Over half a year has passed since the Sundance Film Festival U.S Dramatic Competition titles played at the final Park City edition of the festival. Our last check in over four months ago saw only four titles that had secured distribution after their festival runs. Now we have nine total and recently learned that the competition section will now move back up to a dozen offerings in 2027. Gone are the days of late night bidding wars, negotiations now take weeks and more commonly months to transpire. It remains to be seen whether the recent box office boom will reignite festival sales later on but Sundance has remained cautious at best for another year. Here are the updates per title:
Bedford Park by Stephanie Ahn:
Just before it’s theatrical launch on September 22nd (a rare Tuesday release), Sony Pictures Classics managed to land a very important 2026 Toronto International Film Festival showcase for Ah’s debut landing a spot in the Discovery section.
Carousel by Rachel Lambert:
The only film that has still not found a home in Rachel Lambert’s film. Jenny Slate and Chris Pine starring romance sees Pine’s Noah who’s settled life owning a doctor’s practice and caring for his daughter is disrupted due to the return of his high-school ex, Slate’s Rebecca. There is a certain experimental denouement in mapping the human condition here which might explain why it received a lukewarm reception.
The Friend’s House Is Here by Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei:
Following a young Iranian-American woman returning to Iran after a family tragedy discovering deep buried secrets, Greenwich Entertainment made this part of two film acquisitions pick-up of the section. The Friend’s House Is Here recently received international preems at Karlovy Vary and Melbourne and the studio are lining up an autumn release.
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! by Josef Kubota Wladyka:
A major pick up for Sony Pictures Classics, Josef Kubota Wladyka’s Sundance hit film is going to be supercharged for a September 25th release and just before, it too will be featured at TIFF with a major showcase in the Centrepiece section (September 15th and 16th are the premiere dates). SPC might want in on giving Rinko Kikuchi a boost for awards if this plays well with Toronto crowds.
Hot Water by Ramzi Bashour:
Bashour’s debut was snapped up by Rich Spirit, another relatively new company “championing bold, visionary voices from the global diaspora”. The distrib are launching Sundance Next section gem If I Go Will They Miss Me next month, and have been pushing Hot Water on several American city showcases and a Karlovy Vary international premiere.
Josephine by Beth de Araújo:
The new kids on the block in Sumerian Pictures are mounting a massive awards push for Josephine with a showcase at TIFF with a Special Presentations showcase plus the film was selected for Perlak section at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Scheduled for a November 20th release — we’ll be watching how this plays out at the Gothams and Indie Spirits and quite possibly the Globes and Oscars.
The Musical by Giselle Bonilla:
One of the films with largely mixed reception The Musical, from debut feature filmmaker Giselle Bonilla starring Will Brill, Rob Lowe and Gillian Jacobs has been picked up by Blue Harbour Entertainment. The dark comedy follows a disgruntled theatre teacher’s attempt at taking down his middle school by producing the most inappropriate musical imaginable. Blue Harbour also picked up 2025 Sundance director award winner Ricky which was released April this year – over a year since it played at Sundance. Bonilla will have to wait significantly less time as The Musical releases on the 18th of September.
Run Amok by NB Mager
Greenwich Entertainment’s other pick-up is a feature based on the short of the same name. The film utilizes a common theme of recent American cinema as high schooler Meg opts to stage a musical reenactment of the shooting that happened at her school 10 years ago. Run Amok has to wait to be dropped – scheduled for early 2027.
Take Me Home by Liz Sargent
Elizabeth Woodward’s Willa has secured one of the festival’s more notable critical successes in Take Me Home which also played at Berlinale. It has garnered glowing reviews and had its New York premiere at Tribeca earlier this year. An expansion of Sargent’s short of the same name it follows Anna (played by the director’s own sister) a young woman caring for her ageing family whose quiet routine is shattered by a Florida heatwave. Willa have notably focused on impactful, personal stories with titles like The Voice of Hind Rajab, Take Me Home will be released next month.
Union County by Adam Meeks
Union County was the first film to be released of the batch of ten via the Oscilloscope Laboratories folks. A critical success praised for its authenticity and compassion, shot in the director’s hometown and starring Will Poulter as Cody the film follows him as he journeys through a court mandated drug programme in a bid to recover from the opioid epidemic in rural Ohio. In its opening weekend box office grab it lassoed $68,461 from 10 theaters.
