Sundance 2026: Complete 90-Film Official Selection

The shuttle stop outside the Eccles Theatre still haunts me. Not the cold—though yes, Park City in January will freeze your phone battery dead—but that specific electricity of knowing you’re about to see something the world hasn’t experienced yet. I remember that feeling with Get Out in 2017. With Whiplash before that. It’s why we keep coming back.

So here’s my confession: scanning the Sundance 2026 lineup, I feel something closer to grief than excitement. This is the last year. After 2026, the festival moves to Boulder, Colorado, and 40+ years of Park City history becomes memory. The programming team seems to know it—this slate reads like a statement, not just a schedule.

90 films. 28 countries. 97% world premieres. 40% first-time feature directors.

Why This Sundance Matters More Than Most

Eugene Hernandez, Festival Director, put it directly: “This marks an especially defining year of coming together as a community to uplift independent film and the legacy of the Festival.” Kim Yutani, Director of Programming, added that this edition will be “especially profound in introducing brand-new works while concurrently marking the significance of the many films we have been fortunate to present.”

Translation: They’re treating this like a farewell. And the lineup reflects that gravity.

Below is the complete official selection—every single film, organized by category. Bookmark this. Your January planning starts here.

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U.S. Dramatic Competition

World premieres of groundbreaking new voices in American independent film.

• Bedford Park — Dir: Stephanie Ahn — A Korean American woman confronts her abusive past when her mother’s car accident brings her home—and she meets the man responsible. Cast: Moon Choi, Son Sukku, Won Mi Kyung, Jefferson White.
• Carousel — Dir: Rachel Lambert — A divorced Cleveland doctor’s life unravels when a past love returns and his daughter’s ambitions force him to confront his choices. Cast: Chris Pine, Jenny Slate, Sam Waterston, Katey Sagal.
• The Friend’s House Is Here — Dir: Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Ataei — Two women in Tehran’s underground art scene build freedom and sisterhood—until exposure threatens everything. Cast: Mahshad Bahram, Hana Mana.
• Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! — Dir: Josef Kubota Wladyka — After tragedy, a Tokyo ballroom dancer withdraws—until a new instructor reignites something dangerous. Cast: Rinko Kikuchi, Alberto Guerra, Damián Alcázar.
• Hot Water — Dir: Ramzi Bashour — An expelled Indiana teen and his Lebanese mother hit the road west. Cast: Lubna Azabal, Daniel Zolghadri.
• Josephine — Dir: Beth de Araújo — An 8-year-old accidentally witnesses a crime in Golden Gate Park and acts out to regain control while adults fail her. Cast: Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Mason Reeves.
• The Musical — Dir: Giselle Bonilla — A frustrated playwright/middle school teacher discovers his ex is dating the principal—and plots revenge via academic sabotage. Cast: Will Brill, Gillian Jacobs, Rob Lowe.
• Run Amok — Dir: NB Mager — A teenage girl stages an elaborate musical about the day her high school wishes it could forget. Cast: Patrick Wilson, Margaret Cho, Molly Ringwald.
• Take Me Home — Dir: Liz Sargent — A 38-year-old Korean adoptee with a cognitive disability cares for her aging parents—until a Florida heatwave shatters their balance. Cast: Anna Sargent, Victor Slezak.
• Union County — Dir: Adam Meeks — Assigned to drug court in rural Ohio’s opioid epidemic, a man embarks on the tenuous journey toward recovery. Cast: Will Poulter, Noah Centineo, Emily Meade.

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U.S. Documentary Competition

Nonfiction films illuminating the ideas, people, and events shaping America.

• American Doctor — Dir: Poh Si Teng — Three American doctors—Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian—enter Gaza to save lives and find themselves caught between medicine and politics.
• American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez — Dir: David Alvarado — How Luis Valdez pushed Chicano storytelling from the fields to Zoot Suit and La Bamba, challenging and expanding America’s story.
• Barbara Forever — Dir: Brydie O’Connor — An archive-driven exploration of pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer’s life, work, and legacy.
• Joybubbles — Dir: Rachael J. Morrison — Born blind and yearning for connection, Joybubbles discovers he can manipulate the telephone system by whistling—laying groundwork for modern hacking.
• The Lake — Dir: Abby Ellis — An environmental nuclear bomb looms in Utah. Two scientists and a political insider race to prevent unprecedented catastrophe.
• Nuisance Bear — Dir: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman — A polar bear navigates tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life.
• Public Access — Dir: David Shadrack Smith — Inside one of the greatest media experiments: New York’s underground public access TV, where anyone could be a star.
• Seized — Dir: Sharon Liese — A police raid on the Marion County Record and the death of its 98-year-old co-owner ignites debate about power, journalism, and the Constitution.
• Soul Patrol — Dir: J.M. Harper — The Vietnam War’s first Black special operations team reunites to tell their story from deep behind enemy lines. Producer: Nasir Jones.
• Who Killed Alex Odeh? — Dir: Jason Osder, William Lafi Youmans — The assassination of a Palestinian American activist in 1985 ignites a 40-year quest for justice.

