Sundance 2026 Most Anticipated – 10 New Films to Catch at the Fest | FirstShowing.net

Sundance 2026 Most Anticipated – 10 New Films to Catch at the Fest

by Alex Billington
January 20, 2026

We’re days away from another edition of the Sundance Film Festival up in the mountains of Utah (the final fest in Utah before it moves to Colorado). The 2026 festival is about to kick off in a few days, and FS is back in Utah, ready to start watching. Ready to dive into the enthralling line-up of new films this year. This is our 20th time we have covered Sundance, ever since 2007, bringing attention to the films & this iconic festival. I am always looking forward to wading through all the fresh films the fest. Packing in as many as I can catch. Out of the 90 films showing at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, I’ve picked 10 films that I’m looking forward to watching the most. To keep things well balanced, I’ve chosen 5 feature films and 5 documentaries from the line-up. For 2026, the festival has chosen a fascinating selection of unknown directors, first-time filmmakers, and potential indie hits that might end up as your next favorite. As usual with Sundance, you never can really tell what’ll good or bad before watching anything, but here’s my early picks from the diverse line-up anyway. I recommend adding these 10 films below to your festival schedule / or to your watchlist.

For the full line-up of films showing at Sundance 2026 – click here. Follow my reviews on Letterboxd. This is my 20th year in a row covering Sundance, starting way back in 2007. I’m always pumped to be up there watching the latest indie creations & clever docs, hopeful there’ll be at least a few stellar discoveries despite the crazy times we’re living in. It’s almost time to start, so here’s my Top 10 most anticipated 2026 debuts.

Alex’s Most Anticipated ~Sundance 2026~ Feature Films:

zi

Directed by Kogonada

The best festival discoveries are often the surprises, the films that we weren’t expecting to see there but here they are. Acclaimed Korean filmmaker Kogonada returns to the Sundance Film Festival this year with a film he shot in secret that no one knew about. His first feature, Columbus, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017. He’s back again this year with a film titled simply zi shot with a small crew on the streets of Hong Kong last year. Enough said! I’m so there! Already ready for the world premiere. Sundance’s intro: “In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her night — and possibly her life, too. Kogonada plays with — and returns to — form in this sensitive cinematic poem. Held within a stylish jaunt through the streets of Hong Kong, zi is a film with soul and a wavelike confidence that commits to recursivity as a mode and central theme. Kogonada regulars Michelle Mao, Haley Lu Richardson, and Jin Ha carefully portray transitory misfits, grappling with a clever fusion of existential anxiety, romantic misgiving, and personal memory.” Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Frank & Louis

Directed by Petra Biondina Volpe

I’ve been a big fan of Swiss director Petra Biondina Volpe ever since her 2017 film The Divine Order. She returned last year with another feature called Late Shift about a nurse in a Swiss hospital – it’s likely going to end up with an Oscar nomination just before she premieres her next film at Sundance. Volpe has been developing this passion project Frank & Louis for more than a decade – she first told me about it when we were talking about The Divine Order years ago. It’s her first English language feature, telling a story she has wanted to tell for a long time. About two prisoners starring Kingsley Ben-Adir and Rob Morgan. Frank, serving a life sentence, takes a prison job helping care for aging inmates with Alzheimer’s and dementia. What begins as a self-interested bid for parole becomes a profound, transformative bond with fellow inmate Louis, offering Frank a glimpse of redemption in an unforgiving place. It’s one of these exciting Sundance world premieres that I have to be there for no matter what. I want to witness this film with an audience at its unveiling, I believe it’s going to be something really, truly special. Watch out for Frank & Louis this year.

I Want Your Sex

Directed by Gregg Araki

Gregg Araki is back!! Another Sundance veteran returns in 2026 to premiere his latest film. Araki was a regular at Sundance during the 90s, premiering a handful of his quirky, funky, eccentric indie flicks at the festival over the years: The Living End in 1992, Totally F***ed Up in 1993, The Doom Generation in 1995, Splendor in 1999, Mysterious Skin in 2005, Smiley Face in 2007. Even if you’re not the biggest fan of Araki, it’s hard not to be interested in finding out what this provocatively titled new film is all about. I Want Your Sex stars everybody’s favorite young actor Cooper Hoffman along with Olivia Wilde as the temptress at the center of the story. When fresh-faced Elliot lands a job with artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (played by Wilde), his fantasies come true as she taps him to become her sexual muse. But Elliot finds himself out of his depth as Erika takes him on a journey into a world of sex, obsession, power, betrayal, and murder. Yep this absolutely sounds like an Araki film – hopefully a return to form with something extra dangerous and risqué that only open-minded audiences might be able to appreciate. Let it be raunchy! Bring it on, Araki…

