The 2026 edition of Sundance Film Festival is set to kick off on January 22 at Park City, Utah, marking its final event at the state before relocating in 2027.
The annual festival that celebrates independent cinema on a wider scale will feature a wide range of genres this year, ranging from tearjerkers and comedies to thrillers, with around 90 movies premiering over 10 days. Popular stars, including Natalie Portman and Charli XCX, are expected to attend.
However, this year’s festival will carry a bittersweet tone as organisers and filmmakers will pay homage to American director and founder of Sundance Institute, Robert Redford, who passed away in September 2025.
In addition to the lineup of new films this year, the festival is also set to premiere the restored version of the 1969 film Downhill Racer, which is the first independent film directed by Robert Redford.
Other restored versions of classics, including Little Miss Sunshine, Mysterious Skin, House Party and Humpday, will also be screened at the event. Filmmakers Chloé Zhao, Ed Harris and Nia DaCosta were among the ones who will be present at the institute’s fundraising event to pay their honour to Redford.
“Sundance has always been about showcasing and fostering independent movies in America. Without that, so many filmmakers wouldn’t have had the careers they have,” said Mysterious Skin filmmaker Gregg Araki, a frequent visitor to the festival.
The festival will also screen two films directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Daniel Roher — his narrative debut Tuner and the documentary The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.
“We’re going through a weird moment in the world … There’s something that strikes me about an institution that has been evergreen, that seems so entrenched going through its own transition and rebirth," Roher told The Associated Press. “I’m choosing to frame this year as a celebration of Sundance and the institute and a future that will ensure the festival goes on forever and ever and ever and stays the vital conduit for so many filmmakers that it has been.”
Among the titles attracting attention is The Moment, a mockumentary featuring singer Charli XCX, which blends real footage and fictionalised scenes centred on her musical journey.
Other most anticipated films to be screened this year are Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega-starrer The Gallerist and Olivia Wilde’s I Want Your Sex.
Documentaries remain a strong pillar of Sundance, with films exploring figures such as Brittney Griner, Courtney Love, Salman Rushdie and Billie Jean King, alongside hard-hitting political and social subjects.
After this year, the Sundance Film Festival will move its location to Boulder, Colorado, beginning in 2027, as part of a broader shift by the Sundance Institute to expand its presence and facilities.