Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, William Greaves gathered some of the key artists, musicians, librarians, poets, journalists, actors, photographers, teachers, and critics of the Harlem Renaissance at Duke Ellington’s home for a party, which he filmed. The resulting lively conversations, built around vivid retelling of past events, are in part old friends reconnecting, in part a rehashing of familiar conflicts, and in part personal memories becoming recorded history. Co-directed by his son David Greaves, who was a cameraman that day at Ellington’s apartment, Once Upon A Time In Harlem is a staggering achievement, both as a record of one of the most significant artistic movements in American history, and also as a chronicle of the magical power of art and its creation to remake our world. — SS

DIRECTORS
William Greaves
David Greaves

PRODUCERS
Liani Greaves
Anne de Mare

When a theft goes awry, a veteran pickpocket is sent on a mission through New York to reclaim the stolen goods. Harry is a classic native New Yorker, an old-school hustler who has moved through life lubricating palms with pickpocket cash since the 1980s. He stays smooth, continually sharpening his skills, but times are changing for Harry. Now it’s 2025, and the daily take from the streets? Fancy trackable phones. Cashless wallets full of credit cards. Gym bags holding cryptocurrency and guns. The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is a nostalgic portrait of a hustler getting lapped by today’s digitally networked world, who now must prepare for the final act of his life. Director Noah Segan’s modern metropolis is powered by the ephemera of a time gone by, with OG street action brought to radiant life by a terrific cast — led by John Turturro’s exceptional turn as Harry. — SF

DIRECTOR
Noah Segan

SCREENWRITER
Noah Segan

PRODUCERS
Katie McNeill
Leopold Hughes
Ben LeClair

CAST
John Turturro
Giancarlo Esposito
Will Price
Tatiana Maslany
Steve Buscemi

Blurring the line between performance and personal crisis, comedian Maria Bamford turns her mental health journey into material that’s riotously funny and ultimately inspiring. What emerges is a portrait of an artist transforming vulnerability into creative strength through honesty. Maria Bamford is beloved for turning her radical sensitivity and honesty into laughs. Co-directors Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley trace her path to comedy, from her childhood in Duluth, Minnesota, to discovering stand-up in college, and finding fame in Los Angeles. The film expertly balances Bamford’s distinctive comedic voice with a thoughtful exploration of her mental health journey and the relationships, both nurturing and challenging, that shaped her. Amid hilarious moments from her stand-up specials and fellow comedians weighing in on what makes her so funny, Bamford lays bare the anxiety and persistence underpinning her career, all with disarming humor. Whether you’re a fan or a newcomer, this film feels like laughing with a friend who speaks with a fearless intimacy, infusing our hardest truths with a laugh. — SO

DIRECTORS
Judd Apatow
Neil Berkeley

PRODUCERS
Judd Apatow
Neil Berkeley
Amanda Rohlke
David Heiman

A Hungarian girl dreams of conquering international men’s chess. After a 15-year battle against world champion Garry Kasparov, Judit Polgár revolutionizes the sport’s patriarchal culture to become one of the greatest chess prodigies in history and the greatest woman chess player of all time. Veteran documentarian Rory Kennedy returns to the Sundance Film Festival with this empowering portrait tracing Judit Polgár’s trailblazing story. Raised by her father in communist Hungary as part of an unusual experiment to cultivate genius, Polgár quickly made her mark in the world of chess. By the age of 12, she was the number one female player in the world; less than four years later, she broke Bobby Fischer’s legendary record to become the youngest grandmaster in history. But Polgár was determined to refute the ingrained sexism of the game by beating the greatest chess player in the world, Garry Kasparov. Queen of Chess chronicles their historic, long-running battle of the sexes, punctuated with a dynamic visual aesthetic, a rich archive, and a rousing girl-power soundtrack. — BT

