The Sundance Movie Pageant, America’s main showcase for unbiased narrative and documentary movies from the USA and all over the world, opens its 2026 version on Thursday. This 12 months’s festivai presents almost 100 options via Feb. 1, in-person in Utah and on-line.
This 12 months’s program consists of dramatic movies with stars together with Natalie Portman, Channing Tatum, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine, Ethan Hawke, Keegan Michael-Key, and Charli XCX. There’s additionally a lineup of documentaries whose topics embrace singers Courtney Love and Marianne Faithfull, tennis legend Billie Jean King, writer Salman Rushdie, and subjects like synthetic intelligence, summitting K2, and kids competing to promote probably the most Woman Scout cookies.
The pageant’s screenings might be held in-person in Park Metropolis and Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, whereas on-line screenings might be accessible for audiences throughout the nation starting Jan. 29. There can even be quick movie applications, experimental and episodic works, and conversations and panel discussions with filmmakers and Sundance alumni. [Click here for ticket information.]
This 12 months’s Sundance Movie Pageant is the final to be held in Park Metropolis. The pageant — which originated in 1978 as the USA Movie Pageant, earlier than being taken over by the Sundance Institute — has outgrown its location and might be held subsequent 12 months in Boulder, Colorado.
This additionally marks the primary pageant to be held because the passing of Robert Redford, who helped form the pageant right into a champion for unbiased filmmakers and creatives from marginalized communities.
Amanda Kelso, performing CEO of the Sundance Institute, mentioned, “The 2026 Sundance Movie Pageant might be a really pivotal and memorable second as we have fun artists and their visionary works, honor our Sundance Institute founder, Robert Redford, and his transformative imaginative and prescient, and present our gratitude to Utah by commemorating our collective journey.”
A part of that commemoration is thru retrospective screenings of among the greatest hits to have come out of Sundance, from “Little Miss Sunshine” to “Half Nelson,” starring Ryan Gosling.
As an indication of how far the pageant has come, this 12 months’s program was chosen from greater than 16,200 submissions, together with 4,255 feature-length movies, from 164 nations or territories. Jury prizes might be awarded within the classes of home and worldwide narrative and non-fiction movies, shorts, and the NEXT sidebar (which promotes progressive approaches to storytelling).
There are additionally Viewers Awards, which prior to now have gone to such movies as “intercourse, lies and videotape,” “Hoop Goals,” “Whale Rider,” “Hustle & Stream,” “As soon as,” “Trying to find Sugar Man,” “Fruitvale Station,” “Whiplash,” “CODA,” and “20 Days in Mariupol.”
The next is a small collection of the pageant’s choices, most of that are premieres, and plenty of of that are nonetheless looking for theatrical distribution.
Documentaries
Among the many nonfiction choices at Sundance this 12 months are profiles of writer Salman Rushdie, and the way he survived a 2022 assassination try (“Knife: The Tried Homicide of Salman Rushdie”); singer, songwriter and actress Courtney Love, who prepares for her first new music launch in a decade, in “Antiheroine”; chess prodigy Judit Polgár (“Queen of Chess”); and centenarians and the always-changing titleholder of “The Oldest Particular person within the World.”
“Damaged English” is a genre-twisting tribute to Marianne Faithfull, who died a 12 months in the past, and options Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Nick Cave, Suki Waterhouse and others portray a portrait of the singer-songwriter.
Justice, civil rights and equality are the themes of “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” concerning the seek for reality within the 1985 California bombing that killed a outstanding Palestinian American activist; “All people to Kenmure Avenue,” wherein lots of of residents in a Scottish neighborhood combat off a deportation raid affecting their neighbors; “Soul Patrol,” a historical past of the primary Black particular operations staff of the Vietnam Struggle; and “Sentient,” an investigation into laboratory analysis on primates.
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“Troublemaker” attracts on recordings of Nelson Mandela to recount the wrestle towards apartheid in South Africa. In “When a Witness Recants,” writer Ta-Nehisi Coates revisits a 1983 Baltimore homicide case and discovers that three youngsters have been wrongfully convicted. In “American Physician,” three docs from the U.S. enter Gaza and are caught between drugs and politics. Worldwide human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson fights using defamation legal guidelines to silence survivors of sexual abuse in “Silenced.”
“Ghost within the Machine” examines the origins of synthetic intelligence. In “The AI Doc: Or How I Grew to become an Apocaloptimist,” co-directors Charlie Tyrell and Daniel Roher (the Oscar-winning director of “Navalny”) discover the existential risks and promised advantages of synthetic intelligence.
