The Sundance Film Festival offers a wide variety of films to see, from brand-new, boundary-pushing horror movies to incisive comedies and heart-wrenching dramas. Every year in January, thousands of people descend on Park City, Utah to be the first to see what could become some of 2025’s biggest movies. Because it highlights independent cinema, though, there are also some major discoveries to be found alongside anticipated new releases.

This year saw excellent directorial debuts, from exciting new voices like Katarina Zhu with Bunnylovr and Eva Victor with Sorry, Baby to a few new releases from A24. We were on the ground at the festival to interview the stars, directors, and crew of these new films to get the inside scoop on some of the breakout hits of the festival. If you love movies, there’s something at Sundance for you.

Check out what we saw below, who we talked to, and what we thought of the films below.

Ricky, Starring Stephan James As A Man Living Life Post-Incarceration

Stephan James leads a somber reflection on the lack of societal support for previously incarcerated people in Rashad Frett’s feature film directorial debut. Ricky is based on Frett’s own short film, which premiered at Sundance in 2023, and incorporates the experiences of ex-offenders once they attempted to reintegrate into their lives as free men and women. The movie also features 3rd Rock From the Sun‘s Simbi Kali in the genuinely heartfelt role of Ricky’s mother, who is at a loss for how to help her son, and Abbott Elementary‘s Sheryl Lee Ralph as his parole officer Joanne, whose brand of tough love masks a deep affection for her charge.

ScreenRant interviewed Frett and several Ricky cast members at the movie’s premiere, including James himself, who said he “was blown away” by the original short film and knew a feature-length expansion could be “something special.” While Ricky’s journey onscreen is a very nuanced and personal one, he also represents a great deal of Americans who are left behind by the system, which was something James hoped would be clear to audiences.

Stephan James: I think that he’s trying to find himself in a weird way. This film is about the incarceration system, but it’s also a coming-of-age story. It’s about a young man finding himself as a man in this world and being free. I think that, in that way, we may not conclude anything, but we raise a lot of questions about how we’re dealing with these youth when we put them in there. How are we attending to them after we release them; [attending to] their mental health, their physical health, their wellbeing, whether they have a job or not? I think these are all important questions.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Rabbit Trap, An Unsettling New Horror Movie Starring Dev Patel

Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen are venturing down a path of fantasy-driven insanity in Rabbit Trap. Hailing from writer/director Bryn Chainey in his feature directorial debut, the movie centers on musician married couple Darcy and Daphne in 1970s Britain who, in an effort to record a new album, move to a remote house in the wooded area of Wales. During their time there, they find themselves inadvertently stumbling upon local ancient folk magic, and their already-fragile relationship is further put to the test.

ScreenRant interviewed McEwen, Jace Croot and Chainey at the movie’s premiere to discuss Rabbit Trap, including their partnership with producers Daniel Noah and Elijah Wood via their SpectreVision banner. Chainey, in particular, reflected on his working relationship with Patel on the film, after having just made his own feature directorial debut on Monkey Man, praising the star’s “great instincts” both in front of and behind the camera:

Bryn Chainey: Working with any actor that understands and appreciates the whole filmmaking process is a joy. Dev has such great instincts, and he’s been in all kinds of films, and he’s as a performer and as a director now. It is great to be able to talk to him on every level. We can talk about a scene, and not just what the character is going through in the moment, but how that works structurally across the whole film. We can talk about pace, and angles and where the light is, and it’s just great to have the language shared. I’m really excited to see what he does next, as well. Like, I enjoyed Monkey Man, it was a f—-ng blast. So, I really am excited to see what he does next.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Atropia, A Satirical Romance Set On A Military Base That Will Make You Laugh Out Loud

Alia Shawkat is holding nothing back with her military satire Atropia, and is bringing a star-studded cast along with her. The movie is set in the mid-2000s on an American military base used for training simulations of the real Iraq War zone, focusing on an aspiring actor who falls in love with a soldier cast as an insurgent. Alongside Shawkat, the ensemble Atropia cast includes Master of the Air‘s Callum Turner, Poker Face‘s Chloë Sevigny, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist‘s Jane Levy, Heretic‘s Chloe East and Nutcrackers‘ Tim Heidecker.