DIRECTOR
Rory Kennedy

PRODUCERS
Rory Kennedy
Mark Bailey
Keven McAlester

With the help of his family, a comedy writer battles PTSD after the tragic death of his sister. Jay Duplass makes his return to the Sundance Film Festival with an emotionally complex examination of grief and trauma, balanced perfectly with streaks of levity throughout. See You When I See You brings writer Adam Cayton-Holland’s memoir Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir to the screen with an inspired ensemble cast led by fellow Sundance Film Festival alum, director-actor Cooper Raiff, as Aaron, a young writer struggling to come to terms with the loss of his sister and best friend Leah (Kaitlyn Dever). Duplass taps into the millennial milieu of masking sorrow with humor and the devastating mental toll that avoidance can take on the bereaved, ushering us through a parade of ill-advised coping mechanisms and the collateral damage that follows with his trademark sense of compassion and empathy at every turn. — JH

DIRECTOR
Jay Duplass

SCREENWRITER
Adam Cayton-Holland

PRODUCERS
Fred Bernstein
Jay Duplass
Kumail Nanjiani
Emily V. Gordon
Adam Cayton-Holland

CAST
Cooper Raiff
David Duchovny
Kaitlyn Dever
Hope Davis
Lucy Boynton
Ariela Barer

When two unqualified bozos are hired to transfer a rich teen to rehab, their straightforward gig quickly spirals into dangerous mayhem. Macon Blair makes a welcome return to the Sundance Film Festival following his acclaimed U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize winner — I don’t feel at home in this world anymore. (2017) — with this raucous and wildly entertaining descent into madness. Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. are perfectly (mis)matched as Mark and Davis, the fumbling circumstantial chaperones in charge of transporting the increasingly psychotic Sheridan (a brilliant Mason Thames). Phenomenal supporting turns from Nicholas Braun, Peter Dinklage, and Kiernan Shipka round out the ensemble cast, each more unexpected and bizarre than the last. Blair treats us to his signature absurdist sense of humor and douses it with gasoline and psychedelics, crafting an uncanny world where the worst intentions net the highest yields and the open road is full of Shitheads. — AS

DIRECTOR
Macon Blair

SCREENWRITER
Macon Blair

PRODUCERS
Alex Orr
Brandon James
Dave Franco
Ford Corbett
Nathan Klingher

CAST
Dave Franco
O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Mason Thames
Kiernan Shipka
Nicholas Braun
Peter Dinklage

Facing the death of his country’s glaciers and the loss of his beloved grandparents, Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason turns his archives into a time capsule to hold what is slipping away — family, memory, time, and water. How do you say goodbye to what you never thought you could lose? That’s the question Magnason grapples with in Sara Dosa’s ambitious new project following her 2022 Sundance Film Festival breakout Fire of Love. Tasked to write the eulogy for Okjökull, the first glacier to be declared dead due to climate change, Magnason reflects on how glaciers create an archive of deep time within their ice over millions of years. Likening this idea of the depth of time to intergenerational memory, he sets out to pass along the stories of his grandparents for future generations, before they too vanish. Drawing from an evocative mix of photographs, home movies, myths, songs, and folk tales, Time and Water is at once an elegy for what we’ve lost and an attempt at cinematic time travel to retain it. — BT

DIRECTOR
Sara Dosa

PRODUCERS
Shane Boris
Elijah Stevens
Jameka Autry
Sara Dosa

The struggle against apartheid is recounted through Nelson Mandela’s own voice, drawn from recordings he made while writing his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. Director Antoine Fuqua and anti-apartheid activist Mac Maharaj bring to cinematic life recently recovered interviews with Rolihlahla — a name that translates from Xhosa as “troublemaker,” and is the birth name of Nelson Mandela. Fuqua crafts together Maharaj’s testimony, powerful archival footage, the evocative animation of Thabang Lehobye, and Mandela’s spoken words to offer this remarkably personal and anatomical recount of the anti-apartheid movement — from Mandela’s childhood grooming in the royal court, his rebellious elopement and politicization in Johannesburg, his historic presidency, and today’s enduring issues of liberation in South Africa. As fascist white supremist movements proliferate violently around the world today, Troublemaker shines light on a movement that found its way to the winning side, and what value a troublemaker offers when there is strength in numbers and collective movement. — SF

