After 10 days of movies, the Sundance Film Festival celebrates its final year in Park City, Utah. A bittersweet event, the longing memories of veteran festival goers was palpable. Many people traveled to venues they’ve been going to for decades for the final time, and it truly felt like a final farewell to a cherished and beloved event, one that bought so many people together and has solidified itself as an amplifier of independent cinema. Sundance moves to Boulder, CO to begin a new era of film and festival life next year. Only time will tell what the new city will have in store, but I was fortunate enough to attend in person on last time in its birthplace and create my own lasting memories in Park City.
With so much emotion on the ground, I felt it necessary to indulge and see as many films as I possibly could, gorging myself on every single viewing opportunity that arose. Between pre-festival screenings, in person watches and nonstop virtual viewing, I was able to see 74 feature films/documentaries and 10 short films, for a whopping total of 84 films. To put that into an insane perspective, that means there were only 13 feature films I did not get a chance to see, which is quite the feat even by the most adamant cinephiles and festival goers. As a milestone, I managed to view the entire online Sundance slate, a task that required at least 2 days of 8-9 films in a row. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t recommend that to anyone as my brain is cinematically fried and my eyeballs strained and my mental capacity to even comprehend some of those last films on the docket neared their breaking point.
But alas, I did it! And I’ve got a whole lot of films to talk about now! Some of these already have full reviews out, and many more will be end up being covered throughout the year. For the sake of this wrap up, we’ll highlight some of the films we saw that we loved, some we did not, and some that were just downright horny. Sundance 2026 was probably the horniest festival ever, which countless films not just featuring sex and sexuality but quite literally basing their entire premise on it. So ya, it kind of deserves its own little category as we look back on the experience. Since there were just so many films I watched, I’m not going to separate out documentaries from features, nor am I going to list or rank everything – at least for the time being. So let’s take a quick little deep dive into the Sundance films we watched – the good, the bad, and the horny.
The Good
This year’s lineup was an interesting one in that there weren’t a ton of films I loved but there were a ton of films I liked quite a bit. That makes the overall good section probably the largest of the three, as so many films landed in the 7 out of 10 range and right on the cusp of greatness. That’s a hard thing to sustain across that many titles and serves as a testament to how many solid films there were at Sundance. The best of the best belongs to a handful of films that genuinely blew me away, the first of which to make the Best of Sundance list is “If I Go Will They Miss Me.” A true hidden gem in every sense of the word, this moving, lyrical, poetic, and stunning debut feature left me unexpectedly floored. Fans of Barry Jenkins and RaMell Ross are sure to find this one among their must see of the year favs, and I will do my part to champion this gorgeous piece of cinema. Literally poetry in motion, “If I Go Will They Miss Me” is a magnificent work that not enough people are talking about out of the festival but for those that discovered it won’t stop talking about it – myself included.
Another top contender this year was “Josephine,” a devastating film with a star making performance from young Mason Reeves. Coming off a year of some of the best child performances in years, Reeves bursts onto the scene with veteran savoy and heart shattering emotion. Winner of both the US Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, “Josephine” is the real MVP out of the festival. It’s a film I won’t soon forget and won’t be shocked if it carries its incredible momentum all the way to the Oscars. Bold statement, I know. But I’m putting all that stock in this one. It’s THAT good. Some other films I loved was “The Gallerist,” a totally me coded, quirky satire that just worked for me on every level. “When a Witness Recants” destroyed me and left me ugly crying for a good 40 minutes straight. “American Doctor” was quite moving as well, a doc that follows 3 American doctors from different walks of life that head into Gaza to provide much needed medical care. Its uncomfortable and harrowing but absolutely necessary on every level.
I also really enjoyed “Sentient,” an incendiary doc about animal testing and not for the faint of heart, “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” a transportive experience of artists and creatives from the Harlem Renaissance gathering together for a cocktail party in the 70s. I also loved “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist” the first great AI centered documentary that is a terrifying as it is hopeful and personal as it is funny. Some other great films from Sundance include “The Weight” with Ethan Hawke, “Levitating” an Indonesian film I was not prepared for how much I would love, “The Disciple” that follows the Wu-Tang Clan and their controversial single album that just might be the best music doc I’ve ever seen (and I don’t like most of them), “Broken English” a film that has no comps and feels wholly unique, “Seized” a film about journalism so of course I loved it, “TheyDream,” “Kikuyu Land,” “Closure,” “Nuisance Bear,” “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” and “The Incomer.“
The Bad
There really wasn’t much that I would consider outright bad, more films I just didn’t vibe with or didn’t work for me. There’s probably something to like in a lot of these, but with that many films at Sundance they just can’t all be bangers. Starting with probably my least favorite film of the fest, “Carousel” left me cold and frustrated. An incredible cast but squandered script, I did not vibe with this one at all. One that I was sure I was going to love but actually ended up disliking a lot was “The Musical,” a film that never meshes well tonally, struggles with its inspirations and sports one of the most unlikeable protagonists I’ve ever seen on screen. I think most people who enjoyed this have never seen “Hamlet 2,” and that’s a much bigger crime than having to sit though this film. I’m in the minority with “Bedford Park,” a film most others put on their good list but a film I just did not think works at all. It’s kind of the epitome of “I Can Fix Him” cinema, and while I can appreciate the ideas I felt the execution really fell flat.
I was also really low on “The Oldest Person in the World,” a fascinating subject squandered by the filmmaker injecting himself into most of it. I get that it’s a personal journey of understanding ones own mortality, but it really struggles to ask the more interesting questions. Similarly, “Ghosts in the Machine” has excellent information about the foundations of AI but is so manically edited and overscored it feels less like a doc and more like a YouTube rabbit hole video you watch at 3am. I also struggled with “Barbara Forever,” a film that follows acclaimed queer photographer that just never did enough to grab me and make me interested. A few others that didn’t quite work for me was “Filipiñana,” “Who Killed Alex Obeh,” “All About the Money,” “Tell Me Everything,” and “The Best Summer.“
The Horny
And finally, we come to films about sex or at the very least feature sex a LOT. They aren’t necessarily films I loved, but there were so many I felt they deserved their own section. Let’s start with the not so successful but uncomfortably horny “Night Nurse,” a psychosexual thriller? that follows a nurse who begins a very strange relationship with one of her patients at a senior living community. It’s genuinely too weird even for me – and I like weird, and spent the entire time asking myself WTF was even going on at any given moment. A surprisingly horny film was “Public Access,” a documentary about the beginnings of public access television in New York in the 70s. While the subject matter is fascinating, it borders on pornography most of the time and I regret not preparing my colleagues for what was in store when they geared up to watch it together. Sorry, guys.
Another horny film was “Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty,” that basically says the best way to process grief is to get down and dirty with your new dance instructor. Heavily “Dirty Dancing” coded, I actually enjoyed this one more than expected, but I also wasn’t ready for its horniness. I’m pretty sure Iliza Shlesinger wrote “Chasing Summer” just so she can get down with as many hot dudes as an R rating would allow. Not a whole lot works here, but my god is this movie just driven by libido. And of course there’s “I Want Your Sex,” which is quite literally a series of sexual encounters that run the gamut on kinks and role play. It’s probably the best of the horny bunch, and I’m sure there’s even more to add to the list by I probably missed them. Can’t watch em all no matter much I tried.
There’s obviously a lot more to unpack from the last Sundance in Park City, so be sure to check back for more reviews, recaps, interviews and much, much more!
