When the 2026 Sundance Movie Competition wrapped this weekend, it marked the tip of a outstanding run for America’s most important movie competition. And whereas Sundance could be very a lot not over, when it bows in 2027 in Boulder, Colorado, it would look very completely different. 2026 spelled the final time for a lot of decade-long traditions — splashy premieres on the Eccles, packed events in unusual little retail areas, slushing up and down Predominant Avenue, the salad bar at Grub Steak — and so, after all, all of it got here with a hearty dose of nostalgia.
And flicks! Over the course of dozens of critiques and interviews from our devoted workers and merry band of freelancers, IndieWire dug characteristically deep into the 2026 lineup. As ever, we got here away with a variety of movies we are able to simply time period one of the best of the fest. They’re as follows.
In case you’d prefer to see what the Sundance juries and audiences thought had been one of the best movies, you may try the full record of award winners proper right here (there’s a honest quantity of crossover to be discovered). And, in case you’re desirous to study extra about how, the place, and when you may see these movies, try our ever-evolving record of gross sales, each earlier than, throughout, and after the competition.
All movies are listed in alphabetical order. David Ehrlich, Ryan Lattanzio, Chris O’Falt, Anne Thompson, and Christian Zilko additionally contributed to this record.
“Buddy”
Tasks like “Too Many Cooks” have proved that Grownup Swim legend Casper Kelly can cram much more creativity into a brief movie than you’ll discover in most options. So it ought to come as no shock that when he lastly bought an opportunity to make a correct characteristic — one which, with all due respect to the “Grownup Swim Xmas Log” collection, didn’t need to be disguised as a glorified screensaver — he delivered a must-see cinematic occasion.
“Buddy” is a straightforward elevator pitch (it’s “Barney” as a horror film), however the excessive idea wouldn’t have performed practically as nicely in anybody else’s arms. Kelly’s reverence for the analog quirks of outdated TV exhibits is on full show, and he backs it up with some severe horror chops to ship a hilariously bloodthirsty good time. It’s the primary nice midnight film of 2026, and must be on everybody’s radar display if and when it will get the theatrical launch that it so clearly deserves. —CZ
“Carousel”
The star of “Carousel” isn’t Chris Pine, or Jenny Slate, and even any explicit setting or plot gadget. It’s the pacing. Rachel Lambert’s newest characteristic doesn’t inform a outstanding story to an out of doors observer: it’s a few single dad struggling to maintain his small household medical apply alive whereas dipping his toe right into a romance together with his daughter’s debate coach, who’s pondering a return to Washington D.C. to renew her personal profession. Nevertheless it’s a movie that’s higher watched than described, as Lambert’s skillful eye rotates between key reside occasions so easily that you just get the expertise of growing older alongside Pine and Slate. It’s a fragile, tender, and unapologetically grownup story, giving “Carousel” a timeless high quality that’s prone to age very nicely. —CZ
“Closure”
Ten years was solely too lengthy of look ahead to Polish director Michał Marczak’s followup to “All These Sleepless Nights,” but it surely was value it, as his newest is affirmation he is without doubt one of the most enjoyable and gifted filmmakers working as we speak. The movie follows a determined father, Daniel, in his search down the huge Vistula River for the physique of his lacking teenage son, Krzysztof, who they’ve been given purpose to consider dedicated suicide by leaping off a bridge into the water.
The movie is poignant, emotional, empathetic, and speaks to the bigger points going through a era of on-line youngsters for whom the suicide fee has dramatically jumped lately. “Closure” can also be deeply cinematic, and like “All These Sleepless Nights” may (because it did for some at Sundance) confuse audiences as being a scripted narrative movie. —CO
“Filipiñana”
It’s exhausting to say what number of golf programs there have been within the Philippines when America relinquished management over it in 1946, however as we speak there are between 30 and 40 within the neighborhood of Manila alone. One among them was constructed over a former sugar plantation the place 14 placing staff had been massacred in 2004. Director Rafael Manuel is obscure in regards to the historical past of the fictional nation membership the place his languidly unnerving “Filipiñana” takes place, however the director shoots the place with a Haneke-like take away that makes each member, caddie, and Chinese language vacationer really feel like they’re conspiring to bury an terrible secret of some type.