DIRECTOR
Antoine Fuqua

PRODUCERS
Antoine Fuqua
Mac Maharaj
Arthur Landon
Kevin Mann
Mark Bauch
Markus Davies

In Oregon in 1933, Samuel Murphy is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal work camp. Warden Clancy tempts him with early release if he smuggles gold through deadly wilderness, but betrayal festers within the crew, and Murphy questions how far he’ll go to see his child again. Padraic McKinley’s tense, atmospheric Depression-era crime drama follows a group of desperate convicts on a perilous journey through a physically and morally treacherous backcountry. Set against the stark beauty of the Oregon landscape, The Weight draws on the introspective action cinema of the 1970s, combining gritty survivalist set pieces with uncommonly intelligent dialogue and finely drawn characters. Although rich with period detail, The Weight is charged with elemental energy, fueled by brothers Latham and Shelby Gaines’ harrowing score and Matteo Cocco’s vivid cinematography. Ethan Hawke gives a muscular performance as the film’s reluctant but resourceful hero, while Russell Crowe is quietly menacing as his foil. Julia Jones brings dignity and defiance to her role as Anna, the sole woman in the group. — MC

DIRECTOR
Padraic McKinley

SCREENWRITERS
Matthew Booi
Matthew Chapman
Shelby Gaines

PRODUCERS
Simon Fields
Nathan Fields
Ryan Hawke
Jonas Katzenstein
Maximilian Leo

CAST
Ethan Hawke
Russell Crowe
Julia Jones
Austin Amelio
Avi Nash
Sam Hazeldine

In 1983, author Ta-Nehisi Coates learned that a 14-year-old boy was murdered in his Baltimore middle school. Upon revisiting the case, he uncovers the truth: Three innocent teenagers were wrongfully convicted and spent 36 years in prison — creating a lasting impact on the accused, the witnesses, and their community. Documentarian Dawn Porter collaborates with author Ta-Nehisi Coates to examine the case surrounding the first student murdered inside a Baltimore public school. Three innocent men from Coates’ community were incarcerated for 36 years on the false testimony of children coerced to take the stand. How could something like this happen? Porter illuminates the complete journey: how carefree Black boys playing in the streets of 1980s Baltimore were framed by the media and the justice system; how they grew up behind bars as the world whizzed by; how they were eventually exonerated; and how the community they re-entered grapples with the lingering damage of false narratives. When A Witness Recants is ultimately about the deep power of narrative: how it can extinguish lives — and how it can potentially resurrect them. — SF

DIRECTOR
Dawn Porter

PRODUCERS
Dawn Porter
Miriam Weintraub
Jennifer Oko

A fisherwoman asks a basketmaker to weave her a husband. In their audacious and delightful follow-up to 2020’s Save Yourselves!, Sundance Film Festival alums Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer adapt and expand Ursula Wills’ beguiling short story about envy, commitment, and the trappings of societal norms. Wilson and Fischer bring this medieval oddball village to life with an all-star cast and generous helpings of wry wit. Olivia Colman’s sardonic fisherwoman flies in the face of expectations and assuredly unravels tradition as she fights for the relationship she wants and the treatment she deserves from Alexander Skarsgård’s enigmatic and composed wicker man. Part fable, part historical comedy, and fully eccentric, Wicker invites us to reconsider and even set alight the stories we’ve told ourselves about marriage, creating space for true romance to unfold. — AS

DIRECTORS
Eleanor Wilson
Alex Huston Fischer

SCREENWRITERS
Eleanor Wilson
Alex Huston Fischer

PRODUCERS
Ed Sinclair
Tom Carver
Justin Lothrop
Brad Zimmerman
Ryan Heller
Lia Buman
Olivia Colman
Brent Stiefel
David Michod
Tim Headington
Michael Bloom
Andrea Cornwell
Oliver Kassman