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World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Narrative films from emerging talent around the world.

• Big Girls Don’t Cry (New Zealand) — Dir: Paloma Schneideman — Over one transformative 2006 summer, a 14-year-old discovers desire, identity, and the internet. Cast: Ani Palmer, Noah Taylor.
• How to Divorce During the War (Lithuania) — Dir: Andrius Blaževičius — Marija decides to divorce her husband right before Russia invades Ukraine. Divorce proceedings collide with war.
• Extra Geography (U.K.) — Dir: Molly Manners — Two teenage best friends at an English boarding school fall in love while working on their school project. Cast: Alice Englert.
• Filipiñana (Singapore/Philippines) — Dir: Rafael Manuel — A country club employee feels drawn to the club president—until she uncovers violence beneath the pristine surface.
• Hold Onto Me (Cyprus) — Dir: Myrsini Aristidou — An 11-year-old tracks down her estranged father at a dilapidated shipyard. Stubborn reconnection becomes fragile bond. Cast: Christos Passalis.
• The Huntress (Mexico) — Dir: Suzanne Andrews Correa — In Juárez, where violence against women is perpetrated with impunity, an unlikely defender emerges. Inspired by true events. Cast: Adriana Paz.
• Lady (U.K./Nigeria) — Dir: Olive Nwosu — In Lagos, a fiercely independent cab driver joins a band of reckless sex workers whose sisterhood pulls her into danger and joy. Cast: Seun Kuti.
• Levitating (Indonesia) — Dir: Wregas Bhanuteja — In a town where pleasure means spiritual possession, Bayu aspires to be a trance party shaman to prevent eviction. Cast: Maudy Ayunda.
• Shame and Money (Germany/Kosovo) — Dir: Visar Morina — A Kosovar family loses their village livelihood and moves to the capital to navigate hypercapitalist society.
• Tell Me Everything (Israel/France) — Dir: Moshe Rosenthal — Amid the ’80s pop craze and rising HIV epidemic, a 12-year-old uncovers a devastating secret about his idolized father.

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World Cinema Documentary Competition

Courageous nonfiction filmmaking from international voices.

• All About the Money (Ireland) — Dir: Sinéad O’Shea — A son of one of America’s wealthiest families creates a communist revolutionary base in rural Massachusetts. An astonishing journey begins.
• Birds of War (U.K./Syria) — Dir: Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak — A love story between a Lebanese journalist and Syrian activist, told through 13 years of personal archives across revolution, war, and exile.
• Closure (Poland) — Dir: Michał Marczak — A father scours the Vistula River after his teenage son goes missing, torn between dread and hope.
• Everybody To Kenmure Street (U.K.) — Dir: Felipe Bustos Sierra — In May 2021, a dawn immigration raid triggers one of the most successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory.
• Hanging by a Wire (U.S./Pakistan) — Dir: Mohammed Ali Naqvi — A cable car snaps, leaving eight passengers—including six schoolboys—dangling 900 feet above a Himalayan ravine. Rescuers have 10 hours.
• Kikuyu Land (Kenya) — Dir: Andrew H. Brown, Bea Wangondu — A journalist probes a land battle between local government and a multinational corporation. Family secrets emerge.
• One In A Million (U.K.) — Dir: Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes — Filmed over 10 years: a girl’s journey from Syria to Germany and back, illuminating the refugee experience.
• Sentient (Australia) — Dir: Tony Jones — An investigation into laboratory animal research exposes hidden harm—to animals and scientists alike.
• Silenced (Australia) — Dir: Selina Miles — Human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson fights the weaponization of defamation laws against #MeToo survivors.
• To Hold a Mountain (Serbia) — Dir: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić — A shepherd mother and daughter defend their Montenegro ancestral mountain from becoming a NATO training ground.

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NEXT

Innovative, forward-thinking American cinema.