The sly and needling “Filipiñana” invitations us to see the nation membership from a number of completely different factors of view, if solely in order that we are able to really feel all of them sludging collectively underneath the brutal Manilan warmth. The closest factor we have now to a protagonist is a poor lady from Ilokos who’s tasked with returning a misplaced golf membership to the membership’s president, which spurs her nearer into the stomach of the beast, and nearer to the supply of her nagging unrest. Wry and damning in equal measure, Manuel’s characteristic debut builds to a ultimate scene that acutely subverts the grammar of Western cinema to literalize its heroine’s relationship to her personal erasure. —DE
“The Pal’s Home Is Right here”
In dialogue with Abbas Kiarostami as a lot as Jacques Rivette, Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei’s made-in-sect Iranian movie “The Pal’s Home Is Right here” follows two artists and finest pals in opposition to the backdrop of social upheaval in Tehran. As each are weighing whether or not or to not to migrate, they combine and mingle with a group of artists who give this movie actual, lived-in scope. There’s a deadpan humor to this clandestine manufacturing that offers solution to disappointment — however not the extent of struggling you may count on from such a narrative, at the same time as the ladies inevitably should separate. This can be a delicate, unexpectedly highly effective slice of cinema actually unveiled, the filmmakers as liberated because the characters hope to someday be. —RL
“Gail Daughtry and the Superstar Intercourse Go”
Director David Wain’s return to Sundance delivered precisely what most of us had been hoping for: A hysterical movie that belongs alongside Wain’s “Moist Scorching American Summer season” and “They Got here Collectively,” two of the funniest American movies of this century. Zoey Deutch stars because the wide-eyed Gail, who journeys to Los Angeles to seek out and bang her movie star corridor go crush, Jon Hamm, after her fiancée (Michael Cassidy), in sudden style (to say extra would spoil the movie’s first hysterical set piece), has taken benefit of his. Gail’s seek for Hamm varieties an unlikely posse that begins with fellow hair dresser and bestie (Miles Gutierrez-Riley), and picks up alongside the way in which a just lately fired CAA mail room clerk (Ben Wang), crest-fallen paparazzi photographer (Ken Mario, who co-wrote the movie with Wain), and John Slattery taking part in a satirical model of himself because the down trodden actor who can’t get his “Mad Males” co-star to return one in all his texts.
One of many joys of the movie is the way in which Wain and Marino put to full use their extensive ensemble of comedians, together with their long-time collaborators and a few new ones, to create a zany slapstick trip as a hairdresser’s conference, the mob, and the Hollywood film enterprise collide. —CO
“The Historical past of Concrete”
When most individuals take into consideration concrete, they consider the plain stuff: The colour grey. New York Metropolis. Why it’s usually a foul concept to leap off tall buildings. When John Wilson thinks about concrete, the erstwhile star of HBO’s “Methods to With John Wilson” thinks about DMX, Hallmark motion pictures, Kim Kardashian, public diarrhea, a trailblazing Asian American decide, the world’s first 3D-printed Starbucks, and a 3,100-mile footrace that honors a lifeless Brooklyn cult chief. What do these issues have in frequent? Probably every part! Possibly a bit bit lower than that. However positively, positively a minimum of this: They’re all issues that John Wilson thinks about when he thinks about concrete. And that seems to be all of the connective tissue we have to admire the connection his persistently hilarious and sneakily profound debut characteristic maps between them.
It could be a waste of time to stroll you thru how Wilson will get from 49-cent royalty checks and rueing his life as a Ridgewood landlord to the oldest buildings in Rome and a brick-laying contest in Las Vegas, however suffice it to say that concrete serves as the good connector. As Wilson mourns the dying of his HBO present and searches for brand new goal, concrete turns into a handy metaphor for the impermanence of all issues. “The Historical past of Concrete” is nothing if not a sprawlingly lovely self-portrait of a person attempting to strike a stability between letting go and holding on. A person attempting to create space for grief similtaneously he scrambles for self-preservation. —DE
“The Invite”
If the chatter is to be believed, the big-time bidding conflict that took maintain after the movie’s splashy premiere a minimum of partially hinged on getting Olivia Wilde’s third directorial characteristic a theatrical launch. True or not, promoting this one to A24 ensures exactly that and some kind of wildly enjoyable and artistic advertising and marketing marketing campaign besides.
