When Sundance kicks off in a little under two months, it will face a unique challenge. Unspooling for the last time in its longtime home of Park City, Utah, the festival must somehow pay tribute to the legacy and history of an event that has become very tied to the bundled-up, snow-capped romanticism of that specific place.
At the same time, there needs to be an air of excitement and expectation about moving on to the festival’s new home in Boulder, Colo., beginning with the 2027 edition.
“We can hold both of those things in our hearts at the same time,” says John Nein, senior programmer and director of strategic initiatives, in a video interview this week from Los Angeles, with a warm smile.
On Wednesday, Sundance released its upcoming lineup of 90 feature films and seven episodic projects, at least a handful of which will likely emerge as pacesetters for the rest of the year.
Among the most high-profile titles in this year’s forthcoming program are writer-director Cathy Yan’s art-world satire “The Gallerist,” starring Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega; David Wain’s comedy “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” starring Zoey Deutch and Jon Hamm; and the world premiere of “The Moment,” starring Charli XCX in a fictional story as a pop star.
Olivia Wilde directs “The Invite,” starring alongside Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton as neighbors at a dinner party gone wrong. Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe co-star in Padraic McKinley’s “The Weight,” a survival drama set in 1930s Oregon.
And among a strong-sounding selection of documentaries will be a number of portraits on notable figures, including musician Courtney Love (“Antiheroine”), Brittney Griner, the female basketball star who was jailed in Russia (“The Brittney Griner Story”), tennis champion Billie Jean King (“Give Me the Ball”) and Nelson Mandela (“Troublemaker”).
Creating a sense of continuity with Sundance’s past, the program includes new projects from a number of directorial alumni, such as Gregg Araki’s provocative “I Want Your Sex,” starring Wilde and Cooper Hoffman; Alex Gibney’s documentary “Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie,” based on the author’s memoir; and Nicole Holofcener’s pilot for the new show “Worried.”
Nein, speaking alongside festival director Eugene Hernandez and director of programming Kim Yutani, says festival alumni are reaching out unsolicited looking for ways to participate — or simply attend, wanting to be in Park City one final time.
“And that is the energy and vitality of our community,” Nein says. “It is one that is eager and enthusiastic for Sundance Film Festival to continue and to continue to serve artists. And we’re hearing that also in terms of the enthusiasm for Boulder.
“To me, they kind of play hand in hand,” he adds. “The approach that we have to honoring our history is the same approach that we’re bringing to continuing that history, and making sure that these artists continue to have opportunities to thrive.”
Adding to the emotion swirling around the upcoming edition of Sundance is the September death of Robert Redford, founder of the Sundance Institute and longtime figurehead for the festival. Tributes to Redford’s legacy at Sundance were already in the works as part of the acknowledgment of the festival’s relationship to Utah and Park City.
Among the planned events will be a screening of Michael Ritchie’s 1969 film “Downhill Racer,” which starred Redford as a strong-willed skiing champion, a film he often referenced regarding his own relationship to artistic independence.
Putting together this year’s festival would already be a daunting task, apart from the pressures of saying goodbye to Park City and Redford both, as well as the recent death of Sundance communications chief Tammie Rosen.
For Yutani, every year brings its own difficulties, remembering all too well the pivots made during the pandemic, when the in-person events of 2021 and 2022 were canceled.
“The last five years have been a lot for us to handle,” says Yutani. “I think that what I have tried to do in this year is just really stay in the moment: Look at what is coming at us from these filmmakers who have such strong visions and are just doing things in creative and innovative ways. And just to be open to what we’re seeing and not get too bogged down in what’s in our past or worried too much about the future.”
As Hernandez points out, every year brings a new crop of filmmakers who are experiencing the festival for the very first time, so they do not come in with the baggage of expectations.
“As much as we can talk about the legacy and history and the old timers, which I think will add an incredible aspect to the festival this year, we’re creating a festival that is also focused on the celebration of new voices,” says Hernandez. “For so many people, it will be brand new, no matter what.”
The program this year does not shy away from grappling with the difficulties of the world outside the festival. Several titles in U.S. Dramatic Competition — in many ways the signature section of the festival, comprising domestic discoveries — make multiple references to stories touching on international and immigrant stories, at a time when those topics feel particularly front of mind, culturally and politically.
Yutani points to Stephanie Ahn’s “Bedford Park,” about a Korean American woman grappling with her abusive past, and Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei’s “The Friend’s House Is Here,” about two women navigating the underground art scene in Tehran, as exemplars of the kinds of stories that were catching the attention of the programming team.
“There’s so much that we see that resonates with us,” says Yutani. “And I think that these particular films are ones that really just stood out to us and come from such strong viewpoints. We haven’t necessarily seen them told in quite this way.”
Other notable titles in U.S. Dramatic Competition include NB Mager’s “Run Amok,” about an inflammatory high school musical; Giselle Bonilla’s “The Musical,” about a romantic rivalry between a teacher and a principal, featuring Rob Lowe; and Josef Kubota Wladyka’s “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” about a Japanese ballroom-dancing scene.
The Midnight and Next sections will feature many potential breakout titles as well, including Tamra Davis’ ’90s music documentary “The Best Summer,” featuring members of the Beastie Boys, the Amps and Sonic Youth; Ian Tuason’s podcast horror film “undertone”; “Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant,” from the New Zealand directing team known as THUNDERLIPS and Kogonada’s “zi,” with Haley Lu Richardson of “White Lotus” and “Columbus.”
Meanwhile, over in the more star-heavy Premieres section will be “Chasing Summer,” written by and starring comedian Iliza Shlesinger; Jay Duplass’ “See You When I See You,” starring Cooper Raiff and David Duchovny; and Macon Blair’s “The S—heads,” starring Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
At the Academy Awards earlier this year, Kieran Culkin won a supporting actor Oscar for his role in “A Real Pain,” which premiered more than 13 months earlier at Sundance in 2024. Celebrated filmmakers in this year’s awards race — including “Sinners” director Ryan Coogler and “Hamnet” filmmaker Chloé Zhao — first broke out with early works at the festival. And several of last year’s Sundance standouts, such as “Train Dreams,” “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, “Sorry, Baby” and “The Perfect Neighbor,” remain in the awards conversation.
“I would like to say it’s not meaningful, but it really is,” Yutani says with a laugh. “Each year we see all these films that we’ve programmed into the festival and they all succeed on their own terms in different ways. Once we release this program, it’s no longer ours. And how the public or the industry reacts to them is always fascinating to us.”
Yutani recalls introducing the world premiere of “Sorry, Baby” (whose writer-director-star Eva Victor was just nominated for a Golden Globe on Monday) and staying to watch the film play to an audience for the first time.
“It was an incredible screening,” recalls Yutani. “You know when a filmmaker’s life is going to change and I think that there’s something just so special about that, something so gratifying to us as the people who first recognize a film.”
And that seems to be what those behind Sundance most want to uphold and carry forward: a commitment to providing a spotlight for new voices.
“It is first and foremost really bold, unique perspectives and storytelling that these artists are bringing to us,” says Hernandez.
At a time when the sort of inclusivity that’s at the core of Sundance’s mission is under ongoing attack, one could read this year’s program as a rebuke.
Hernandez recalls his response to first seeing “Bedford Park” while under consideration for this year’s program, being moved and shaken and knowing there is something very specific they all can do as programmers.
“As Mr. Redford said in 2017, administrations will come and go and Sundance will always remain focused on independent artists and storytelling,” says Hernandez. “And that’s something that we have the privilege of being able to continue to do and to sustain.
“And we’ll take that with us to Boulder in 2027 and beyond,” says Hernandez.
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