CAST
Olivia Colman
Alexander Skarsgård
Peter Dinklage
Elizabeth Debicki
Marli Siu
Nabhaan Rizwan

A portrait of the inimitable singer, songwriter, and icon Marianne Faithfull. Broken English, which premiered at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, is a singular tribute worthy of a singular artist — another hybrid, genre-bending piece from co-directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (20,000 Days on Earth, 2014 Sundance Film Festival). The filmmakers introduce us to the Ministry of Not Forgetting, a fictitious research facility where Tilda Swinton and George MacKay begin an inquiry into Marianne Faithfull’s life and career. The British iconoclast is a willing interviewee — sharp and witty. Her dynamic presence is complemented by rich archival footage and several moving performances by the singer herself, as well as Beth Orton, Courtney Love, Nick Cave, and Suki Waterhouse. Broken English is a playful and wildly original portrait of a musician who refused to conform. Gone, but certainly not forgotten. — AT

DIRECTORS
Jane Pollard
Iain Forsyth

SCREENWRITERS
Iain Forsyth
Jane Pollard
Ian Martin

PRODUCER
Beth Earl

CAST
Marianne Faithfull
George MacKay
Tilda Swinton
Sophia Di Martino
Zawe Ashton
Calvin Demba
Nick Cave
Warren Ellis
Courtney Love
Suki Waterhouse
Beth Orton
Jehnny Beth

A gifted piano tuner with a unique auditory condition discovers an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down. Daniel Roher, who won the 2022 Sundance Film Festival Favorite Award with Navalny en route to the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, makes his fiction feature directorial debut with the surprising and charming Tuner. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival to critical and audience acclaim, and we are thrilled to present the film to Sundance Film Festival audiences. Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall share a crackling, tender chemistry as Harry and Niki, a veteran piano tech and his loyal apprentice. As Niki goes further down the criminal rabbit hole hoping to help his mentor — and meets a spirited music composition student (Havana Rose Liu) — the triumphant Tuner constantly shape-shifts in mood and tone — captivating as an odd-couple friendship, a tense thriller, and a charming romance in equal measure. — HZ

DIRECTOR
Daniel Roher

SCREENWRITERS
Daniel Roher
Robert Ramsey

PRODUCERS
JoAnne Sellar
Lila Yacoub
Teddy Schwarzman
Michael Heimler

CAST
Leo Woodall
Dustin Hoffman
Havana Rose Liu
Lior Raz
Tovah Feldshuh
Jean Reno

It’s Girl Scout Cookie season, and four tenacious girls strive to be a top-selling “Cookie Queen,” navigating an $800 million business in which childhood and ambition collide. Meet Ara, Olive, Nikki, and Shannon Elizabeth: four Girl Scouts with big personalities and big ambitions. The mission? Cookie sales. But their entrepreneurial spirit hints at bright futures ahead — think future Supreme Court justices, CEOs, and beyond. Alysa Nahmias’ sparkling film follows the girls through a cookie-selling season, highlighting the girls’ charm and unsuspecting sharp business instincts. It isn’t just fun and games though. The girls and their families make real financial and time sacrifices to hit their goals, trading laid-back weekends for hours outside, wagons full of cookies in tow. Nahmias stays focused on the girls and their individual journeys, offering a sincere, playful window into a multimillion-dollar industry powered by their cookie booths. It’s a joyous, heartwarming, utterly sweet ride that cheers on the girls’ grit and ingenuity. — SO

