Sundance 2026: Must-See Films

The 2026 Sundance Film Festival kicks off January 22, 2026, premiering over 100 films in thirteen categories. 

Sundance will relocate next year from Park City, Utah to Boulder, Colorado, and will dedicate time to honor previous festival classics that premiered in its original mountain location, including Oscar winning Little Miss Sunshine. 

Sundance will also pay homage to its late founder, Robert Redford, after his passing in September of this year. Redford will be remembered on the second night of the festival at its gala celebration, and they’ll be screening the 1969 Redford movie Downhill Racer as an homage to his indie roots. 

This memorable and celebratory year will feature profound new work from familiar artists and upcoming filmmakers, with 40% of the films coming from first-time feature directors. There will be star-studded casts, including performances from Channing Tatum, Molly Ringwald, and Noah Centineo. The teams behind the scenes are red-carpet worthy as well, with production from Olivia Wilde, screenwriting from Rashida Jones, and production from Rob Lowe.
    
Check out the full lineup below, with a green heart noting the client projects we were proud to support. 💚

U.S. Dramatic Competition

💚 Bedford Park / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Stephanie Ahn, Producers: Gary Foster, Chris S. Lee, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Theresa Kang, Son Sukku)

"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…."

Read more about ‘Bedford Park.’

💚 Union County / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Adam Meeks, Producers: Brad Becker-Parton, Stephanie Roush, Sean Weiner, Faye Tsakas, Martha Gregory)

“Assigned to a county-mandated drug court program, Cody Parsons embarks on the tenuous journey toward recovery amid the opioid epidemic in rural Ohio…”

Read more about ‘Union County.’

💚 Take Me Home / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Liz Sargent, Producers: Apoorva Guru Charan, Minos Papas)

“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…”
Read more about ‘Take Me Home.’

Carousel / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Rachel Lambert, Producers: Alex Saks, David Lipper, Robert A. Daly Jr., Ian Gotler, Chris Pine)

The Friend’s House Is Here / U.S.A., Iran (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Ataei)

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Josef Kubota Wladyka, Screenwriter: Nicholas Huynh, Producers: Kimberly Parker Zox, Mao Nagakura)

Hot Water / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Ramzi Bashour, Producers: Jesse Hope, Max Walker-Silverman, Josh Peters)

Josephine / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Beth de Araújo, Producers: David Kaplan, Josh Peters, Marina Stabile, Mark H. Rapaport, Crystine Zhang)

The Musical / U.S.A. (Director: Giselle Bonilla, Screenwriter and Producer: Alexander Heller, Producers: Rob Lowe, Greg Lauritano, Findlay Brown, Jordan Backhus)

Run Amok / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: NB Mager, Producers: Julie Christeas, Frank Hall Green) 

Midnight

💚 Buddy / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Casper Kelly, Screenwriter: Jamie King, Producers: Tyler Davidson, Drew Sykes, Raphael Margules, J.D. Lifshitz, Tracy Rosenblum) 

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

Read more about ‘Buddy.’

The Best Summer / U.S.A., Australia, Indonesia, Thailand (Director and Producer: Tamra Davis, Producer: Shelby Meade) 

Leviticus / Australia (Director and Screenwriter: Adrian Chiarella, Producers: Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton, Hannah Ngo) 

Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant / New Zealand (Director and Screenwriter: THUNDERLIPS, Producers: Alix Whittaker, Morgan Leigh Stewart, Ilai Amar)

Rock Springs / U.S.A., Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Vera Miao, Producers: Stephen Feder, Kiri Hart, Poppy Hanks, Greta Talia Fuentes, Jason Michael Berman, Jordan Moldo) 

Saccharine / Australia (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Natalie Erika James, Producers: Anna McLeish, Sarah Shaw)

undertone / Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Ian Tuason, Producers: Dan Slater, Cody Calahan) 

U.S. Documentary Competition

American Doctor / U.S.A., State of Palestine, Malaysia, Qatar (Director and Producer: Poh Si Teng, Producers: Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad) 

American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: David Alvarado, Producers: Lauren DeFilippo, Everett Katigbak, Amanda Pollak)

Barbara Forever / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Brydie O’Connor, Producer: Elijah Stevens) 