The movie is deserving of that focus, and extra. A crackling, loopy, wildly entertaining flick, Wilde not solely hits a high-mark in her directing, however her efficiency as nicely. Neatly constructed round 4 very completely different performances — although each star, together with Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penelope Cruz, seems to be having the time of their lives — Wilde will get wonderful stuff from everybody, particularly herself, in a delightfully daffy and unexpectedly muscular efficiency as an unhappily married girl with main anxiousness. The one factor that would make all that worse? Throw a cocktail party on high of it! Most viewers can in all probability see what’s coming as soon as this foursome (Wilde and Rogen the uptight couple who invite their very cool upstairs neighbors, performed by Norton and Cruz) is smashed along with little meals, plenty of booze, and many to say, however the pleasures of watching all of it unfold outmatch any of that. And with a crowd? The occasion of the yr! —KE
“Jaripeo”
Filmmakers Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig reframe the Mexican archetype of masculinity with their superbly lensed, hybrid documentary out of the NEXT part, “Jaripeo.” The movie takes us to the Mexican state of Michoacán, to the rodeos, or jaripeos, the place masculinity is revealed because the efficiency, and the jaripeo because the true expression of 1’s queer identification. Two locals, Noé and Joseph, convey the filmmakers intimately inside their world whereas being themselves on reverse ends of the macho spectrum; one is a cowboy and the opposite a make-up artist. The film mixes vérité Tremendous 8 with artfully constructed interstices that find poetry in rising up queer and within the shadows. A protracted dialog between the pair about queerness and need means that the filmmakers would have a future in narrative filmmaking, too. —RL
“Josephine”
At this level, we in all probability don’t must expound additional on the greatness of Beth de Araújo’s sophomore outing, however what? We’re going to. The winner of each the Grand Jury Prize and the Viewers Award, de Araújo’s movie was already one of the best movie on the competition lengthy earlier than it was topped formally as such ultimately Friday’s awards ceremony.
Having seen the movie earlier than I hit Park Metropolis, I used to be capable of discuss it as much as nearly anybody keen to pay attention. One factor I observed? Many individuals a) didn’t notice she’s the filmmaker behind the staggering “Tender & Quiet” or b) hadn’t even heard of that movie. To these folks: learn IndieWire, of us. De Araújo has been one to observe, a filmmaker of nice readability and imaginative and prescient, one who just isn’t solely keen to tackle horrifying tales, however to convey them precise new dimension with out exploitation. Her second movie is simply extra of the identical, and we are able to solely hope it’s the continuation of an already stellar profession. —KE
“Knife: The Tried Homicide of Salman Rushdie”
Because the writer Salman Rushdie remembers it, the primary clear thought that got here to him after the brutal 2022 knife assault that nearly took his life was easy: “We have to doc this.” Happily, Rushdie’s beloved spouse, fellow author and multidisciplinary artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, was available with a fierce dedication and a brand new digital camera. (Griffiths remembers her tackle the concept to doc the after-effects of the assault with a bit extra chew: “We mentioned that we would like everybody to see.”)
And see we do in Alex Gibney’s “Knife: The Tried Homicide of Salman Rushdie,” which mixes Griffiths’ footage (she is credited as one of many movie‘s cinematographers; she can also be its true coronary heart) with archival materials, new animations, tons of film clips, and Rushdie’s personal work (largely from his 2024 memoir “Knife: Mediations After an Tried Homicide,” however with loads from his seminal “The Satanic Verses”). Gibney’s movie doesn’t ease into it in any respect, opening with a clip of the assault, squarely dropping us into the horror of it. Rushdie supplies voiceover all through, and there may be an instantaneous influence from listening to a person narrate his personal tried homicide, and with such a relaxed (and sometimes darkly humorous) demeanor. It’s a troublesome sit, however extraordinarily definitely worth the effort. —KE
“Leviticus”
Australian author/director Adrian Chiarella makes a serious debut with the queer horror film “Leviticus.” It stars Joe Chicken, Stacy Clausen, and oh-how-we-missed-her Mia Wasikowska in a narrative about closeted teenagers who’re haunted by the factor they need probably the most: one another. Naim (Chicken) and Ryan (Clausen) steal away for a furtive romance that turns into the one factor value dwelling for of their small city, but it surely’s additionally presided over by a conversion remedy cult into which Wasikowska, who performs Naim’s mom, has introduced her son. The “It Follows” comparisons are apt because the boys are stalked by phantom variations of each other who feed into their secret wishes, however Chiarella’s imaginative and prescient is wholly unique. The feelings it delivers on — particularly ending with Frank Ocean’s observe “Self Management” — develop into virtually overwhelming for anybody who’s gone by the queer expertise. This can be a unhappy, scary debut from a filmmaker we are able to’t wait to see extra from. —RL
“The Solely Dwelling Pickpocket in New York”
Filmmaker Noah Segan celebrates the conflict of analogue and tech on this ’70s throwback shot on the streets and subways of New York. Accompanied by a jazzy rating, the film is carried by veteran John Turturro, a veteran hustler who should use his wiles to get out of a difficult wicket when he lifts the fallacious factor from the fallacious particular person on the fallacious time. With the appropriate distributor, Turturro may land a long-overdue Finest Actor nomination. —AT
“The Second”
The closed-ended nature of a phrase like “brat summer time” introduced the actual Charli XCX with an unenviable predicament. The pop star’s newest album gave her the most important monetary success of her profession, with sufficient hits to fill nostalgia setlists for the remainder of her life. Nevertheless it was additionally branded as a fleeting period from the very starting, forcing the artist to decide on between dragging one thing out past its expiration date and leaving further monetary success on the desk.