• Aanikoobijigan — Dir: Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil — Ancestors trapped in museum archives bend time to find their way home. Tribal specialists fight to return Indigenous remains. Documentary.
• Burn (Japan) — Dir: Makoto Nagahisa — Runaway teen Ju-Ju finds belonging with misfit youths in Kabukicho—until betrayal twists haven into prison. Cast: Nana Mori. Fiction.
• Ghost in the Machine — Dir: Valerie Veatch — The untold origins of artificial intelligence lie not in machines but in power. Documentary.
• If I Go Will They Miss Me — Dir: Walter Thompson-Hernández — A 12-year-old sees spectral visions of boys drifting around his neighborhood, revealing links between father and son. Cast: Danielle Brooks. Fiction.
• The Incomer (U.K.) — Dir: Louis Paxton — Siblings on a remote Scottish isle hunt birds and fight off outsiders—until an official arrives to relocate them. Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin, Michelle Gomez. Fiction.
• Jaripeo (Mexico) — Dir: Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig — A journey into Michoacán’s hypermasculine rodeos descends into queer desire and longing. Documentary.
• Night Nurse — Dir: Georgia Bernstein — Perverse scam calls unsettle a retirement community as a nurse becomes entangled with a mysterious patient. Cast: Mimi Rogers. Fiction.
• TheyDream — Dir: William David Caballero — After 20 years chronicling his Puerto Rican family, a director and his mother craft animations to bring lost loved ones back to life. Documentary.
• zi — Dir: Kogonada — In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes everything. Cast: Haley Lu Richardson, Jin Ha. Fiction.

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Premieres

Highly anticipated world premieres in fiction and nonfiction.

FICTION:

• Chasing Summer — Dir: Josephine Decker — After losing job and boyfriend, Jamie retreats to small-town Texas where old flings turn her life upside down. Cast: Iliza Shlesinger, Lola Tung, Tom Welling, Megan Mullally.
• Frank & Louis — Dir: Petra Biondina Volpe — An inmate takes a prison job caring for Alzheimer’s patients. A self-interested bid for parole becomes transformative bond. Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rob Morgan.
• Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass — Dir: David Wain — A bride-to-be’s “free celebrity pass” agreement with her fiancé backfires. Epic Hollywood journey ensues. Cast: Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm, Ken Marino.
• The Gallerist — Dir: Cathy Yan — A desperate gallerist conspires to sell a dead body at Art Basel Miami. Cast: Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Zach Galifianakis, Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
• I Want Your Sex — Dir: Gregg Araki — Fresh-faced Elliot becomes a provocateur artist’s sexual muse—descending into obsession, power, and murder. Cast: Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Charli xcx, Daveed Diggs.
• In The Blink of An Eye — Dir: Andrew Stanton — Three storylines across thousands of years intersect on hope and connection. Cast: Rashida Jones, Kate McKinnon, Daveed Diggs. 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize Winner.
• The Invite — Dir: Olivia Wilde — A couple on thin ice hosts a dinner party where everything goes worse. Cast: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton.
• The Moment — Dir: Amir Zamiri — A rising pop star navigates fame and industry pressure before her arena tour debut. Cast: Charli xcx, Alexander Skarsgård, Kate Berlant.
• The Only Living Pickpocket in New York — Dir: Noah Segan — A veteran pickpocket is sent on a mission through NYC to reclaim stolen goods. Cast: John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Tatiana Maslany, Giancarlo Esposito.
• See You When I See You — Dir: Jay Duplass — A comedy writer battles PTSD after his sister’s death. Cast: Cooper Raiff, David Duchovny, Kaitlyn Dever, Lucy Boynton.
• The Shitheads — Dir: Macon Blair — Two unqualified bozos hired to transfer a teen to rehab spiral into dangerous mayhem. Cast: Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Peter Dinklage, Kiernan Shipka.
• The Weight — Dir: Padraic McKinley — Oregon 1933: A man is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal work camp. Betrayal festers on a gold-smuggling mission. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Julia Jones.
• Wicker — Dir: Eleanor Wilson, Alex Huston Fischer — A fisherwoman asks a basketmaker to weave her a husband. Cast: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki.

DOCUMENTARY:

