The 2025 Sundance Film Festival will take place in person, in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah from January 23-February 2nd. The virtual component of the festival will begin on January 30th. Film lovers from around the world will get to share their passion for movies and witness the groundbreaking work of global artists. For 11 days straight, we will reunite to hear unique voices and perspectives, watch entertaining films, and witness important stories. With the innovative filmmaking and diverse storytelling at the forefront, this could be one of the best years yet!
For the 41st edition, the lineup includes 86 feature-length films from 33 countries across the globe, 36 of which are from first-time filmmakers! and 54 short films. And I’m excited to see as many as possible.
“This year’s program presents stories that confront many critical issues of our time, encouraging us to look both inward and outward.”
Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming
Without further ado, here is my watchlist, which consists of films from the U.S and World Cinema dramatic competitions, the spotlight & NEXT categories, and of course, all the Midnight films:
U.S. Dramatic Competition
The Dramatic Competition offers audiences a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film.
Atropia | Director: Hailey Gates
Sundance Synopsis: When an aspiring actress in a military role-playing facility falls in love with a soldier cast as an insurgent, their unsimulated emotions threaten to derail the performance.
Bunnylovr | Director: Katarina Zhu
Sundance Synopsis: A drifting Chinese American cam girl struggles to navigate an increasingly toxic relationship with one of her clients while rekindling her relationship with her dying estranged father.
Love, Brooklyn | Director: Rachael Abigail Holder
Sundance Synopsis: Three longtime Brooklynites navigate careers, love, loss, and friendship against the rapidly changing landscape of their beloved city.
Ricky | Director: Rashad Frett
Sundance Synopsis: Newly released after being locked up in his teens, 30-year-old Ricky navigates the challenging realities of life post-incarceration, and the complexity of gaining independence for the first time as an adult.
Sorry, Baby | Director: Eva Victor
Sundance Synopsis: Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least.
World Cinema Dramatic Competition
The World Cinema Dramatic Competition demonstrates fiction projects from emerging artists around the world that offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles.
Brides | Director: Nadia Fall
Sundance Synopsis: Two teenage girls in search of freedom, friendship, and belonging run away from their troubled lives with a misguided plan of traveling to Syria.
The Virgin of Quarry Lake | Director: Laura Casabe
Sundance Synopsis: In 2001, three teenagers from the outskirts of Buenos Aires all fall in love with Diego. Natalia has always had the most chemistry with him, but when it seems inevitable that their friendship will turn into something more, the older and more experienced Silvia appears and soon captures Diego’s attention.
NEXT
Films in the Next category show visionary works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling populate this program.
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions | Director: Kahlil Joseph
Sundance Synopsis: Preeminent West African curator and scholar Funmilayo Akechukwu’s magnum opus, The Resonance Field, leads her to the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, drawing a journalist into a journey that shatters her understanding of consciousness and time.
By Design | Director: Amanda Kramer
Sundance Synopsis: A woman swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair.
OBEX | Director: Albert Birney
Sundance Synopsis: Conor Marsh lives a secluded life with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing OBEX, a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs and Conor must venture into the strange world of OBEX to bring her home.
Serious People | Directors: Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson
Sundance Synopsis: A successful music video director and expectant father pushes his work-life balance to the extreme as he hires a doppelgänger to work in his stead.
Premieres
A showcase of world premieres of some of the most highly anticipated fiction and documentary films of the coming year.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You | Director: Mary Bronstein
Sundance Synopsis: With her life crashing down around her, Linda attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.
Last Days | Director: Justin Lin
Sundance Synopsis: Determined to fulfill his life’s mission, 26-year-old John Allen Chau embarks on a dangerous adventure across the globe to convert the uncontacted tribe of North Sentinel Island to Christianity, while a detective from the Andaman Islands races to stop him before he does harm to himself or the tribe.
Magic Farm | Director: Amalia Ulman
Sundance Synopsis: A film crew working for an edgy media company travels to Argentina to profile a local musician, but their ineptitude leads them into the wrong country. As the crew collaborates with locals to fabricate a trend, unexpected connections blossom while a pervasive health crisis looms unacknowledged in the background.
The Thing with Feathers | Director: Dylan Southern
Sundance Synopsis: Struggling to process the sudden and unexpected death of his wife, a young father loses his hold on reality as a seemingly malign presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.
Midnight
From horror and comedy to works that defy genre classification, these films will keep you wide awake, even at the most arduous hour.
Dead Lover | Director Grace Glowicki
Sundance Synopsis: A lonely gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meets her dream man, but their whirlwind affair is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea. Grief-stricken, she goes to morbid lengths to resurrect him through madcap scientific experiments, resulting in grave consequences and unlikely love.
Didn’t Die | Director: Meera Menon
Sundance Synopsis: A podcast host desperately clings to an ever-shrinking audience in the zombie apocalypse.
Opus | Director: Mark Anthony Green
Sundance Synopsis: A young writer is invited to the remote compound of a legendary pop star who mysteriously disappeared 30 years ago. Surrounded by the star’s cult of sycophants and intoxicated journalists, she finds herself in the middle of his twisted plan.
Rabbit Trap | Director: Bryn Chainey
Sundance Synopsis: When a musician and her husband move to a remote house in Wales, the music they make disturbs local ancient folk magic, bringing a nameless child to their door who is intent on infiltrating their lives.
The Ugly Stepsister | Director: Emilie Blichfeldt
Sundance Synopsis: In a fairy-tale kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira battles to compete with her incredibly beautiful stepsister, and she will go to any length to catch the prince’s eye.
Together | Director: Michael Shanks
Sundance Synopsis: With a move to the countryside already testing the limits of a couple’s relationship, a supernatural encounter begins an extreme transformation of their love, their lives, and their flesh.
Touch Me | Director: Addison Heimann
Sundance Synopsis: Two codependent best friends become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist who may or may not be trying to take over the world.
Thank you for reading! Which films from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival are you anticipating the most? Share with me at @BB18180 on twitter. In case you missed it, check out my watchlist from 2024.
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