2026 was an especially notable year for the Sundance Film Festival: it was the first without its legendary founder Robert Redford, who died last year, and it was the last to be held in Park City, Utah. Beginning next year, the fest will relocate to Boulder, Colo. for the foreseeable future.
As Sundance said goodbye to its home of over 40 years and honored Redford's legacy, protests continued in Minnesota and across the country due to the escalated presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents on day three of Sundance, and at least one protest against ICE took place in Park City afterward. A man was arrested for assaulting Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost at a Sundance party; on social media, Frost said the man yelled racist slurs and said President Trump was going to deport Frost.
And in the middle of it all: movies. Sundance awards were announced on Friday; Josephine, director Beth de Araújo's intense family drama, won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize (more on that below), and Nuisance Bear, Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman's film set in Churchill, Manitoba, the "Polar Bear Capital of the World," won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize. (You can see the full list of winners here.)
I was on the ground for the first few days of the fest and then caught up with more films at home during the virtual portion. Here are a few of my favorites.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Hands down, the best film I saw is simultaneously old and new: In 1972, groundbreaking filmmaker William Greaves convened an intellectual gathering of the living dignitaries of the Harlem Renaissance at the palatial home of Duke Ellington. The project remained unfinished until now; it's finally been restored and completed by Greaves' son David, who served as a cameraman all those years ago. (William died in 2014.) What was captured is a priceless, crucial, and riveting piece of history — notable figures like actor Leigh Whipper, journalist Gerri Major, visual artist Aaron Douglas, and activist Richard B. Moore engaging in vivid anecdotes and passionate debates about that cultural movement and how it should be remembered. The excavation of such history feels nothing short of monumental.
Josephine
The buzziest film out of Sundance is probably Beth de Araújo's sophomore feature starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan as the parents of Josephine (Mason Reeves), an 8-year-old girl who witnesses a horrific crime in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. And for good reason; while I have critiques of some of de Araújo's filmmaking choices, she's crafted a tense and mostly affecting drama with a very strong performance from Reeves, who carries much of the film's emotional weight.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
Some movies at the fest were exceptionally horny this year; two projects involving Olivia Wilde, The Invite and I Want Your Sex, were all about the pleasures and frictions of sexual expression. But the raunchy offering that worked best for me was David Wain's silly and delightful tale of small-town hairdresser Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch), who sets out to even the scoreboard after her fiancé unexpectedly winds up using his celebrity "hall pass." In her quest to track down and sleep with her celebrity crush, she picks up some new friends along the way, Wizard of Oz-style, including a paparazzi photographer (co-writer Ken Marino) and an overconfident, low-level employee at Creative Artists Agency (Ben Wang, the movie's secret weapon). Jokes about Los Angeles and the cult of celebrity fly fast and free and fun cameos abound; look out for many of Wain's frequent collaborators.
Filipiñana
Rafael Manuel's feature debut is an incisive, slow-burning satire of capitalism and powerful men with far too much hubris — basically, a story for our times. It's set almost entirely on a country club in the Philippines, where the shy and observant Isabel (Jorrybell Agoto) works as a tee girl and crosses paths with the club's president Dr. Palanca (Teroy Guzman). Manuel's visual eye is quirky and astute, with gorgeous shots of the pristine golf grounds and other amenities serving as the backdrop for far more sinister happenings.
Frank & Louis
Prison dramas are tough to pull off without veering too heavily into stereotypes and trauma porn, but director Petra Biondina Volpe and co-writer Esther Bernstorff find a unique and profound way in here. Kingsley Ben-Adir plays Frank, who's serving a life sentence but is coming up for parole. He takes a job caring for other inmates who are experiencing cognitive decline, and is assigned to the prickly and unpredictable Louis (Rob Morgan). The premise is familiar, but the execution is refreshing; the script frankly interrogates the thorny concept of punishment and redemption, and the excellent Ben-Adir and Morgan find humanity within their morally fraught characters.
Carousel
Rachel Lambert's latest plays like a loving throwback to the intimate, adult romantic melodramas that were in abundant supply before the 2000s. Chris Pine (giving serious Robert Redford in The Way We Were energy) and Jenny Slate play former childhood friends and one-time romantic partners who reconnect after many years and attempt to make it work again. The chemistry between these two is off the charts, whether they're tentatively yet tenderly falling into an embrace or arguing about each other's flaws.
The Gallerist
Your mileage may vary with Cathy Yan's artworld farce, but I had a great time with this, in which Natalie Portman plays a struggling gallery owner who attempts to sell a dead body "disguised" as part of a sculpture, during Art Basel Miami. The ensemble is stacked — Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Sterling K. Brown, just for starters — and they all seem to be having a blast. Layer in some commentary about art, commerce, and influencer culture (the increasingly ever-present Charli XCX also has a small role here), and there's plenty here to take in.
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