ScreenRant interviewed Shawkat, Turner, Levy, East, Priscilla Garita, and debuting feature writer/director Hailey Gates at the Atropia Sundance Film Festival premiere. Shawkat began by acknowledging that while her Max comedy Search Party had elements of satire, the new film has a “world all to itself” and a tone that’s quite different from much of what she’s done in the past:

Alia Shawkat: Search Party had this weird satire element to it, and it’s confusing, because while you’re making it, you’re kind of like, “I don’t know what this is, but I’m trying to play it as real as possible,” but the writing can make it go everywhere. I think when you find that happy medium, you could get real magic. This movie has that quality, as well, where it’s a world all to itself. It’s a weird tone, but it’s unique, and it’s its own tone. It was about getting it made, right? So getting friends to do favors, getting actors to do guest spots, getting people to come through, reaching out to buddies, just trying to get money, trying to get a movie made. A movie that you care about, and it’s really hard. You have to believe in movies so much to hopefully get it going.

East, Levy and Garita also went on to praise Gates’ ability to allow her Atropia cast to cut loose and embrace the chaotic fun of the satire, with East even recalling that she had forgotten just how wild her role got until she was reminded of it by a crew member when they reunited on another project sometime later:

Chloe East: Yeah, there are very few directors I feel like I’ve worked with, especially in the comedy sense, that are just — I feel like when you have that trust, and they’re encouraging, and they’re just, like, “Try whatever.” Not to name-drop, but Steven Spielberg made me feel that I could try anything, and it didn’t matter. And it really gave me that freedom, just trying the wackiest stuff and it not be embarrᴀssing. I think Hailey kind of gave me that. I do some weird s–t in this movie. [Laughs] I kind of faintly remember I worked with the cinematographer on another movie I did last year, and he’s like, “You’re the girl that did the pee,” and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I don’t even really remember what I did.” But I think when you have that trust with the director, and they just allow you to do anything, I feel like it’s not even this like verbal consent of just try anything. It’s like to actually trust that you’re not being judged, and you really can’t try anything.

Priscilla Garita: Oh absolutely, so satire, I don’t think I’ve ever done a satire to this extreme, and she unlocked the ability to just go for it. And oftentimes, I just kept on looking at her, like “Too much?” And she’d be like, “No, no!” So, that was really comforting. But, you have to take the risk of just go for it, go out there, and hopefully it looks all right.

Jane Levy: I mean, maybe this has been unlocked before, but she definitely brought out my inner clown. There’s a lot of this movie that’s pretty zany slapstick. Maybe slapstick isn’t the word, but I play the constipated girl, so that’s basically all you need to know. You just sort of follow the director’s lead, and if you trust them, then it’s really fun.

For Gates, she acknowledges that the “tonal тιԍнтrope walk” required when putting together a satire is “so scary“, explaining that her approach to balancing the movie’s multiple genres is to recognize “the seriousness” as much as the comedy, while also praising her cast for nailing what she wanted to do with Atropia:

Hailey Gates: I love satires. They are so scary, right? Because it’s a tonal тιԍнтrope walk. But Alia is just such an incredibly gifted comedian, and Callum is so funny in the movie. I don’t want to say straight man, but I think, for me, it only ever works if the seriousness is what drives the humor.

The Ballad Of Wallis Island, A Charming Comedy That Will Warm Your Heart

Releasing March 28 through Focus Features, The Ballad of Wallis Island is a whimsical yet heartfelt tale about letting go of the past and longing for connection. Co-writers Tom Basden and Tim Key, who are comedic legends in their own right, re-team with director James Griffiths to turn their 2007 short film into a full-fledged feature. Doing so required adding a few more characters and storylines, so now the one and only Herb McGwyer (Basden) lands on his millionaire host Charles’ (Key) Welsh island only to discover that his ex-partner in life and music Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) is also there to play, and so is her husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen).

What could easily be a zany comedy of errors reveals itself instead to be an introspective and nuanced look at the lives and loves we each leave behind, as Herb and Nell rediscover their pᴀssion for music in new circumstances, and even Charles uncovers the secret to human connection that he had misplaced for so long. Key revealed just how much the movie hinged on Mulligan’s casting when he explained that she was number one on their dream list:

Tim Key: It was very, very quick that we knew it was going to be Carey Mulligan. I mean, it’s nuts when you’re writing anything. You go, “Imagine we can have this person or this person.” We did make a list with insane people on it, and number one was Carey. Then we got in touch with Carey, and she said, “I’d love to do it.” We were very lucky.

The fact that she has the voice of an angel doesn’t hurt, nor does the fact that the songs Basden wrote are perfect for an indie folk band that made it big some decades ago.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Bunnylovr, A Distinctly Modern & Stunning Directorial Debut

Bunnylovr, a feature film directorial debut from Katarina Zhu, explores isolation and loneliness in the modern age despite the myriad of online ways to keep people tethered. Zhu, who also wrote the screenplay, plays a cam girl named Rebecca who struggles to maintain her offline friendships (most notable with Zhu’s real-life friend Rachel Sennott, who plays Bella) even as she seeks to reconnect with her estranged father (Warrior‘s Perry Yung).