Buddy

Directed by Casper Kelly

This is my favorite “WTF?!” pick of 2026 which is why it’s on this list before the fest begins. Playing in the prestigious Midnight section at Sundance 2026, The quick one-liner intro to Buddy: A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids television show. That intro combined with the image seen above (literally the only photo released for the film so far) has me completely locked in. I’ve gotta see this, especially with the Midnight crowd, as they really love getting into weird and wacky and fun genre films exactly like this. There are no other details available for this film yet. Only that simple description. All you need to know is the cast: Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Topher Grace, Keegan-Michael Key, Michael Shannon, Patton Oswalt. And the director behind it: Casper Kelly is best known for the viral short Too Many Cooks, the Emmy-nominated TV show Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, the movies Adult Swim Yule Log and V/H/S/Halloween (“Fun Size” segment), and the amazing “Cheddar Goblin” sequence in the film Mandy. Heck yes.

In the Blink of an Eye

Directed by Andrew Stanton

The other major surprise of Sundance 2026 is this film – an indie sci-fi creation from the genius mind of Andrew Stanton. Wait, what?! How did we not know about this before it was announced for the festival?? I’m fascinated. I’m a huge fan of Stanton and all of his movies so far: Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Finding Dory, and yes even John Carter. I’m so glad he’s back with another incredibly ambitious sci-fi movie (before he returns to Pixar to finish up Toy Story 5). The screenplay for this is written by Colby Day, who also wrote the script for that sci-fi movie Spaceman recently (which actually isn’t that bad). Three storylines, spanning thousands of years, intersect and reflect on hope, connection, and the circle of life. In the Blink of an Eye’s unique cast features Rashida Jones, Kate McKinnon, Daveed Diggs, Jorge Vargas, Tanaya Beatty. Another must watch premiere on the big screen at the festival – hopefully the whole audience will be in awe.

Other Feature Films I’m Looking Forward To: Padraic McKinley’s thriller The Weight with Ethan Hawke, Josephine Decker’s latest film Chasing Summer starring comedian Iliza Shlesinger, Alex Huston Fischer & Eleanor Wilson’s peculiar film Wicker featuring Olivia Colman & Alexander Skarsgård, Olivia Wilde’s latest film called The Invite with Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, Suzanne Andrews Correa’s Mexican film The Huntress starring Adriana Paz, and Cathy Yan’s art world dark comedy The Gallerist w/ Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Sterling K. Brown, Zach Galifianakis, Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

Alex’s Most Anticipated ~Sundance 2026~ Documentaries:

Time and Water

Directed by Sara Dosa

Another mesmerizing new documentary from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sara Dosa, who is returning to Sundance after premiering her beloved film Fire of Love at the festival in 2022. Dosa’s latest is a journey to the magnificently unique country of Iceland, the island nation in the North Atlantic that is covered with volcanoes and glaciers and everything else. Time and Water focuses on an Icelandic writer named Andri Snær Magnason who has given her complete access to his life and his archives and everything about his family. He narrates a story that is actually about climate change and glaciers in Iceland, including telling the story about how his grandparents met and fell in love while on a glacier there many years ago. Sundance’s intro states: “Drawing from an evocative mix of photographs, home movies, myths, songs, and folk tales, Time and Water is at once an elegy for what we’ve lost and an attempt at cinematic time travel to retain it.” This is a documentary that everyone must catch & cannot miss at the fest. Dosa always makes terrific docs.

Give Me the Ball!

Directed by Liz Garbus & Elizabeth Wolff

I distinctly remember watching the movie Battle of the Sexes back in 2017 – which dramatized this same story about Billie Jean King’s tennis match against chauvinist a-hole Bobby Riggs (starring Emma Stone & Steve Carell). Now we have an actual documentary about her and it’s one of my most anticipated watches at Sundance 2026. Give Me the Ball! is the story of feminist warrior and tennis champion Billie Jean King and her life conquering men and staying out of the spotlight. Sundance’s intro adds: “Directors Liz Garbus & Elizabeth Wolff present Billie Jean King in full, in her own words, and with archival footage that brings the dark times and indelible victories to life again. With refreshing honesty and the hard-won perspective of having lived through it all, Give Me the Ball! is an electric portrait of one of the greatest of all time.” Yep this sounds like it’s going to be one of the doc highlights this year especially from these two talented filmmakers.