• The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist — Dir: Daniel Roher, Charlie Tyrell — A father-to-be explores AI’s existential dangers and stunning promise. Producers: Daniel Kwan, Jonathan Wang.
• Antiheroine — Dir: Edward Lovelace, James Hall — Courtney Love, now sober and releasing new music, reveals her story unfiltered.
• The Brittney Griner Story — Dir: Alexandria Stapleton — Inside Brittney Griner’s harrowing detainment and advocacy for other wrongful detainees.
• The Disciple — Dir: Joanna Natasegara — An outsider works his way into the Wu-Tang Clan’s inner circle during a controversial album’s creation. Producer: Vanessa Kirby.
• Give Me the Ball! — Dir: Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff — How Billie Jean King put changing the world ahead of saving herself.
• The History of Concrete — Dir: John Wilson — After attending a Hallmark movie workshop, a filmmaker tries to sell a documentary about concrete using the same formula.
• Jane Elliott Against the World — Dir: Judd Ehrlich — The educator behind the “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” experiment, now nearly 90, refuses to hold back.
• Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie — Dir: Alex Gibney — Previously unseen footage documents Rushdie’s recovery—physical and spiritual.
• The Last First: Winter K2 — Dir: Amir Bar-Lev — The deadly race to summit K2 in winter exposed alpinism’s fault lines: commercialization, social media, marginalization.
• The Oldest Person in the World — Dir: Sam Green — A decade-long journey chronicles the ever-changing record holders. A meditation on time and fate.
• Once Upon A Time In Harlem — Dir: William Greaves, David Greaves — A decade after his death, William Greaves’ lost footage of a 1972 Harlem Renaissance party emerges.
• Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story — Dir: Judd Apatow, Neil Berkeley — Comedian Maria Bamford transforms mental health struggles into riotously funny material.
• Queen of Chess — Dir: Rory Kennedy — How Judit Polgár battled Garry Kasparov and her domineering father to become the greatest woman chess player ever.
• Time and Water — Dir: Sara Dosa — An Icelandic writer creates a time capsule for dying glaciers and lost grandparents.
• Troublemaker — Dir: Antoine Fuqua — Nelson Mandela’s struggle against apartheid in his own voice, from recordings made during his autobiography.
• When A Witness Recants — Dir: Dawn Porter — Ta-Nehisi Coates uncovers how three innocent teenagers spent 36 years in prison for a 1983 murder.

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Midnight

Horror, thrillers, and genre films to keep you awake.

• The Best Summer — Dir: Tamra Davis — Immersive POV footage of Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Rancid, Beck, The Amps, and Bikini Kill. Documentary.
• Buddy — Dir: Casper Kelly — A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids’ television show. Cast: Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace, Michael Shannon, Patton Oswalt. Fiction.
• Leviticus (Australia) — Dir: Adrian Chiarella — Two star-crossed teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most—each other. Cast: Mia Wasikowska. Fiction.
• Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant (New Zealand) — Dir: THUNDERLIPS — A messy millennial underachiever accidentally gets alien-pregnant and must survive skeptical doctors, a useless baby daddy, and her oversharing mum. Cast: Jackie van Beek. Fiction.
• Rock Springs — Dir: Vera Miao — A grieving girl moves to an isolated house and discovers something monstrous hidden in the town’s history and the woods. Cast: Kelly Marie Tran, Benedict Wong, Jimmy O. Yang. Fiction.
• Saccharine (Australia) — Dir: Natalie Erika James — A lovelorn medical student becomes terrorized by a hungry ghost after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes. Cast: Midori Francis. Fiction.
• undertone (Canada) — Dir: Ian Tuason — A paranormal podcast host becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way. Cast: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco. Fiction.

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Spotlight, Family Matinee & Special Screenings

SPOTLIGHT:

• Broken English (U.K.) — Dir: Jane Pollard, Iain Forsyth — A portrait of the inimitable Marianne Faithfull. Documentary.
• Tuner — Dir: Daniel Roher — A piano tuner with a unique auditory condition discovers a talent for cracking safes. Cast: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Jean Reno. Fiction.

FAMILY MATINEE:

• Cookie Queens — Dir: Alysa Nahmias — Four tenacious Girl Scouts strive to be top-selling “Cookie Queens” in an $800 million business. Documentary.
• Fing! (Australia/U.K.) — Dir: Jeffrey Walker — A demanding girl and her parents protect a rare, furry, one-eyed creature from an entitled viscount. Cast: Mia Wasikowska, David Walliams, Taika Waititi. Fiction.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS:

• The Story of Documentary Film (U.K.) — Dir: Mark Cousins — Tracing the evolution of documentary film across time.

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What the Sundance 2026 Lineup Signals

• First-Timer Energy: 40% of directors are making their first feature—Sundance remains a launchpad, not just a showcase
• Genre Confidence: The Midnight section includes possession horror (Leviticus), body horror (Saccharine), and alien pregnancy comedy—genre is no longer a sideshow
• Documentary Ambition: From AI origins to K2 disasters to Salman Rushdie’s recovery, the nonfiction slate tackles subjects that would anchor entire networks
• The Araki Factor: Gregg Araki returning with I Want Your Sex suggests Sundance is embracing provocation for its farewell year
• Star Power Returns: Chris Pine, Natalie Portman, Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Olivia Colman—A-list actors are choosing indie premieres over studio tentpoles

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FAQ: Sundance 2026 Festival Explained

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Here’s what I keep returning to: this lineup reads like the programming team knew they had one last chance to define what Sundance means. Not just as a market, not just as a launchpad, but as a statement about what independent cinema can be when it’s not afraid to be weird, ambitious, and occasionally uncomfortable.

Forty-four days until Park City. Then Boulder. Then whatever comes next.

The question isn’t whether you’ll find something worth watching in these 90 films—you will. The question is whether you’re ready to say goodbye to a place that made so many of those discoveries possible.