When one persistent client (The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ‘s Austin Amelio) sends Becca a rabbit as a gift, she finds herself learning to care for another living creature while also sinking further into a strange dynamic she’s unsure about. Based on the premise alone, the tone of the movie can be hard to pinpoint, but Zhu explained her take very succinctly.

Katarina Zhu: I think this is such a copout, but I think this is something that I said when I brought it to Neon Heart Productions, who came on as producers. I really wanted to strike a balance between funny and sad and heartfelt, and sort of dark and Sєxy. I really wanted to walk a тιԍнтrope of all of those things.

Copout or not, it’s incredibly accurate, as Bunnylovr swings on a pendulum from heart-achingly sad to laugh-out-loud funny. Much like the audience is in their own lives, Becca is trying to navigate their own idenтιтy and discover her boundaries without calling out for help. But, much like she discovers over the course of the film, sometimes you need to lean on the people who have always been there instead of hiding away.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Train Dreams, Joel Edgerton’s Lyrical New Movie With Oscar-Nominee Felicity Jones

Life may appear grand, but not everyone’s individual lives are particularly expansive. It is this somewhat depressing thought that marks the bedrock of Train Dreams, which sold to Netflix out of the festival for somewhere between $10 and $15 million. Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, fresh off their Oscar nomination for Sing Sing, teamed up once more to adapt Denis Johnson’s novella about one man’s life during the early 20th century. Joel Edgerton leads the cast as Robert Granier, a railroad laborer who leads a quiet and lonely existence outside of his marriage to Gladys (Felicity Jones).

When tragedy strikes, like it does in every life one way or another, Robert must grapple with his place in the world and his own priorities. Edgerton spoke to ScreenRant at the premiere about exactly what spoke to him about the screenplay, and his answer was particularly heartfelt:

Joel Edgerton: One thing that I was sort of nervous about, and yet I think it drew me to the project, is that I like to kind of face my little fears with work. I like to go to work feeling like, “Alright, this is something that I’ve never really dealt with before.”

So, [in this film] I’m dealing with grief now that I’m a father. Anyone who sees the film will understand what I’m talking about. I know those things are inside of me because I’ve had all sorts of experiences with my own kids, though thankfully not like in the movie. But that was something that drew me in and was important to consider as we were working.

When speaking about his costar, he explained that she “is the other side” of the story “because there’s a lot of heaviness” in the movie.

Joel Edgerton: The film talks about one man’s life, but it is a reflection for all of us. I think that our lives undulate; there’s good and there’s bad. We have joy and we have sorrow and all in between. Felicity does represent the love, and it was really important for us to find the joy and find the humor to have as a counterpoint to everything that else goes on.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

The Legend Of Ochi, A New A24 Fantasy Movie Starring Finn Wolfhard & Emily Watson

Lovingly crafted through painstaking puppetry, animatronics, and other practical effects, A24’s The Legend of Ochi invites viewers to visit a surprising and imaginary world where such a creature could exist. Filmmaker Isaiah Saxon, who has helmed several music videos before his feature film directorial debut, casts Helena Zengel as the young and curious Yuri. Her father (Willem Dafoe, charming even in antagonistic roles) wishes she were a boy and leads the charge against the Ochi, a primate creature she befriends, leading her to head off in search of her mother (Dune: Prophecy‘s Emily Watson).

Though Yuri and her new friend Ochi are at the heart of the story, audiences will also want to see Finn Wolfhard in the role of her adopted brother when it releases in theaters on April 25. Furthermore, they will keep watching thanks to the crackling chemistry between Dafoe and Watson as they ʙuтт parental heads. Saxon shared his favorite memories of filming with ScreenRant, and they naturally included the veteran actors.

Isaiah Saxon: For me, the highlight was watching Emily Watson and William Defoe fight, and getting to just sit back and watch them cut up a few pages of dialogue without me lifting a finger.

It was such a reprieve for me because so much of the film is me having to lift this thing into existence because it’s a fantasy adventure where there’s puppets and creatures and matte paintings and wild stuff — and it’s all on a budget. Much of the film just felt like a physical battle against Murphy’s Law, but then you get to a scene where it’s just Emily Watson and Willem Dafoe, two of the greatest actors ever, doing my dialogue better than I imagined it in my head when I wrote it.