DIRECTOR
Alysa Nahmias

PRODUCERS
Michael Dweck
Gregory Kershaw
Alysa Nahmias
Jennifer Sims

A demanding little girl and her parents, the Meeks, battle an outrageously entitled viscount to protect their rare, furry, one-eyed Fing from those fixated on exploiting this wondrous creature. In this lively, magical adventure, the cutely monstrous Fing is both a fantastical furball friend and a hurricane of hijinks. Myrtle, warmly and energetically portrayed by Iona Bell, is an equally matched complement to the Fing’s chaotic force, as her parents, played by Mia Wasikowska and Blake Harrison, haphazardly yet lovingly pick up the pieces. Taika Waititi dazzles as the larger-than-life viscount, a cartoonish villain amid a menagerie of eccentric animals. Jeffrey Walker makes his Sundance Film Festival directorial debut with a film based on a beloved children’s book of the same name. Imbued with a characteristically British wit and vibrance, Fing! is just as funny as it is heartwarming — a colorful, charming delight for audiences of all ages. — CA

DIRECTOR
Jeffrey Walker

SCREENWRITERS
David Walliams
Kevin Cecil

PRODUCERS
Jo Sargent
Todd Fellman

CAST
Taika Waititi
Mia Wasikowska
Penelope Wilton
Blake Harrison
Iona Bell

When workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota are forced to take a substantial pay cut, the local union takes a stand for its members. Their strike tests the fragile promise of the American ideal, revealing the cost of survival when the dream no longer feels shared. Over the course of six years, director Barbara Kopple documented the plight of 1,500 middle-class workers who believed in the idea that hard work and dedication would result in an increased standard of living. Sudden wage reductions provoked the union to strike, but corporate higher-ups were already prepared to stifle their dissension at any cost. American Dream is not a black-and-white story of injustices thrust upon the American worker — a strategic battle emerges within the union itself, creating a no-win situation that pits brother against brother and friend against friend. In documenting their struggle, Kopple’s observational style is patient, intimate, and unobtrusive. Viewed through a contemporary lens, it serves as a modern manual for understanding the stakes of labor — a reminder that the American Dream still exists on contested ground. — AM

Supervised and approved by director Barbara Kopple, this 4K digital restoration was undertaken by Janus Films and the Criterion Collection from a scan of the 16 mm internegative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm DME magnetic track.

DIRECTOR
Barbara Kopple

PRODUCERS
Arthur Cohn
Barbara Kopple

An ambitious American skier gains a place on the U.S. Olympic ski team competing in Europe. For Robert Redford, Downhill Racer was not only an early starring role, but a passion project as producer, a case study in protecting independence, and a catalyst for creating Sundance Institute. An athlete in his youth, Redford wanted to explore the American obsession with winning at all costs. Lauded for its Alpine photography and extraordinary race sequences, Michael Ritchie’s feature debut follows the team’s travel, training, and politics and focuses on David Chappellet (Redford), a loner who fortuitously winds up on the team and is determined to be a champion. Arrogant, detached, and indifferent to his teammates and the women in his life, he typifies the antiheroes of ’60s American cinema. There’s something dull, even uninspired about his ambition, as if he lacks the imagination to see life any other way. Roger Ebert described Downhill Racer as a portrait so complete, so tragic, that it becomes the “best movie ever made about sports — without really being about sports at all.” — JN

Pristine 35mm print courtesy of Paramount Pictures

DIRECTOR
Michael Ritchie

SCREENWRITERS
James Salter
Oakley Hall

PRODUCER
Richard Gregson

CAST
Robert Redford
Gene Hackman
Camilla Sparv
Karl Michael Vogler
Jim McMullan
Kathleen Crowley

A New York City middle school teacher with a drug habit forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret. Dan (Ryan Gosling) is a man of contradictions: a dedicated teacher who cares for his students, yet relies on drugs to dull his existential pain. Drey (Shareeka Epps) is an unflinching teen who’s used to flawed adults and doesn’t judge his poor decisions. Even as Dan tries to keep her away from local dealer Frank (Anthony Mackie), it’s increasingly clear he’s the one in danger of slipping. Roger Ebert called Half Nelson a “miraculous movie,” and 20 years later it still feels that way. The debut feature by Ryan Fleck — co-written with Anna Boden, who also edited the film — Half Nelson premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and earned Gosling his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor. It is an insightful, captivating story about complicated characters that avoids self-pity and moralizing conclusions. — AT

