In 2027 the Festival will be moving to Boulder, Colorado. So it’s the last year in Park City, and it’s the first year without founder Robert Redford around. A lot of change and a lot of feelings in the film community, bittersweet memories and a shared commitment that filmmaking is more important than ever.
So whether you’re on the ground or inside the line, there’s no time to waste, so here’s an irresistible selection of feature films that will be presented to help you focus.Â
U.S. Documentary Competition: PUBLIC ACCESS
An unprecedented look inside one of the greatest media experiments to hijack American screens. Rare archives from New York’s underground capture a world of creators who shattered rules, defied censors, and transformed our televisions into a free-speech battleground where anyone could be a star.
Directed by: David Shadrack Smith. Produced by: Sara Crow, Anne-Marcelle Ngabirano
U.S. Documentary Competition: SOUL PATROL
From deep behind enemy lines, a hidden chapter of American military history is uncovered, prompting the question of whether reckoning with the past can bring peace to those who lived it. The Vietnam War’s first Black special operations team reunites to tell their story.
Directed by: J.M Harper. Produced by: Sam Bisbee, Danielle Massie, J.M. Harper, Nasir Jones, Peter Bittenbender
World Cinema Dramatic Competition: LEVITATING
Latas Village is a small suburban area, known for its traditional trance parties, a long-standing ritual and form of entertainment passed down through generations. When the sacred spring where the spirit-channelers seek spirits is facing an impending eviction, Bayu (Angga Yunanda) becomes determined to become a lead spirit-channeler himself so he can lead a grand fundraising party to buy back the spring. But along the way, Bayu discovers that ambition alone is not enough to make him a true spirit channeler, or to save the village he calls home.Â
Director and Screenwriter: Wregas Bhanuteja. Producers: Siera Tamihardja, Iman Usman, Amalia Rusdi. Cast: Angga Yunanda, Anggun C Sasmi, Maudy Ayunda, Bryan Domani, Chicco Kurniawan.
World Cinema Dramatic Competition: EXTRA GEOGRAPHY
World Cinema Documentary Competition: SILENCED
Following cases from around the world, international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson fights against the weaponization of defamation laws aimed to silence survivors of sexual assault who dare to speak out.
Directed & Written by: Selina Miles. Produced by: Blayke Hoffman. Featuring:Â Jennifer Robinson
World Cinema Documentary Competition: ALL ABOUT THE MONEY
A son of one of America’s wealthiest families creates a communist revolutionary base in rural Massachusetts as a means of disrupting the capitalist system he grew up in but has now come to despise. It’s the starting point of an astonishing journey.Â
Director, screenwriter and producer: Sinéad O’Shea. Producers: Claire McCabe, Harry Vaughn, Katie Holly, Sigrid Dyekjær
World Cinema Documentary Competition: SENTIENT
The debut feature documentary from respected journalist Tony Jones, takes audiences inside animal laboratory research, exposing a hidden world in which it’s not just the animals who are getting hurt. Drawing on firsthand testimony and investigative research, the film follows Dr. Lisa Jones Engel, a primatologist turned animal welfare advocate, asks whether harming animals and ourselves in science’s name is justified, and questions long-held assumptions about scientific necessity and moral responsibility.
Director and Screenwriter: Tony Jones. Screenwriter: Rachel Grierson-Johns. Producer: Ivan O’Mahoney.
Next: GHOST IN THE MACHINE
The untold origins of artificial intelligence lie not in machines, but in power, revealing the fantasies behind the hype that got us here and where we go next.
Director Valerie Veatch navigates the torrential rapids of artificial intelligence with this mind-expanding investigative essay documentary, that excavates the philosophical, cultural, and political forces driving the global AI boom.
Director, Producer and Screenwriter:Â Valerie Veatch
Premieres: THE WEIGHT
In Oregon in 1933, Samuel Murphy is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal work camp. Warden Clancy tempts him with early release if he smuggles gold through deadly wilderness, but betrayal festers within the crew, and Murphy questions how far he’ll go to see his child again.
Director: Padraic McKinley. Producers: Simon Fields, Nathan Fields, Ryan Hawke, Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo. Starring: Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, Sam Hazeldine
Premieres: WHEN A WITNESS RECANTS
In 1983, noted author Ta-Nehisi Coates remembers learning that a 14-year old boy was murdered in the corridor of his Baltimore middle school. Revisiting the case as an adult, he learns the truth about the three innocent teenagers who were convicted and sentenced to life. After 36 years in prison, it was revealed that false testimony led to their imprisonment. Witness explores the collateral damage the handling of this case had on the community, the wrongfully accused, and the young witnesses who were forced to betray them.
Directors: Dawn Porter. Producers: Dawn Porter, Miriam Weintraub, Jennifer Oko.
Premieres: THE GALLERIST
A desperate gallerist conspires to sell a dead body at Art Basel Miami.
Director and Screenwriter: Cathy Yan, Screenwriter: James Pedersen, Producers: Ash Sarohia, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Jonathan King, Tom McCarthy, Rae Baron. Cast: Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Sterling K. Brown, Zach Galifianakis, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Catherine Zeta-Jones.
This year’s Festival will serve as a meaningful tribute to Robert Redford, and his vision which inspired generations of artists and redefined cinema around the world
Robert Redford’s dedication to the power of storytelling shaped independent cinema. Sundance Institute was created to nurture artists while the Sundance Film Festival was built to provide a space for works to find their audiences. In honor of his memory, a commemorative screening of Downhill Racer (released in 1969) will be presented, his first independent film and a passion project that was his catalyst for the creation of Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival. Throughout the Festival, there will be gatherings that uplift the mission he envisioned, including the Celebrating Sundance Institute: A Tribute to Founder Robert Redford event, Salt Lake City Celebration event, and the Directors Brunch at Sundance Mountain Resort where the 2026 filmmakers will convene.
A further tribute this year will be the establishment of the inaugural Robert Redford Luminary Award, which will be presented to Ed Harris and Gyula Gazdag, two artists deeply dedicated to the Sundance Institute labs.
The Robert Redford Luminary Award will recognize and celebrate individuals who have, in a visionary way, used their resources, insights, and reach to create possibility where there wasn’t, thus doing their part to make the world a better place.
“My association with Sundance Institute has primarily been with the Directors Lab,” said Ed Harris. “I’ve fortunately been asked to take part in the lab as an advisor for the past 19 years. Those weeks have been at the top of the list of the most rewarding, fulfilling, invaluable experiences of my life. The work and the people I’ve met and learned from and loved have enriched my life considerably. I’m eternally grateful to Robert Redford for his vision and passion. And I humbly accept this honor.”
“The Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs became my second home throughout the years, where everything is about nurturing independent art, and that is second nature to every person who is part of it,” said Gyula Gazdag. “It has provided me with fresh air, inspiration, camaraderie, moral support, and love. I always felt that making an effort to reciprocate all of that results in a fruitful process of free creation. Becoming part of the Sundance Institute family is one of the best things that ever happened to me. This award, bearing Robert Redford’s name, to whom I am eternally grateful for what he created, is a great honor for me. It is extremely precious, since it is coming from the place that I cherish and admire.”
IF YOU’RE THERE: try and get into the 16th Monday on Main Street event at The Cabin, Monday, Jan 26 from 12 pm to 2 pm MST.
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival will be held from January 22 to February 1 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.