That’s just very gratifying, and it made me reconsider the genre that I’m working in. I think the next one is just going to be about writing and acting.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Sorry, Baby, A Directorial Debut From Eva Victor That’s Earning Critical Acclaim

The third feature film to be sold at this year’s Sundance Film Festival — and to A24 no less, Sorry, Baby is a touching and delicate directorial debut for Eva Victor. They also wrote the screenplay and star in the movie as Agnes, a newly appointed full-time college professor who is still reeling from a terrible thing that happened to her at that very same college a few years before. Other characters, such as Agnes’ best friend and old roommate Lydie (Naomi Ackie, who lit up the screen last year in Blink Twice), try to help her overcome it but also have their own lives to contend with in the process.

ScreenRant spoke with several actors, including Ackie, Lucas Hedges, and A Simple Favor‘s Kelly McCormack, but they all played coy about the plot of the movie at large. Victor, however, offered an insightful answer as to the tone of Sorry, Baby, which deals with dark subject matter but never dwells on it:

Eva Victor: It’s a hard time. It’s a film about healing, and I think that’s why I wrote it with a focus on the healing part of it and not the violence. I hope that it can feel like a healing experience for an audience, and that it prioritizes that part of it and not the violence.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Opus, A24’s New Horror Movie Starring John Malkovich As A Popstar With A Cult

John Malkovich is a legendary pop star with something malevolent brewing under the surface in Opus. The two-time Oscar nominee leads the A24 horror-thriller as a legendary musician who resurfaces after disappearing for 30 years and invites a group of journalists to his remote compound, only to have a more sinister plan for them all. Alongside Malkovich, the ensemble Opus cast includes The Bear‘s Ayo Edibiri, Horizon: An American Saga‘s Tatanka Means, By Design‘s Juliette Lewis, The Last of Us‘ Murray Bartlett and Prey‘s Amber Midthunder.

While attending the Sundance Film Festival premiere of the film, ScreenRant interviewed Malkovich, Means, and Stephanie Suganami to discuss Opus. Malkovich began by sharing how his enigmatic character in the A24 thriller differed from some of his similarly bombastic characters in the past, naming a few key elements of Alfred Moretti that stood out for him:

John Malkovich: Well, he’s a cult leader, which I don’t think I’ve ever done. I’ve been in the clothes, I guess, but that’s one thing that’s quite different. And then he’s a kind of disco star, which is quite removed from most things I’ve done in my career.

Suganami revealed that writer/director Mark Anthony Green had actually approached her to star in Opus some four years before it actually got off the ground, admitting she initially had some reservations about whether it would actually turn into something. Even still, she praised him for pushing her in ways she hadn’t been pushed on the acting side of things, as well as the movie’s effective scares:

Stephanie Suganami: Well, Mark Anthony loves to push me, and I love it and I hate it at the same time, but he approached me about this film in 2019, and it was before anyone was attached. I don’t even know if anyone was producing it at the time, and we sat down, and he was like, “I think there’s a role for you here.” And you kind of take a grain of salt, because you’re like, “Sure, sure, sure. There’s always a role.” You never know, but we really kept in touch. And he actually is a man of his word, and in 2023, he was like, “Hey, an audition is coming in your inbox, put it on tape. We really want you for this.” At that point, everyone else had been cast, and then I read some of the — and I don’t want to give too much away, some of the physicality and some of the scenes and things that Emily goes through.

And I was like, “Oh, this is going to be something that I’ve never done before, and would never even think that an opportunity like this would happen.” So, the entire process itself was a real push and a level up for me, getting to share scenes with these actors. I don’t even know what’s happening right now, like, it’s crazy. John Malkovich, like, what are we talking about? To get to act in a scene with John Malkovich is bucket list, I could be done. It’s surreal, so, yeah, this entire experience has been just incredible. I think that’s like the most fun part about it, because to be honest, horror is not my genre, I get really scared. [Chuckles]

I screened this before I came here, and I audibly screamed, and everyone’s like, “Didn’t you read the script? Don’t you know what’s gonna happen?” I jump scared, I get scared really easily. So I think that’s the beauty of this is there is a sinister element, but there’s also this fun exploration of what the Moretti compound is, and then there’s the humor that Ayo just inherently has. I think it’s a really nice balance, and I think that’s what keeps people on the edge of their seat, laughing, crying, screaming. You never know what turn it’s gonna take, so I think that’s really fun.