A new digital restoration

DIRECTOR
Ryan Fleck

SCREENWRITERS
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck

PRODUCERS
Anna Boden
Lynette Howell Taylor
Rosanne Korenberg
Alex Orlovsky
Jamie Patricof

CAST
Shareeka Epps
Ryan Gosling
Tina Holmes
Anthony Mackie
Deborah Rush
Jay O. Sanders

Kid decides to go to his friend Play’s house party, but neither of them can predict what’s in store for them on what could be the wildest night of their lives. Watching House Party today is like opening a time capsule from 1990. It’s not dated, it’s essential — a celebration of Black youth culture that doesn’t rely on stereotypes or trauma; it’s full of joy, community, and creativity. Rare for the time, and unfortunately rare to this day. The fashion, the music, the dance battles — all of it speaks to a specific moment in time, yet it remains undeniably relevant 35 years later. (How did that happen?) Teen comedies before and since have tried to feign this level of authenticity, but the Hudlin brothers — writer-director Reginald and producer Warrington — delivered one that fires on all levels. All of the film’s conflicts — bullying, sneaking out, trying to impress your crush — are handled with a light touch and a vibrant style that still resonates today. Its universal humor never punches down; everyone is invited to this party. — AM

Supervised by director of photography Peter Deming and approved by director Reginald Hudlin, this new 4K restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery using the 35 mm original camera. The original 4.0 surround soundtrack was remastered from the LCRS 35 mm magnetic DME stems.

DIRECTOR
Reginald Hudlin

SCREENWRITER
Reginald Hudlin

PRODUCER
Warrington Hudlin

CAST
Tisha Campbell
Full Force
Robin Harris
A.J. Johnson
Martin Lawrence
Kid ’N Play

Two guys take their bromance to another level when they participate in an art film project. Life choices are questioned and boundaries are tested as college buddies Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard) navigate their surprising reunion and make a spontaneous decision to pursue an unusual art project. It’s not quite what one might expect from two guys daring each other in a game of one-upmanship — and it sparks some challenging conversations about friendship, masculinity, and insecurity. Humpday premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Independence. Directed by the late Lynn Shelton, this mumblecore gem reflects her signature blend of empathy and understated wit. Years later, it still charms with terrific performances, largely improvised dialogue, and Shelton’s deeply missed, effortless brilliance — both behind and in front of the camera. — AT

DIRECTOR
Lynn Shelton

SCREENWRITER
Lynn Shelton

PRODUCER
Lynn Shelton

CAST
Alycia Delmore
Mark Duplass
Joshua Leonard
Lynn Shelton
Trina Willard

A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus. The Hoovers are far from perfect, but that’s what gives Little Miss Sunshine such a high level of emotional depth. Personal conflicts, crumbling emotions, and a broken-down van threaten to derail them at every turn. At the center of it all is Olive (played to perfection by Abigail Breslin), whose determination to realize her true self in a world that demands conformity is delightfully refreshing. While she’s not your stereotypical beauty pageant contender, she has her family’s unwavering support — a display of their unconditional love. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ debut feature premiered to raucous crowds at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Setting aside the oddball humor that cements this film’s place as a cult classic, its main strength lies within its relatable family dynamics. Despite the generational gaps between them, each character carries their own baggage — aspirations, fears, disappointments. The journey is anything but smooth, but we’re all in it together. — AM

Restored by The Walt Disney Studios using a new 4K 16-bit scan of the original negative at Roundabout Entertainment under the supervision of directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.

