Charlie XCX travels to Sundance Film Festival in January. The pop singer-songwriter will appear in three films premiering at the 2026 festival, including a mockumentary in which she produced and starred. On Wednesday, programmers presented a lineup of 90 feature films produced for the festival. last hurray in Park City, Utah.
The list includes documentaries about the great basketball. Britney GrinnerNelson Mandela, Salman Rushdie, Courtney Love and Billie Jean King. There are stellar performances from the likes of Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Seth Rogen, Channing Tatum, Danielle Brooks, Olivia Colman, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Alexander Skarsgård and Ethan Hawke. Olivia Wilde will direct her first feature film since then “Don't worry, honey” in “Invitation”. Judd Apatow talks about comedian Maria Bamford's mental health journey. And Gregg Araki will return to Park City with a restoration of his 2004 coming-of-age drama Mysterious Skin, as well as a new film.
“This is a broad, eclectic and bold program,” Sundance public programming director Eugene Hernandez told The Associated Press. He said the lineup for the Park City festival's final year “really matches that combination of new, exciting voices combined with some really great familiar faces from Sundance's past that I think will create a great alchemy for this truly unique festival in Utah.”
It's always a festival of discovery: of the 90 feature films selected from 4,255 entries, 40% are from first-time directors. Programmers laugh when they hear people say things like “it's a Sundance movie,” as if it's one thing that's easy to categorize.
“I look at the films on this program and say, ‘Tell me what a Sundance film is,’ because they’re so different,” said programmer John Nein.
Charli XCX plays a rising pop star preparing for her first arena tour in the mockumentary “The Moment,” which Hernandez says is “like her version of 'This is Spinal Tap.' She also appears in Araki's I Want Your Sex, in which Cooper Hoffman plays an intern immersed in the world of an artist and provocateur (Wilde). And she is part of the “Gallerist” ensemble.
“She has a sense of humor about herself and her work, but also an obvious creativity and star quality. I mean, she's magnetic on screen,” Hernandez said. “It’s great to have someone who represents the next generation of creativity embracing the world we live in.”
This year's list includes quite a few exciting comedies in unexpected places. Cathy Yan directed and co-wrote The Gallerialist, a satirical look at the art world and the attempt to sell a corpse at Art Basel Miami with a large ensemble that included Portman, Ortega, Sterling K. Brown and Zach Galifianakis. David Wain also has “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” about a woman who tries to even the score after her fiancé takes advantage of a “free pass,” starring Zoey Deutch and Jon Hamm.
Programmer Kim Yutani said she thinks “Weaving,” about a woman who asks a basket maker to weave her husband, starring Colman and Skarsgård, will appeal to large audiences.
Other standouts include Jay Duplass' sad “See You When I See You” with Cooper Reiff and David Duchovny's “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Butt!” The action takes place in a ballroom dance scene in Tokyo and in Wilde's film The Invitation, about a disintegrating marriage, in which she stars opposite Rogen.
“They find comedy in the hardest places,” Nain said.
In the Midnight section, there's “Buddy,” from Too Many Cooks creator Casper Kelly, about a girl who has to escape a children's TV show. There are also some quirky humorous documentaries, including Bubbles of Joy and John Wilson's The Story of Concrete.
Sundance became famous for its documentary programs, many of which later became nominated and won an Oscar. This year will likely be no exception.
“Across the board, both in the U.S. and abroad, there is an agenda that addresses the world it is in now,” Nain said. “These documentaries are incredibly complex, they really understand how complex the world's problems are and bring you into the process.”
One that could make a splash is “When the Witness Retracts,” in which author Ta-Nehisi Coates revisits the 1983 murder of a boy at his Baltimore high school and discovers the truth. “American Doctor” follows three professionals trying to help in the Gaza Strip. “All About the Money” tells the story of Fergie Chambers, who became the heir to the Communist Party. Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell talk about artificial intelligence in “AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocalyptic Optimist,” while “Sapient” talks about animal testing.
“A lot of them are optimistic in a way because it’s about people power,” Nain said. “It’s about the power of a community to affect change, the power of one person you definitely haven’t heard of.”
These include Jane Elliott Against the World, about an Iowa schoolteacher who taught anti-discrimination in 1968, and Captured, about a police raid on Marion County Record in Kansas.
New talent often emerges at the Sundance Festival, e.g. Eva Victor last year since – Sorry, Baby. Programmers noted several gems in the lineup this year, including Beth de Araujo's Josephine, about an eight-year-old girl who witnesses a crime, starring Tatum and Gemma Chan.
TV veteran Molly Manners' Extra Geography, about friends at a boarding school in England, Nain says is one of the funniest and most challenging debut films he's seen in the UK in years.
He also highlighted LADY, Nigerian director Olive Nwosu's first feature film about a Lagos taxi driver, and the oddball film Leviticus.
As in past years, the Sundance titles will also be available for viewing online. Yutani said her favorite recommendation for remote audiences is the world drama competition film “Levitation” from Indonesian director Regas Bhanutei.
“It takes place in this community where there are these trans parties,” Yutani said. “It's an exciting film.”
This year the festival will also be honor its late founderRobert Redford with heritage displays and will serve as a celebration of the company's 40+ years in Park City before it moves to Boulder, Colorado, 2027.
The 2026 festival will begin on January 22 and run until February 1.
