Sundance serves as a heat check for the coming year in film, debuting indies that go on to earn Oscar buzz and bigger budget projects that make their way to streaming platforms by year’s end. In other words, if you want to get a jumpstart on your moviegoing plans in 2025, Sundance is your crystal ball. And sure, you could head to snowy Park City to catch glimpses of A-listers like Ayo Edebiri, Josh O’Connor, Bowen Yang, Dev Patel, and more, or you could enjoy the magic of cinema from the comfort of your own home.
This year a slew of film premieres are being made available to the public as the fest rewards fans with online streamings of its most-promising titles. You can head here to grab your tickets, but first, here’s a round-up of films we’re especially excited for. Add them to your list and check back here for more coverage in the weeks ahead.
Atropia
Imagine if HBO’s Westworld was a satirical takedown of America’s military-industrial complex. You’d likely arrive at Atropia, both the title of first-time director Hailey Gates’ bizarre, fascinating love story and the name of the city constructed on the outskirts of L.A. that her film revolves around. In Atropia, aspiring actors play pretend war games while real-life soldiers serve as insurgents and the lines blur between reality and fiction, morality and amusement, ambition and narcissism. Alia Shawkat and Callum Turner play the two lovers trapped in this Black Mirror-esque simulation where nothing is as it seems… or smells.
Bubble & Squeak
Writer-director Evan Twohy takes what would normally make for fairly dramatic fare – a vacationing couple illegally smuggling goods across the border – and injects just the right amount of ridiculous into the proceedings to give audiences a wildly funny, surprisingly sharp rom-com. The Last Station’s Himesh Patel and Barry breakout Sarah Goldberg play the couple in question while the illicit items they’re transporting on holiday turn out to be cabbages – a garden vegetable banned by the nondescript country they’re visiting. When a gung-ho customs officer – Matt Berry putting his locutionary prowess to good use – decides to chase them down, the cracks in their marriage become chasms.
Bunnylovr
Katarina Zhu writes, directs, and stars in this searingly sensitive drama about a cam girl searching for connection in a broken, often dangerous, world. Zhu’s Rebecca has always maintained strict boundaries with her online clientele but when she reunites with her dying, estranged father, the divide between personal and professional becomes blurred. Can intimacy ever be real when it’s commodified? Rachel Sennott plays Rebecca’s no-bullshit best friend while Hit Man’s Austin Amelio plays one of Rebecca’s more questionable cam fans.
By Design
“A woman swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair.” The logline for this absurdist comedy starring Juliette Lewis should be enough of a hook, but writer-director Amanda Kramer promises to deliver more than just surface-level funny with her unforgiving examination of societal norms and how they affect our interior selves. But yes, Lewis cosplays as a chair and strikes up a relationship with the musician in whom’s apartment it (she?) sits. And yes, this whole strange experiment is narrated by Melanie Griffith. What more could you want?
Love, Brooklyn
A love letter to New York that centers on a trio of Brooklynites navigating their changing city – and how that transformation bleeds into their personal lives – Love, Brooklyn is propped up by a masterful cast that includes Andre Holland, DeWanda Wise, and Nicole Beharie. Holland plays the free-spirit of the group, constantly challenged by the women in his life – Wise (a single mother attempting to date) and Beharie (an ambitious gallery owner wanting more from their life together).
Plainclothes
Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey team up for this thrilling (at times, uncomfortably so) tale of an undercover police officer whose secret life is put in jeopardy while on assignment. Blyth’s Lucas is a young cop eager to prove himself. His chance comes when he’s tasked with luring and arresting gay men, a job that proves especially difficult when he falls for one of his marks (Tovey). A commentary on police surveillance and our inability to confront our own desires, the film plays with mediums, using lo-fi VHS footage to bring an authenticity that only heightens the tension for audiences.
Train Dreams
The success of Taylor Sheridan’s universe and Peter Berg’s American Primeval prove that streaming audiences are clamoring for more historical fiction that reexamines the myth of the American West. Train Dreams does that – thrusting us back to the turn of the 20th century as Joel Edgerton plays Grainier, a day laborer helping to build a cross country railroad. But director Clint Bentley turns things introspective, using Grainier’s vantage on the cusp of making history to question our brief existence and how lasting of an impact one person can truly make.
Twinless
Writer-director-actor James Sweeney crafts a bittersweet comedy centering on two grieving men seeking comfort in the strangest of places. Sweeney and co-star Dylan O’Brien play men who meet at a twin bereavement group and embark on a co-dependent friendship that pushes both to some uncomfortably funny places.
World Premieres
Lurker
Saltburn breakout Archie Madekwe plays an on-the-rise pop star who befriends a retail worker (Théodore Pellerin) while escaping a rabid horde of fans. Their unexpected friendship pushes Pellerin’s character to some dark places as he fights to keep his spot within a celebrity’s entourage. What would you do to stay fame-adjacent?
Opus
Ayo Edebiri plays an unsuspecting journalist invited to cover the decades-in-the-making return of an eccentric pop star in this darkly comedic thriller that grows more disturbing with every minute. John Malkovich plays Moretti, a musical icon who disappeared from the public eye only to launch a comeback 30 years later. How? By inviting his cultish fans and industry friends to convene at his desert compound for a listening party from hell.
Rabbit Trap
Welsh folklore. Haunting children. ’70s era mysticism. This horror movie from Bryn Chainey has a bit of everything, all made better by the talents of Dev Patel as a withdrawn husband and Rosy McEwen as an avant-garde musician searching for inspiration in the wilderness. The usual nightmarish hijinks ensue when the couple stirs up ancient spirits with an axe to grind but hey, good art requires sacrifice, right?
Rebuilding
An (unfortunately) timely portrait of loss, grief, and the heartwrenching exercise of rebuilding amongst the ruins, Max Walker-Silverman’s drama sees Josh O’Connor playing a rancher tasked with helping his family heal after a devastating fire wipes out their way of life. Meghann Fahy and True Detective’s Kali Reis join the Challengers star to give this Americana-set tragedy a more grounded feel.
The Wedding Banquet
First, Andrew Ahn took us to Fire Island for a modern-day rom-com that gave Pride and Prejudice a Queer makeover. Now, he’s tackling another rite of passage, trading summer romance for wedding bells with a remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 comedy. Bowen Yang plays a man in need of a green card, and Kelly Marie Tran is his best friend willing to guarantee his citizenship by way of marriage. But things get complicated when his grandmother decides to throw a traditional, completely over-the-top ceremony that makes everyone – especially Yang’s long-term boyfriend – uncomfortable.