DIRECTORS
Jonathan Dayton
Valerie Faris

SCREENWRITER
Michael Arndt

PRODUCERS
Marc Turtletaub
David T. Friendly
Peter Saraf
Albert Berger
Ron Yerxa

CAST
Alan Arkin
Abigail Breslin
Steve Carell
Toni Collette
Paul Dano
Greg Kinnear

Two preadolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, adventurous sex worker, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction. A picture of youth and trauma in late-20th-century Middle America, Mysterious Skin presents a sensitive, disquietingly hypnotic coming-of-age entry into writer-director Gregg Araki’s canon. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet deliver exceptionally embodied performances as boys on near-opposite sides of the vast canyon of their shared psychological wound — both approaching revelation in distinctly vulnerable capacities. A notable formal departure from Araki’s established auteur style, Mysterious Skin screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim. Deftly marrying Araki’s bold filmmaking and youthful flair with the gravity of Scott Heim’s lauded novel, the film realizes an unflinchingly honest attention to the American socioeconomic underbelly; the queer psychosexual; the random, undeserved consequences of living. Two decades later, Mysterious Skin remains an unconventional, provocative classic. — CA

Digitally restored by the Academy Film Archive and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Sundance Institute in 4K from the original 35 mm A/B camera negatives and original sound elements. The restoration was supervised by Gregg Araki at Resillion and Monkeyland Audio. The restoration was funded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, mk2, Frameline, Sundance Institute, and UCLA Film & Television Archive, with additional funding and services by Antidote Films and Strand Releasing.

DIRECTOR
Gregg Araki

SCREENWRITER
Gregg Araki

PRODUCERS
Gregg Araki
Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte
Mary Jane Skalski

CAST
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Brady Corbet
Jeffrey Licon
Mary Lynn Rajskub
Elisabeth Shue
Michelle Trachtenberg

Two men awaken to find themselves on the opposite sides of a dead body, each with specific instructions to kill the other, escape or face the consequences. These two are the latest contestants in Jigsaw’s games. Witness the genesis of one of the greatest horror franchises of all time, born when Saw world premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. From the twisted mind of Australian genre titan James Wan, this sophomore feature catalyzed a career that achieved epic heights. Responsible for iconic franchises like Insidious and The Conjuring and directing films in the Fast & Furious and DC universes, Wan is a bonafide Hollywood heavyweight. Returning to this early work highlights the ingenuity and originality that fathered an entire subgenre of cleverly calibrated, exquisitely gory films that always outpace expectations. In retrospect, this series starter is remarkably modest, a truly independent midnighter with a crystalline simplicity that warrants reverent revisitation. Rejoin this all-star cast including Tobin Bell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, and screenwriter Leigh Whannell in answering Jigsaw’s legendary call: “Do you want to play a game?” — AC

A digital restoration from a 4K scan of the 35 mm Interpositive (IP) was supervised and approved by the director.

DIRECTOR
James Wan

SCREENWRITERS
James Wan
Leigh Whannell

PRODUCERS
Gregg Hoffman
Oren Koules
Mark Burg

CAST
Cary Elwes
Danny Glover
Michael Emerson
Tobin Bell
Shawnee Smith
Leigh Whannell

Tracing the evolution of documentary film across time, examining landmark works and hidden treasures, while revealing how the form has helped us see and make sense of our world. Following his groundbreaking series The Story of Film: An Odyssey, filmmaker Mark Cousins turns his analytic eye and storytelling voice to the history of documentary. Ambitious, detailed, and eclectic, Cousins surveys the filmed representation of reality from the invention of cinema to our contemporary, digital age with curiosity and an infectious enthusiasm. Over 16 hours, with surprising insights and an incredible collection of clips from the most well-known to obscure works from around the world, The Story of Documentary Film is an inspiring journey, destined to enrich every viewer who sees it — from the most seasoned cineaste to those taking their first steps into the world of documentary film. — SS

DIRECTOR
Mark Cousins

PRODUCER
John Archer

Struggling actor Shah Latif auditions for the role of a lifetime, only to see his life spiral out of control over four frenetic days.

