21 Films to See at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival

Somewhere outside of Los Angeles, a military role-playing facility is home to a group of performers whose roles involve bringing to life a fake Iraqi city. It’s a place where war games are played—until two of the players fall in love and things get really complicated. The film, directed by Hailey Gates, and stars Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, and Chloë Sevigny.

What happens when a woman becomes a chair? In this movie from writer and director Amanda Kramer, Camille (Juliette Lewis) falls for a seat that’s outside of her budget… and eventually becomes the seat, which is given as a gift to Olivier (Mamoudou Athie). Expect a sharp, insightful look at the pull between who we are and what we own.

Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim direct this documentary about a battle for power and recognition. In 1988, Galludet University was the site of protests when the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing candidate as the school’s president over two deaf candidates. Students dissented loudly and publicly, and saw their work make actual change. Here, the story of the protest and its lasting impact is told by DiMarco, a Gaulludet alum and activist, and veteran filmmaker Guggenheim.

Rose Byrne stars as Linda, a woman with a sick child and a laundry list of other troubles that threaten to overwhelm her. Somehow, however, in the hands of writer and director Mary Bronstein and a cast that includes A$AP Rocky Conan O’Brien, and Danielle MacDonald, this becomes darkly funny.

There’s life still left in Manuel Puig’s iconic story about two prison cellmates and their recounting of a beloved musical, which has previously been adapted a number of times for both the stage and screen, winning a slew of awards and an army of admirers along the way. This time, writer-director Bill Condon brings the Kander and Ebb musical to the big screen with a cast including Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna.

John Allen Chau was determined to convert the people of India’s North Sentinel Island to Christianity, and in 2018, after missionary training, made his way to the island—on which outsiders are forbidden—and died there. In this dramatization, director Justin Lin tells Chau’s story (with a screenplay by Ben Ripley) and examines not only his drive to take on a seemingly impossible task, but also the forces that compelled him to do so.

André Holland, DeWanda Wise, and Nicole Beharie lead the cast in this drama from writer Paul Zimmerman and first-time feature director Rachael Abigail Holder about a trio of Brooklynites traversing both their own shifting lives but also the changes taking place around them in their city. In a city that’s always evolving, isn’t it about time that movies about it do, too?

This feature film debut from writer and director Alex Russell (a veteran of Beef and The Bear) follows the budding friendship between Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) and burgeoning pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe), and the sometimes-desperate lengths to which the former will go in order to hold on to his place in the latter’s glittering universe.

Chloë Sevigny, Simon Rex, Alex Wolff, and Joe Apollonio star in the latest from writer and director Amalia Ulman, which tells the story of a film crew that has traveled to Argentina for a project with a local artist, only to find out they’re not in the right place at all. Expect a humorous, thoughtful look at how news—or what passes for it today—is made and what happens when cultures collide.

This documentary, a debut from director Shoshannah Stern, tells the story of Marlee Matlin and a life spent in the spotlight. More than just a look at its subject, Not Alone Anymore is a conversation between Matlin and Stern—with contributions from those closest to Matlin—that depict the successes and struggles of a trailblazing actress and puts in context how her work made possible this film itself.

Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, and John Reynolds star in this romantic comedy co-written by Gordon and director Sophie Brooks, which follows a young couple as their first weekend away together goes spectacularly, hilariously wrong.

When a young journalist is summoned to the remote home of a famously reclusive pop star, she finds herself caught up in a game that’s much bigger and more sinister than she could have expected. Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich star in this feature debut from writer and director Mark Anthony Green.

The late artist Peter Hujar is having something of a renaissance. Recently, his only book—which had become a collector’s item—went back into print, he was the subject of a major survey at Manhattan’s Morgan Library & Museum just a few years back, and now a book about a day in his life has been turned, by writer and director Ira Sachs, into this film. Starring Ben Whishaw as Hujar and Rebecca Hall as his friend Linda Rosenkrantz, the movie follows Hujar through a normal day that is also so much more: a snapshot of an era, a plea to be remembered, and a reminder of the person behind every legend.

Lucas is a cop whose latest assignment involves going undercover to entrap gay men—a gig that would be a problem even if he wasn’t attracted to men, and falling for one in particular. The film is the first feature from writer-director Carmen Emmi and stars Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey.  

Josh O’Connor and Meghann Fahy star in this sophomore feature from writer-director Max Walker-Silverman, which tells the tale of an American rancher whose property was destroyed by a wildfire, and how he and his family find in their surroundings the strength to move forward.

In 1983, astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman to go into space. And while her professional accomplishments put her squarely in the public eye, Ride’s private life with her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy was not something she cared to share. Director Cristina Costantini’s documentary highlights Ride’s accomplishments but also looks at her life beyond the pomp and circumstance, exploring what it meant to keep her true self hidden in the glare of the spotlight.

Oscar-winning filmmaker and cultural polymath Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson gets back behind the camera in this documentary about Sly Stone, his road to stardom, and the burden of fame and fortune for Black artists.

Max Porter’s novella Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is adapted for the big screen by writer and director Dylan Southern (No Distance Left to Run, Meet Me in the Bathroom). Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a father who has unexpectedly lost his wife, and whose grief seems to manifest physically in a presence that haunts the home he shares with two young sons.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Robert Grainer is building railroads. His contribution might be just that of one man, but he’s part of something bigger—a country and a world entering a new era. The way our lives can be both immense and miniscule is at the heart of director Clint Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella of the same name, starring Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and William H. Macy.

Written and directed by James Sweeney, Twinless is a dark comedy about two men who meet in a support group for the bereaved and form an unlikely, all-important friendship. Dylan O’Brien, Sweeney, Lauren Graham, and Aisling Franciosi star.