Environmental tales embrace “The Lake,” a couple of looming poisonous disaster rising from Utah’s Nice Salt Lake; and “Nuisance Bear,” a couple of polar bear whose habitat is threatened by human growth. In “Time and Water,” Iceland’s disappearing glaciers are however one measure of household historical past, reminiscence and the weather for Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason.
In “To Maintain a Mountain,” a single mom and her teenaged daughter, shepherds in Montenegro, combat to guard their ancestral residence from changing into a NATO army coaching floor, whereas additionally adjusting to altering dynamics of their relationship. Shot over 10 years, Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes’ “One in a Million” follows a woman navigating warfare and heartbreak as she travels from Syria to Germany, and later returns to Aleppo.
Artwork and media are the main target of a number of movies: “Public Entry” traces the historical past of the event of public entry tv, because it grew from a legally-required providing on New York Metropolis cable TV within the early Nineteen Seventies, to a controversial battleground totally free speech. “Seized” recounts the story of a newspaper within the small city of Marion, Kansas, that was raided by police, unearthing a deeper story about abuse of energy, group journalism, and the truth that “deleted” textual content messages aren’t essentially gone endlessly.
“As soon as Upon a Time in Harlem” brings to life footage captured by the late filmmaker William Greaves when he documented a 1972 gathering of the residing luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. Mark Cousins’ “The Story of Documentary Movie” seems on the evolution of non-fiction cinema.
There are additionally profiles of Chicano filmmaker Luis Valdez (“American Pachuco”); pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer (“Barbara Perpetually”); and comic Maria Bamford, whose psychological well being journey grew to become a part of her performances (“Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story,” directed by Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley).
Sports activities documentaries embrace profiles of basketball star Brittney Griner in “The Brittney Griner Story,” which additionally paperwork her detention in Russia; and tennis nice Billie Jean King in “Give Me the Ball!”
“Cookie Queens” follows 4 Woman Scouts as they embark on their mission: to be the top-seller of Woman Scout cookies.
Within the foothills of the Himalayas, a wire on a cable automotive snaps, leaving eight passengers, together with a number of schoolchildren, dangling 900 toes above a ravine awaiting rescue earlier than the remaining cable fails. “Hanging by a Wire” captures the frenzy to avoid wasting them. “The Final First: Winter K2” traces the deadly consequence of a race to climb the world’s second-highest mountain on the worst potential time of 12 months.
And beneath less-deadly circumstances, John Wilson (the dryly satirical voice behind HBO’s “How To with John Wilson”) goes via the method of attempting to promote a documentary about constructing supplies in “The Historical past of Concrete.”
Narrative options
Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton (“WALL-E”) directs the live-action “In The Blink of an Eye,” a trilogy of tales spanning 1000’s of years, from the lives of cave dwellers, to an astronaut light-years from Earth. With Rashida Jones, Kate McKinnon, Daveed Diggs, Jorge Vargas and Tanaya Beatty.
In Stephanie Ahn’s “Bedford Park,” two first-generation Korean Individuals (Moon Choi, Son Sukku) develop a young relationship whereas maneuvering their messy and constricting household dynamics. Chris Pine stars in “Carousel,” a couple of divorced physician who’s reunited with a previous love.
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Natalie Portman, Zach Galifianakis and Da’Vine Pleasure Randolph star within the artwork world satire “The Gallerist.” In Gregg Araki’s “I Need Your Intercourse,” Cooper Hoffman takes a job as an assistant to provocative artist Olivia Wilde. With Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, and Charli XCX (who additionally stars in “The Second,” a mockumentary about an up-and-coming pop star getting ready for her first large enviornment tour).
In “The Buddy’s Home Is Right here” (which was filmed in Iran after which smuggled in another country), two younger ladies defend one another as they enter Tehran’s underground artwork scene and grow to be targets. In “Josephine,” an 8-year-old lady (Mason Reeves) witnesses a criminal offense in Golden Gate Park, and her mother and father (Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan) should assist her overcome her worry and trauma.
“Chasing Summer time,” from director Josephine Decker (“Madeline’s Madeline”), stars Iliza Shlesinger as a millennial who returns to her Texas hometown to reassess herself after shedding each her boyfriend and her job. With Lola Tung (“The Summer time I Turned Fairly”) and Garrett Wareing (“The Lengthy Stroll”).