Joybubbles / U.S.A. (Director: Rachael J. Morrison, Producer: Sarah Winshall) 

The Lake / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Abby Ellis, Producer: Fletcher Keyes)

Nuisance Bear / U.S.A., Canada (Directors: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman, Producers: Michael Code, Will N. Miller, Teddy Leifer) 

Public Access / U.S.A. (Director: David Shadrack Smith, Producers: Sara Crow, Anne-Marcelle Ngabirano) 

Seized / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Sharon Liese, Producers: Sasha Alpert, Paul Matyasovsky) 

Soul Patrol / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: J.M. Harper, Producers: Sam Bisbee, Danielle Massie, Nasir Jones, Peter Bittenbender)

Who Killed Alex Odeh? / U.S.A. (Directors: Jason Osder, William Lafi Youmans, Producer: Dawne Langford, William Lafi Youmans, Jason Osder, Daniel J. Chalfen) 

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Big Girls Don’t Cry / New Zealand (Director and Screenwriter: Paloma Schneideman, Producers: Vicky Pope, Thomas Coppell) 

How to Divorce During the War / Lithuania, Luxembourg, Ireland, Czech Republic (Director and Screenwriter: Andrius Blaževičius, Producer: Marija Razgutė) 

Extra Geography / U.K. (Director: Molly Manners, Screenwriter: Miriam Battye, Producer: Sarah Brocklehurst) 

Filipiñana / Singapore, U.K., Philippines, France, Netherlands (Director and Screenwriter: Rafael Manuel, Producers: Jeremy Chua, Alex Polunin, Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew, Nadia Turincev, Omar El Kadi) 

HOLD ONTO ME (Κράτα Με) / Cyprus, Denmark, Greece (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Myrsini Aristidou, Producer: Monica Nicolaidou) 

The Huntress (La Cazadora) / Mexico, U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Suzanne Andrews Correa, Producers: Gabriela Maire, Edher Campos, Mynette Louie)

LADY / U.K., Nigeria (Director and Screenwriter: Olive Nwosu, Producer: Alex Polunin) 

Levitating / Indonesia, Singapore, France (Director and Screenwriter: Wregas Bhanuteja, Screenwriters: Defi Mahendra, Alicia Angelina, Producers: Siera Tamihardja, Iman Usman, Amalia Rusdi) 

Shame and Money / Germany, Kosovo, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Belgium (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Visar Morina, Screenwriter: Doruntina Basha, Producers: Fabian Altenried, Sophie Ahrens, Kristof Gerega, Pia Hellenthal)

Tell Me Everything / Israel, France (Director and Screenwriter: Moshe Rosenthal, Producers: Alona Refua, Maya Fischer, Roi Kurland, Ben Giladi, Emilie Georges, Naima Abed) 

World Cinema Documentary Competition 

All About the Money / Ireland (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Sinéad O’Shea, Producers: Claire McCabe, Harry Vaughn, Katie Holly, Sigrid Dyekjær)

Birds of War / U.K., Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak, Producer: Sonja Henrici)

Closure / Poland (Director and Producer: Michał Marczak, Producers: Monika Braid, Rémi Grellety, Katarzyna Szczerba, Karolina Marczak) 

Everybody To Kenmure Street / U.K. (Director and Producer: Felipe Bustos Sierra, Producer: Ciara Barry) 

Hanging by a Wire / U.S.A., U.K., Pakistan (Director and Producer: Mohammed Ali Naqvi, Producer: Bilal Sami) 

Kikuyu Land / Kenya (Directors and Producers: Andrew H. Brown, Bea Wangondu, Producers: Moses Bwayo, Mike Morrisroe, Joseph Njenga) 

One In A Million / U.K. (Directors: Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes, Producers: Raney Aronson-Rath, Will Anderson, James Bluemel, Andrew Palmer) 

Sentient / Australia (Director and Screenwriter: Tony Jones, Screenwriter: Rachel Grierson-Johns, Producer: Ivan O’Mahoney) 

Silenced / Australia (Director: Selina Miles, Producer: Blayke Hoffman) 

To Hold a Mountain / Serbia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Producers: Quentin Laurent, Rok Biček) 

Next

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] / U.S.A., Denmark (Directors and Producers: Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, Producers: Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington, Jacque Clark, Franny Alfano) 