Means, also fresh off of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, similarly praised Green’s script and the genre-blending nature of the film, noting that he himself is “a comedian” and as such, while the marketing may have it “pegged as a horror-thriller“, he thinks audiences will be surprised as it’s “not just in this one line“:

Tatanka Means: Yeah, obviously it’s pegged as a horror-thriller, but I’m a comedian, so I think I found the humor in it, and I think people will will see that too. It’s not just in this one line, it crosses different genres, and I think it’ll surprise people.

16 Other Sundance Movies Also Worth Checking Out

<ʙuттon class="lightbox__exit-btn icon i-close">Close

Sundance Film Festival had a much lower-than-usual rate of sales for its buzziest тιтles, perhaps due to the recent LA fires and ongoing instability of the new administration, but Alison Brie and Dave Franco’s horror effort Together stood out with its distribution deal with Neon worth upwards of $10 million. There are still plenty of other great movies that are either negotiating deals or trying their luck at upcoming festivals throughout the year.

Twinless, in particular, was popular enough to win the Audience Award for the U.S. Dramatic Compeтιтion — with Dylan O’Brien taking home the Special Jury Award for his dual performance as twins Roman and Rocky. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes star Tom Blyth also received high praise for his work in the unique look at a closeted undercover cop in the ’90s, Plainclothes, which won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast.

The batch of independent films presented at this year’s Sundance was particularly strong, even if circumstances were tough, and a number of fascinating themes stood out. Family, celebration of LGBTQ+ communities, and renewal after tragedy (in fact, there is literally a movie called Rebuilding that takes place after a devastating fire) were all important elements found in several of the movies that premiered there. Below is a list of ScreenRant‘s Sundance interviews, along with distribution deals and release dates (for those that have them).

• Brides: Two teenage girls (Ebada Hᴀssan and Safiyya Ingar) in search of freedom, friendship, and belonging run away from their lives in the UK with a dangerous plan of traveling to Syria. Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• Bubble & Squeak: Accused of smuggling cabbages into a nation where cabbages are banned, Declan (Himesh Patel) and Delores (Sarah Goldberg) must confront the fragility of their new marriage while on the run for their lives. Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• If I Had Legs I’d Kick You: With her life crashing down around her, Linda (Rose Byrne) attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist. Releases in 2025 through A24.
• Jimpa: Hannah (Olivia Colman) takes her nonbinary teenager, Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde), to Amsterdam to visit their gay grandfather, Jim (John Lithgow) – lovingly known as Jimpa. But Frances’ desire to stay abroad with Jimpa for a year means Hannah is forced to reconsider her beliefs about parenting and finally confront old stories about the past. Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• Kiss of the Spider-Woman: Valentín (Diego Luna), a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina (Tonatiuh), a window dresser convicted of public indecency. The two form an unlikely bond as Molina recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver screen diva, Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez). Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• Love, Brooklyn: Three longtime Brooklynites (André Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise) navigate careers, love, loss, and friendships against the rapidly changing landscape of their beloved city. Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• Oh, Hi!: Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac’s (Logan Lerman) first romantic weekend getaway as a couple goes awry. Convinced that he’s just confused, Iris goes to increasingly ridiculous and irrational lengths to prove to him that they are meant to be together. Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• Paradise Man (ii): Paradise Man searches for meaning in an unknowable universe. Short film by Jordan Michael Blake.
• Peter Hujar’s Day: A conversation between pH๏τographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) and Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) from 1974 sheds light on New York’s vibrant downtown art world and the introspective journey of an artist’s life. Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• Plainclothes: A promising undercover officer (Tom Blyth) ᴀssigned to lure and arrest gay men defies orders when he falls in love with a target (Russell Tovey). Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• Rebuilding: After a wildfire takes the family farm, a rancher (Josh O’Connor) seeks a way forward. Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• The Ugly Stepsister: A sinister twist on the classic Cinderella story that follows Elvira (Lea Myren) as she prepares to earn the prince’s affection at any cost. In a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira will compete with the beautiful and enchanting Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess) to become the belle of the ball. Releases in 2025 through Shudder.
• The Wedding Banquet: A gay man makes a deal with his lesbian friend: a green-card marriage for him, in exchange for in vitro fertilization treatments for her partner. Starring Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, and Han Gi-chan. Releases April 18, 2025 through Bleecker Street.
• Together: 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. Releases August 1, 2025 through Neon.
• Touch Me: Touch Me is a story about two codependent best friends (Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris) who become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist (Lou Taylor Pucci) who may or may not be trying to take over the world. Awaiting U.S. distribution.
• Twinless: Two young men (Dylan O’Brien and James Sweeney) meet in a twin bereavement support group and form an unlikely bromance. Awaiting U.S. distribution.