Everybody to Kenmure Street

Directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra

Whoa! This sounds like one of the most inspiring and empowering docs to watch this year about politics and how to fight back against dangerous anti-immigration regimes. Made by Chilean filmmaker Felipe Bustos Sierra, Everybody to Kenmure Street is a documentary film about an event that happened in the city of Glasgow, Scotland in 2021. It’s the story of citizens and regular people and immigrants of all kinds coming together, in solidarity, to stop the government from harming the community. I’m intrigued to see how this story plays out, how the film retells this story, and how impactful it is with audiences (both at Sundance and beyond once it reaches the rest of the world). Sundance adds: “Though mostly strangers, and with almost no planning, this extremely diverse group organized themselves, taking on essential roles to allow the collective to achieve their goal: protecting their own from government forces going after the weakest among them. An inspiring and profoundly moving portrait of what ‘normal’ citizens are capable of in the face of injustice, Kenmure Street reminds us of the power that is always inherent in the people.” Watch out for this film. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The History of Concrete

Directed by John Wilson

Everyone is talking about this one! A new feature documentary from filmmaker John Wilson, best known for his hit “How to with John Wilson” doc series on HBO Max. This time he’s pulling a Morgan Spurlock – who was a Sundance regular for years before he passed away in 2024. This one sounds a lot like Spurlock’s 2011 Sundance doc POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Wilson’s concept for this doc: After attending a workshop on how to write and sell a Hallmark movie, filmmaker John Wilson tries to use the same formula to sell a documentary about concrete. Huh? But why concrete? Yeah, I’m thinking there’s gotta be more to this… And Sundance hints at what we’re going to see: “The History of Concrete rests on a pure, generative desire to give warmth to the invisibly ubiquitous, answering key questions such as: ‘Who removes the gum from our sidewalks?’ This is an unassumingly strange, joyful documentary that no one else could have made, perfect for the chronically online, the studied philosopher and everyone in between.” Sold.

Nuisance Bear

Directed by Gabriela Osio Vanden & Jack Weisman

A feature length adaptation of an award-winning short film (which you can watch here). Nuisance Bear is the story of a polar bear living up in Manitoba, Canada getting into trouble. A bear is forced to navigate a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. 🐻‍❄️ When this sacred predator is branded a “nuisance”, it becomes unclear who truly belongs within this shared landscape. I hope this film doesn’t shy away from how horrible humans have been towards animals. I think that’s why it’s going to be good. Sundance states: “The film traces this relationship with nuance, revealing how these arctic creatures deal with being constantly monitored, photographed, and redirected. There is a thrill in watching a polar bear outwit human efforts to contain it, underscoring the bears’ resilience and the fragility of the systems that attempt to control them.” As a lover of animals, this is another doc I have to see.

More Docs I’ll Be Watching During the Fest: J.M. Harper’s Soul Patrol about Vietnam War’s first Black special ops team, Amir Bar-Lev’s The Last First: Winter K2 on climbing mountains, Sam Green’s The Oldest Person in the World, Rachael J. Morrison’s Joybubbles, Sinéad O’Shea’s fascinating All About the Money, Efraín Mojica & Rebecca Zweig’s story of Mexican Jaripeo, David Shadrack Smith’s Public Access, Tony Jones’ animal doc Sentient, Brydie O’Connor’s Barbara Forever about a director, Janay Boulos & Abd Alkader Habak’s Birds of War, and Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s Hanging by a Wire.

For ALL of Alex’s Sundance 2026 updates: follow @firstshowing on X or @firstshowing on Letterboxd

For more Sundance 2026 previews around the web, highlighting early picks and potential breakouts, see: Rolling Stone’s 22 Most Anticipated Movies of Sundance 2026, RogerEbert.com’s 20 Films We Can’t Wait to See, Under the Radar’s 10 Films to Keep on Your Radar, Greenslate’s list of Must See Films in 2026, Vogue’s 12 Films to Look Out for at Sundance 2026 + Letterboxd’s Sundance Seeking 2026: What to Watchlist picks. You never know what might be something incredible, and it’s vital to have a pulse on the early buzz – even before the fest starts. There’s plenty of intriguing films found in the selection this year, tons of discoveries from first time filmmakers and up-and-coming talent, so let’s jump right in and start watching. Stay tuned.

You can follow our Sundance 2026 coverage and reviews right here and on Alex’s Letterboxd. The festival begins on January 22nd until February 1st, with films premiering online + in person. Glad to be back again.

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