BURN / Japan (Director and Screenwriter: Makoto Nagahisa, Producers: Yasuo Suzuki, Kazunori Seki, Takeyasu Koganezawa)

Ghost in the Machine / U.S.A.(Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Valerie Veatch) 

If I Go Will They Miss Me / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Walter Thompson-Hernández, Producers: Josh Peters, Saba Zerehi, Ben Stillman) 

The Incomer / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Louis Paxton, Producers: Shirley O’Connor, Emily Gotto) 

Jaripeo / Mexico, U.S.A., France (Directors: Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig, Producer: Sarah Strunin) 

Night Nurse / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Georgia Bernstein, Producers: Edwin Linker, Liane Cunje, Veronica Barbosa, Lucy Rogers) 

TheyDream / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: William David Caballero, Screenwriters and Producers: Erin Ploss-Campoamor, Elaine del Valle, Producer: Brad Jones) 

zi / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Kogonada, Producers: Chung An, Christopher Radcliff, Benjamin Loeb, Haley Lu Richardson, Michelle Mao, Jin Ha)

Premieres

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist / U.S.A. (Directors: Daniel Roher, Charlie Tyrell, Producers: Daniel Kwan, Jonathan Wang, Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Ted Tremper)

Antiheroine / U.K., U.S.A. (Directors: Edward Lovelace, James Hall, Producers: Julia Nottingham, Melanie Archer, Hattie Bridges Webb, Jon Lullo)

The Brittney Griner Story / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Alexandria Stapleton, Producers: Stacy Scripter, Funmi Akinyode, Megan Goedewaagen, Carolyn Hepburn)

Chasing Summer / U.S.A. (Director: Josephine Decker, Screenwriter and Producer: Iliza Shlesinger, Producers: Rob Guillermo, Ray Maiello, Nihaar Sinha, Houston King, Sam Pressman)

THE DISCIPLE / U.S.A, U.K. (Director and Producer: Joanna Natasegara, Producers: Abigail Anketell-Jones, Lauren Dark, Vanessa Kirby)

Frank & Louis / Switzerland, U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Petra Biondina Volpe, Screenwriter: Esther Bernstorff, Producers: Reto Schaerli, Lukas Hobi)

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: David Wain, Screenwriter: Ken Marino, Producers: Anthony Bregman, Peter Cron, Ken Marino, Crystine Zhang, Charles Zhong)

The Gallerist / U.S.A., France (Director and Screenwriter: Cathy Yan, Screenwriter: James Pedersen, Producers: Ash Sarohia, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Jonathan King, Tom McCarthy, Rae Baron)

Give Me the Ball! / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff, Producers: Dominic Crossley-Holland, Dan Cogan, Chris James, Gentry Kirby)

The History of Concrete / U.S.A. (Director: John Wilson, Producers: Clark Filio, Shirel Kozak, Allie Viti) 

I Want Your Sex / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Gregg Araki, Screenwriter and Producer: Karley Sciortino, Producers: Seth Caplan, Teddy Schwarzman, Michael Heimler, Courtney L. Cunniff)

In The Blink of An Eye / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Stanton, Screenwriter: Colby Day, Producer: Jared Ian Goldman)

The Invite / U.S.A. (Director: Olivia Wilde, Screenwriters: Rashida Jones, Will McCormack, Producers: David Permut, Ben Browning, Megan Ellison) 

Jane Elliott Against the World / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Judd Ehrlich, Producers: Max Powers, Elena Gaby)

Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Alex Gibney, Producers: Erin Edeiken, Sruthi Pinnamaneni)

The Last First: Winter K2 / U.S.A., U.K. (Director: Amir Bar-Lev, Producers: John Battsek, Sean Richard, Sarah Thomson, Howard T. Owens, Ben Silverman)

The Moment / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Aidan Zamiri, Screenwriter: Bertie Brandes, Producers: Charli xcx, David Hinojosa)

The Oldest Person in the World / U.S.A. (Director: Sam Green, Producers: Alison Byrne Fields, Josh Penn)

Once Upon A Time In Harlem / U.S.A. (Directors: William Greaves, David Greaves, Producers: Liani Greaves, Anne de Mare) 

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Noah Segan, Producers: Katie McNeill, Leopold Hughes, Ben LeClair)

Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Judd Apatow, Neil Berkeley, Producers: Amanda Rohlke, David Heiman)

Queen of Chess / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Rory Kennedy, Screenwriters and Producers: Mark Bailey, Keven McAlester) the greatest woman chess player of all time. World Premiere. Documentary.

