Kevin Wozniak
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival recently took place in Park City, Utah, and online and I had the honor of attending the festival in person this year once again. I have been attending the Sundance Film Festival since 2011 and it is my favorite film festival in the world, as it gives voice to a new generation of filmmakers and artists and focuses on the spirit of independent filmmaking.
This year’s festival saw Hailey Gates’ Iraq War satire Atropia take home the Grand Jury prize in the U.S. Dramatic category. Other Grand Jury Prize winners went to Brittany Shyne’s portrait of Black farmers Seeds (U.S. Documentary), Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s Indian queer portrait Sabar Bonda (World Dramatic), and Mohammadreza Eyni’s Iranian patriarchy-tackling documentary Cutting Through Rocks (World Documentary). The festival also featured films two high-profile remakes with Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman and Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet, films from Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson, Sophie Hyde, and Justin Lin, and a slew of directorial debuts from new and exciting voices.
Much of the conversation during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival was focused on the festival’s future in Park City and whether or not it will be moving to another location in the next few years. And while that conversation was going on, I focused my time on the movies. I saw 41 feature films and seven short films during my time at Sundance this year, my highest total ever. The overall quality of the films was more mixed than usual. While there were films that gained some buzz throughout the festival, it felt like the festival lacked that Whiplash or Past Lives breakout that we’ve seen in the past. Even still, there were plenty of good films at this festival that you should look out for in 2025. Here are the best movies (in alphabetical order) I saw at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
2000 Meters to Andriivka
Mstyslav Chernov followed up his Oscar-winning 20 Days in Mariupol with another harrowing documentary about the war in Ukraine. Chernov shows us a group of soldiers on a mission to win back the Russian-occupied town of Andriivka. Chernov strapped cameras to the helmets of the soldiers to give us a first-person point-of-view look at their battle for Andriivka, throwing us on the frontlines of this war. 2000 Meters to Andriivka is a relentless and brutal film and another important documentary from Chernov.
André is an Idiot
André is an eccentric human who worked for an advertising agency. He lives life his way and when diagnosed with terminal cancer, he decides to go out the way he wants to: by making a movie about his journey. Thanks to André’s irreverent humor and Tony Benna’s unique filmmaking techniques, André is an Idiot one of the funniest documentaries I have ever seen while also being a tragic look at a man slowly losing his battle with cancer.
Dead Lover
Grace Glowicki’s uproarious horror-comedy defines independent filmmaking. Shot on a black box sound stage with minimal sets and effects, Dead Lover looks at a love-stricken grave digger (Glowicki) who finds the love of her life only for him to be killed in a boating accident. She then goes to extreme lengths to bring him back to life through madcap experiments. Dead Lover is an inventive, funny, sweet, and gross take on the Frankenstein story and a coming-out party for the immensely talented Glowicki.
Out for Delivery
I was able to see a few short films at this year’s festival and wanted to share my favorite at the fest. Chelsea Crister’s Out for Delivery looks at Joanna (Deanna Rooney), a woman facing a terminal illness who opts for assisted death under the Death with Dignity Act but encounters unexpected complications and challenges in her pursuit of a peaceful end-of-life experience. While the subject might seem dark, Crister injects the film with tons of humor and sweetness and gets two excellent performances from Rooney and Martin Starr, who plays a man scheduled to pick up Joanna’s body.
Together
Dave Franco and Alison Brie give their best cinematic performances to date in Michael Shanks’s devilish horror film that finds a big city couple (Franco and Brie) moving to the wooded countryside that triggers a supernature incident. Part comedy, part romantic drama, and full-on delirious body horror, Together fires on all cylinders and was one of the hottest titles at this year’s festival.
Train Dreams
Director/co-writer Clint Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novel which looks at a logger (Joel Edgerton) helping build railroads across the country during the early 20th century, simply blew me away. It features stunning cinematography by Adolpho Veloso, a beautiful score by Bryce Dessner, the best performance of Joel Edgerton’s career, and tons of emotional heft that will punch you right in the gut. Train Dreams was the best movie I saw at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Twinless
In James Sweeney’s Twinless Dylan O’Brien plays Roman, a quick-tempered bro who recently lost his twin brother (also played by O’Brien) in an automobile accident. Roman starts to attend therapy for those who lost a twin and connects with Dennis (Sweeney) and the two form a bond filling in the gaps missing from their life. Sweeney’s screenplay is spectacular, filled with sharp dialog and an interesting perspective on loss and loneliness. Twinless also features a masterclass performance from O’Brien and a delightful supporting turn for Aisling Franciosi as Roman’s love interest.
The Ugly Stepsister
The Ugly Stepsister follows Elvira (Lea Myren) who goes to extreme measures to achieve physical perfection to keep up with her beautiful stepsister and capture the eye of a prince. Emilie Blichfeldt’s twisted take on the classic Cinderella story is a harsh and gory tale about beauty standards in a world where looks and money are everything. Myren gives a committed debut performance and the violence throughout the film caused someone to vomit in the aisle of the theater during its world premiere. How’s that for a headline?
Additional films that I enjoyed were It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, All That’s Left Behind, OBEX, Middletown, and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
Look out for these films and more from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival!