The Sundance Film Festival is proud to premiere the first three episodes of this exceptional series before its first season is released later this year.

CREATOR
Riz Ahmed

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Riz Ahmed
Allie Moore
Ben Karlin

CAST
Riz Ahmed
Guz Khan
Sheeba Chaddha
Sajid Hasan
Aasiya Shah

A young filmmaker documents his journey toward his first movie as he moves in with a friend group of ambitious creatives, all trying to support one another’s dreams in an oversaturated market. This inexperienced crew of 20-somethings takes on unorthodox jobs to build their brand and pay rent.

DIRECTOR
Julien Turner
Justen Turner

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Cynthia Turner
Stephen Love Jr.
Spence Moore II
Kevin Fredericks

CAST
Spence Moore II
Lou Young III
Lou Ratchett
Bernard “B Nard” Clark
René Vaca
Elijah Cooper

A case that haunted Tennessee’s best detectives for decades is cracked wide open with the help of some unlikely investigators: a high school sociology class.

DIRECTOR
Stacey Lee

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Stephanie Lydecker
Dianne McGunigle
Jon Watts

Yves Bouvier brokers masterpieces, from da Vinci to Rothko, into the private collection of Dmitry Rybolovlev until Bouvier is accused of a billion-dollar betrayal. Rising ambitions, frayed relationships, and bruised egos fuel a decade-long all-out war between the Swiss art dealer and the elusive Russian oligarch.

DIRECTOR
Andreas Dalsgaard

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Libby Geist
Connor Shell
Brandon Harrison
Justin Lacob
Charles De Lardemelle
Rain Rannu
Ines Bensalem

An independent film screener leaks from a talent agency. Wary of sending out digital links, an independent filmmaker presents her latest film to a talent agency in their private screening room. When it inevitably leaks, a frantic cover-up begins, until the district attorney decides to prosecute the agency as a white-collar crime syndicate. As the office builds its case, everyone involved becomes a witness… or a potential defendant. Longtime collaborators Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe return to the Sundance Film Festival with a biting satire of legacy corporate entertainment, made all the more intriguing by the fact that this is an entirely independently produced series. Their unique blend of dark humor and emotional vulnerability yields a tone that is both fresh and unapologetically human. Set within an industry built entirely on reputation and avarice, each episode squarely targets societal hierarchies and outdated power dynamics. Buoyed by a stellar cast, The Screener tells the story of an indie filmmaker who sets out to reclaim her power from a corporate entity that supposedly has her best interests in mind. — AM

The Sundance Film Festival is thrilled to premiere the first three chapters of this riveting five-episode limited series.

DIRECTOR
Jim Cummings
PJ McCabe

PRODUCERS
Michael J. McGarry
Thomas Cross

CAST
Shereen Lani Younes
Jon Rudnitsky
B.K. Cannon
Boni Mata
Shaun J. Brown
Nicolette Doke

Lulu takes a job as a nanny only to discover that her new boss isn’t who she expected.

DIRECTOR
Alec Goldberg

SCREENWRITERS
Alec Goldberg
Camille Wormser

PRODUCERS
Alec Goldberg
Camille Wormser
Hannah Connery
Clay Susick
Vivian Kerr
Don Ohmer
Hunter Milano
Drue Robertson

CAST
Camille Wormser
John Gemberling
Madison Shamoun
Vivian Kerr
Patrick Tabari

No one is more worried about Jules and Poppy than Jules and Poppy.

DIRECTOR
Nicole Holofcener

SCREENWRITERS
Lesley Arfin
Alexandra Tanner

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Tim Foley
Michael B. Clark
Adele Romanski
Mark Ceryak
Barry Jenkins
Lesley Arfin
Alexandra Tanner
Nicole Holofcener

CAST
Gideon Adlon
Rachel Kaly
Devon Bostick
Cora Kirk