See You When I See You / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Jay Duplass, Screenwriter and Producer: Adam Cayton-Holland, Producers: Fred Bernstein, Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon)

The Shitheads / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Macon Blair, Producers: Alex Orr, Brandon James, Nathan Klingher, Mark Fasano, Josh Harris, Ford Corbett)

Time and Water / U.S.A., Iceland (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Sara Dosa, Screenwriters: Jocelyne Chaput, Erin Casper, Andri Snær Magnason, Producers: Shane Boris, Elijah Stevens, Jameka Autry) 

Troublemaker / South Africa, U.S.A., U.K. (Director and Producer: Antoine Fuqua, Screenwriter: Michael Toomey Mann, Producers: Mac Maharaj, Arthur Landon, Kevin Mann, Mark Bauch, Thabang Lehobye)

The Weight / U.S.A. (Director: Padraic McKinley, Screenwriters: Matthew Booi, Matthew Chapman, Shelby Gaines, Producers: Simon Fields, Nathan Fields, Ryan Hawke, Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo) 

When A Witness Recants / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Dawn Porter, Producers: Miriam Weintraub, Jennifer Oko)

Wicker / U.S.A. (Directors and Screenwriters: Eleanor Wilson, Alex Huston Fischer, Producers: Ed Sinclair, Tom Carver, Justin Lothrop, Brad Zimmerman, Ryan Heller, Lia Buman)

Episodic

BAIT / U.K., U.S.A. (Executive Producers: Riz Ahmed, Allie Moore, Ben Karlin)

The Screener / U.S.A. (Directors: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe, Producers: Michael J. McGarry, Thomas Cross) 

Fiction Pilot Showcase:

FreeLance / U.S.A. (Directors: The Turner Brothers, Executive Producers: Cynthia Turner, Stephen Love Jr., Spence Moore II, Kevin Fredericks) 

Soft Boil / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Alec Goldberg, Producers: Camille Wormser, Hannah Connery, Clay Susick, Vivian Kerr, Don Ohmer) 

Worried / U.S.A. (Director: Nicole Holofcener; Executive Producers: Tim Foley, Michael B. Clark, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins) 

Nonfiction Pilot Showcase:

Murder 101 / U.S.A. (Director: Stacey Lee, Executive Producers: Stephanie Lydecker, Dianne McGunigle, Jon Watts) 

The Oligarch and the Art Dealer / Denmark, France, U.S.A. (Director: Andreas Dalsgaard, Producers: Christoph Jörg, Miriam Norgaard)

Spotlight

Broken English / U.K. (Directors and Screenwriters: Jane Pollard, Iain Forsyth, Screenwriter: Ian Martin, Producer: Beth Earl) 

Tuner / Canada, U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Daniel Roher, Screenwriter: Robert Ramsey, Producers: JoAnne Sellar, Lila Yacoub, Teddy Schwarzman, Michael Heimler) 

Family Matinee

Cookie Queens / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Alysa Nahmias, Producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw, Jennifer Sims) 

Fing! / Australia, U.K. (Director: Jeffrey Walker, Screenwriters: David Walliams, Kevin Cecil, Producers: Jo Sargent, Todd Fellman) 

Special Screenings

The Story of Documentary Film / U.K. (Director: Mark Cousins, Producer: John Archer) 

Attend Sundance in 2026

Sundance Film Festival is saying goodbye to its home of 44 years this year, with this festival being the last one to take place in Park City, Utah. The 2027 festival will be in Boulder, Colorado. 

Sundance Film Festival will take place from Thursday, January 22 to Sunday, February 1, 2026. Ticket selections go live for passholders to select which screenings they’d like to see on January 12th, with single film tickets up for sale on January 14th. 

For more information on this year's festival, check out the Sundance 'How to Fest' page.

Stay Updated on Film Festival Season 

Check back here for the latest updates on the 2026 film festival season as GreenSlate client projects continue to make headlines. 

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