The Sundance Film Festival returns to Park City this week with its familiar winter buzz — packed screenings, star sightings, long queues in freezing temperatures and Main Street buzzing with pop-ups. But
beneath the excitement, there’s a quiet sense that this edition marks the end of an era. This year’s festival is not just about new films and discoveries; it’s also about saying goodbye — to Park City and to founder Robert Redford.
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival kicks off on Thursday in Utah, bringing together a mix of A-listers, indie breakthroughs and genre-defying cinema. Audiences can expect everything from tearjerkers and comedies to thrillers and films that resist easy labels, with around 90 movies premiering over 10 days. Stars including Natalie Portman and Charli XCX are set to attend, while volunteers once again brave subzero temperatures to keep the festival running smoothly.
At the same time, Sundance finds itself at a turning point. After decades of relative stability, the festival is preparing to leave its longtime home and move to Boulder, Colorado, next year. This will also be the first edition without Redford, who died in September and was instrumental in shaping Sundance into America’s most influential platform for independent cinema.
Legacy is expected to loom large throughout the festival. Restored screenings of past Sundance favourites such as Little Miss Sunshine, Mysterious Skin, House Party and Humpday are part of the programme, along with Redford’s 1969 independent film Downhill Racer. Many filmmakers will also pay tribute to him at the institute’s fundraising event, which will honour Chloé Zhao, Ed Harris and Nia DaCosta.
“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 director Gregg Araki, a longtime Sundance regular who first attended in 1992.
Veterans of the festival are returning in large numbers. Daniel Roher, whose documentary Navalny premiered at Sundance in 2022 before winning an Oscar, is back this year with two films — 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.”
Over the past four decades, Sundance has played a key role in launching and supporting major careers. Filmmakers such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler and Zhao — all expected to feature in this year’s Oscar conversation — benefited from early backing by the Sundance Institute.
Actor-director Jay Duplass credits the festival with changing his life. “I’d probably be a psychologist right now if it wasn’t for Sundance,” he said. Though he has attended “probably 15 Sundances,” the experience still moves him. He recalled crying when he found out his new film See You When I See You had been selected.
The 2026 lineup is also heavy on star power. Cathy Yan’s The Gallerist features Portman, Jenna Ortega, Sterling K. Brown, Zach Galifianakis and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Rachel Lambert’s Carousel stars Chris Pine and Jenny Slate, while Araki returns with I Want Your Sex.
“It’s kind of a sex-positive love letter to Gen Z,” Araki said. “It’s a comedy. It has elements of mystery, thriller, murder — a little bit of ‘Sunset Boulevard’ … it’s fun, it’s colorful, it’s sexy. It’s a ride.”
Olivia Wilde appears both in front of and behind the camera this year, while Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe headline the crime drama The Weight. Charli XCX features in multiple projects, including the mockumentary The Moment.
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.
As the festival unfolds, a sense of nostalgia hangs in the air. “It feels very special to be part of the last one in Park City,” Duplass said. “It’s just a super special place where… giant stars and kids who made movies for a few thousand dollars… are all going to mix.”
Araki echoed the sentiment but looked ahead. “The legacy and the tradition of Sundance will continue no matter where it is,” he said.
(With inputs from AP)