Nevertheless it turns on the market’s a 3rd possibility: make a fictional documentary about your self that sees you attempting to increase an period in the entire worst methods. The unpredictable pop star selected that path, and we’re all higher for it. Aidan Zamiri’s “The Second” is a riff on “Succession” for the fashionable music trade (full with a good funnier Alexander Skarsgård efficiency), full of genuinely hilarious jokes about how the brand-obsessed, focus-grouped file label equipment can kill an artist’s creativity. However greater than that, it deserves to be remembered as a legendary piece of self-parody by an artist whose resume simply will get extra spectacular by the day. —CZ
“As soon as Upon a Time in Harlem”
When “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One” director William Greaves died in 2014 we misplaced on of the best nonfiction filmmakers ever, with a physique of modern work that was so forward of its time, it’s nonetheless forward of us now. The announcement of this yr’s Sundance lineup included an sudden shock for documentary lovers: Greaves had left behind an unfinished movie he shot in 1972, when he orchestrated a reunion of Harlem Renaissance luminaries on the residence of Duke Ellington. That Greaves’ son David, who served as a cameraman at Ellington’s home, was capable of lead an edit of the fabric (a problem that apparently alluded his father) into what will definitely be thought-about on of one of the best movies (nonfiction or in any other case) of 2026 just isn’t solely the most important shock of this yr’s Sundance, however a revelation.
“As soon as Upon A Time In Harlem” isn’t purely reverence, which is Greaves clearly had for his topics. Because the alcohol begins flowing, the four-hour gathering reveals not everybody has the identical view of what and who made the Harlem Renaissance so vital, because the dwelling members debate the legacy of probably the most very important cultural actions in U.S. historical past. —CO
“One in a Million”
One evening in 2015, filmmakers Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes met a younger lady promoting cigarettes on a avenue nook in Turkey. Her identify was Israa, she was 11 years outdated, and like so most of the different refugees within the neighborhood her household had just lately fled to the port metropolis of Izmir as a way to escape the devastation of the Syrian civil conflict. Sensible, smiley, and bursting with undimmed enthusiasm regardless of such tough circumstances, Israa was such an irresistible documentary topic that Azzam and MacInnes — who had fled Syria themselves in 2011 — determined to comply with the lady’s household as they continued alongside their perilous trek to Germany.
Upon reaching Cologne, nonetheless, it rapidly turned obvious to the administrators that probably the most fraught and sophisticated portion of Israa’s exodus was simply starting. The journey from Aleppo had virtually been as harmful as it will have been for her household to remain there, however neither artillery shells, overcrowded boats, nor the fixed risk of being despatched again had been as tough for the lady to outlive as the dual pains of exile and assimilation. Azzam and MacInnes would proceed to movie Israa for an additional 10 years, solely stopping — as we see within the just lately shot bookends of the sweeping, humane, and deeply heartsick documentary they’ve minimize collectively from that decade of footage — when she was capable of safely go to Syria once more in 2025. “Warfare just isn’t the toughest factor an individual can undergo,” Israa’s voiceover intones as she appears on the bombed out ruins of the neighborhood the place she was raised. “It’s not as exhausting as what comes after.” By the tip of “One in a Million,” you perceive precisely what she means. —DE
“Time and Water”
A filmmaker who is aware of join emotional tales to the forces ravaging our planet, Sara Dosa has achieved it once more. After “Hearth of Love,” a few love triangle between a French scientist couple and volcanoes, wowed Sundance 2022 and was scooped up by NatGeo, which took it to an Oscar nomination, Dosa returned to a different science love story that had been back-burnered throughout the pandemic. She had consulted with author/poet/eco-activist Andri Snær Magnason on the Icelandic movie “The Seer and the Unseen” (2019).
For her newest eco-doc “Time and Water,” she reconnected with him to inform two tales: his household’s obsession with glaciers, utilizing his video archives, and the dying of Iceland’s first glacier. This received’t be the final, as we see beautiful footage of glaciers, nonetheless alive, however melting. —AT