We’re just moments away from the 41st edition of the Sundance Film Festival. This marks our 18th time attending the iconic American indie supply chain event nestled in Park City, which has evolved from its wild, pioneering days during the condo wars to the less swag-city bruised but out-priced for the indie filmmakers it once embraced dwelling. While the move from the state of Utah is imminent, Robert Redford’s creation is still the hub for fresh voices in American indie cinema and still the ultimate place to premiere your documentary feature – just look at the year-end best lists and take an inventory. Kahlil Joseph’s BLKNews (NEXT section selection which was suppose to land in Berlin right after) ticked off both of those boxes — it just got kicked to the curb. As always, we’re excited to handpick five features we’re betting on, plus a wildcard pick that might just surprise us out of nowhere. Last year, it was gems like the quietly powerful Good One, the chilling psycho-thriller Brief History of a Family, the scrappy Seeking Mavis Beacon, the high-octane Kneecap, and the intense Love Lies Bleeding that made our list of favorites.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Atropia
For the past decade or so it feels like the name of filmmaker Luca Guadagnino is a bit everywhere and involved in a lot of projects but rare is it to find his name attached as a producer to an offering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. American model, actress (seen in Challengers), and journalist, after directing a 2019 short film Shako Mako on which her feature debut is based on, Hailey Gates landed Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Chloë Sevigny and Tim Heidecker for the feature — positioned as a satire with a dose of romance. Titled Atropia — this is what happens when your acting career is stunted and you end up taking a different “role” — here it is not on a Disney lot but on a reconstructed set for War Games. A Thousand and One and I Saw the TV Glow cinematographer Eric K. Yue is onboard capturing this pocket of Los Angeles. World premiere date/location: January 25th at the Eccles theatre.
Premieres
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
For her sophomore feature (production took place in August of 2023), Mary Bronstein (if the last name rings a bell its because her significant another is none-other than Frownland’s Ronnie Bronstein – among the producers here) proposes a shot in Montauk dramedy about Linda who sees her world falling apart. Rose Byrne is supported by a surprising eclectic cast that includes Conan O’Brien, Danielle Macdonald and ASAP Rocky. Packed in her we have themes of divisiveness, abandonment, illness and an actual missing person. We were surprised that this was not included as a U.S Dramatic section selection until this week’s announcement of a Golden Ber competition berth – as we recall A24 brought Celine Songs’ Past Lives to Sundance and then preemed in competition at the Berlinale. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is also produced by Josh Safdie, Sara Murphy, Eli Bush and Ryan Zacarias. World premiere date/location: January 24th at the Library theatre.
Premieres
Magic Farm
After a decade or so of video essay work and solo shows, Argentina-born Amalia Ulman‘s accidental pandemic film El Planeta released you guessed it — during the pandemic (at the online Sundance edition in 2021) certified her as a voice worth keeping tabs on. Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff and Simon Rex signed on for this sophomore feature — which is also set to showcase in the Berlinale’s Panorama section. Magic Farm is set against the backdrop of an impending health crisis, where a film crew lands in South America to profile a musician but discover they have arrived in the wrong country. They decide to hire local people to fabricate a trend. This was shot this past summer so arrives at the fest still freshly painted. World premiere date/location: January 28th at the Library theatre.
Midnight
Rabbit Trap
Among the high profile sales titles to make a splash in Park City, short film and commercials filmmaker Bryn Chainey’s feature debut — the psychological horror film (SpectreVision is among the producers) finally lands its big fest premiere. Starring Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen, Rabbit Trap might just all in the line with recent Sundance horror projects that blew up a la The Babadook, Hereditary and The Witch. Set in 1973, this is about the Davenports – Darcy and Daphne – a married couple who relocate to ….a cabin in Wales. This was shot in 2023 – so they’ve had a lot of prep time for all the trimmings. World premiere date/location: January 23rd at the Eccles theatre.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Sorry, Baby
She cut her teeth on videos for Comedy Central and got some valuable acting gigs, but for her feature debut, Eva Victor (shot in March of 2024 in Ipswich, Massachusetts) moves into the vulnerable front and behind the camera seats with the mega producing team of Adele Romanski, Barry Jenkins and Mark Ceryak. In what could be a sobering portrait about trauma, maybe one step forward, three steps back – Sorry, Baby is about a college prof (Victor) named Agnes who attempts to recover after a sexual assault. Spanning over 20 seasons, the project also stars Namoi Ackie and Lucas Hedges and will likely unpack some deep scar tissue feelings via its non-linear timeline. World premiere date/location: January 27th at the Eccles theatre.
And finally, as our bonus sixth pick we are really curious about a late addition to the line-up in Bao Nguyen‘s The Stringer – follows a two-year investigation that uncovered a scandal behind the making of one of the most-recognized photographs of the 20th century (the picture that stopped the war titled Napalm Girl). Five decades of secrets are unraveled in the search for justice for a man known only as “the stringer.” Nguyen has hit Sundance with Be Water and The Greatest Night in Pop.