Within the comedy “The Incomer,” siblings on a distant Scottish island discover an official (Domhnall Gleeson) who has come from the mainland to relocate them. Will Brill, Gillian Jacobs and Rob Lowe star in “The Musical,” a couple of playwright-schoolteacher who seeks revenge when his ex begins relationship his college’s principal. In “Wicker,” tailored from an Ursula Wills quick story, a fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) requested a basket maker (Alexander Skarsgård) to weave her a mate.
Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde (who additionally directs), Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton star in “The Invite,” about a cocktail party that goes south. Director David Wain (“Moist Scorching American Summer time”) returns with “Gail Daughtry and the Celeb Intercourse Go,” an L.A caper wherein a bride-to-be seems to money in on her “free movie star go” as soon as she learns her fiancé has already claimed theirs. With Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm and John Slattery.
Coming-of-age tales embrace, from the U.Ok., “Further Geography,” wherein two women at a boarding college problem themselves to fall in love with a instructor; and “Large Women Do not Cry,” from New Zealand, wherein a 14-year-old lady undergoes a change of self-awareness throughout one summer season. In “Maintain Onto Me,” the debut function from Cypriot filmmaker Myrsini Aristidou, an 11-year-old lady seeks to reconnect together with her estranged father. A teen levels a musical representing her worst highschool reminiscence in “Run Amok,” with Alyssa Marvin, Patrick Wilson, Margaret Cho and Molly Ringwald.
The legal underworld is the setting for “The Solely Dwelling Pickpocket in New York” (starring John Turturro as a nimble-fingered hustler discovering it tougher to make do in a cashless world), and “The Tuner,” (starring Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall), wherein a piano tuner discovers his auditory presents come in useful cracking safes. In “The Weight,” starring Ethan Hawke, a prisoner at a piece camp in Thirties Oregon is obtainable early launch if he agrees to smuggle gold.
Will Poulter stars in “Union County,” concerning the problem of restoration within the midst of rural Ohio’s opioid epidemic. Within the psychosexual thriller “Night time Nurse,” a brand new caregiver at a luxurious retirement group discovers some unsettling behaviors there. In “Zi,” a cross between science fiction and the supernatural from Hong Kong filmmaker Kogonada, a younger lady’s life is reworked by her encounter with a mysterious stranger.
Primarily based on true occasions, “The Huntress (La Cazadora)” stars Adriana Paz (“Emilia Perez”) as a lady preventing for justice in Juárez, Mexico. In Lagos, a feminine taxi driver develops a sisterhood with intercourse staff, resulting in her personal transformation, in “Woman.”
Midnight
The pageant’s Midnight sidebar of style movies consists of “Buddy,” a horror movie wherein a younger lady and her mates attempt to escape a kids’s tv present. ‘Nuff mentioned? How a couple of forged that includes Keegan-Michael Key, Michael Shannon and Patton Oswalt?
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The title of “Mum, I am Alien Pregnant” just about tells you what is in retailer from the New Zealand directing pair of Sean Wallace and Jordan Mark Windsor (a.okay.a. THUNDERLIPS). Natalie Erika James (“Relic”) directs the physique horror flick “Saccharine.”
Whereas evacuating the Palisades Hearth final 12 months, Tamra Davis uncovered recorded footage she’s fabricated from a 1995 rock pageant in Australia known as Summersault, that includes such artists as Beastie Boys, the Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill and Beck. “The Greatest Summer time” captures the performances and backstage drama of that point.
Occasions
Amongst companion occasions are panel discussions on such subjects as “The New McCarthyism: Why Authoritarians Worry Storytellers” (Jan. 22); “Reimagining Rural America Via Storytelling” (Jan. 23); “After the Pitch – A Look Inside Creating a Studio Mission” (Jan. 23); “The Way forward for Environmental Movie” (Jan. 23); “The Artwork of Casting for Unbiased Movie” (Jan. 23); and “How AI Is Evolving Storytelling with Stream from Google” (Jan. 23).
The pageant additionally consists of retrospective screenings and restored shows of films, lots of which first discovered their viewers at Sundance, together with “Little Miss Sunshine”; “Half Nelson,” with Ryan Gosling; “Cronos” (adopted by an prolonged Q&A with director Guillermo del Toro); Barbara Kopple’s “American Dream”; Reginald Hudlin’s “Home Occasion”; and Gregg Araki’s “Mysterious Pores and skin.” Sundance can even current an archival print of one among Robert Redford’s earliest hits, “Downhill Racer” (co-starring one other legend we misplaced final 12 months, Gene Hackman).
Extra
Go to the Sundance Movie Pageant web site at pageant.sundance.org for extra details about extra options, quick movies and different occasions, in addition to buying in-person or on-line tickets.
