While the future home for Sundance, the iconic indie film festival actor Robert Redford helped create, remains up for debate, there’s no argument about the 2025 lineup in Utah. It’s dynamite, and includes a smattering of films with Bay Area ties.
This year’s roster of 88 films will be screened Jan. 23 through Feb. 2. The event isn’t yet budging from Park City, Utah, and Salt Lake City as organizers search for the festival’s next home. Their search has narrowed to Boulder, Colorado; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Salt Lake City and Park City.
Can’t make it to Utah? No problem. As it has done in the past, Sundance offers an online component in which half of the films will be available to stream Jan. 30 through Feb. 2. Tickets for both in-person and online screenings are open for purchase at festival.sundance.org/tickets; better get them fast since they sell out.
Here’s a look at some of the “bigger” and lesser-known entries in the Sundance lineup. Most are available for online viewing.
“André Is an Idiot”: Ignoring the advice to get a colonoscopy for far too long, irreverent San Franciscan André Ricciardi undergoes one and then learns that he has Stage 4 cancer. In director Tony Benna’s inventive documentary (stop-motion animation is used), the marketing whiz chronicles his limited time with friends and family, and how he opts to die on his terms, managing to extract laughter out of a terminal situation. Available online.
“Love, Brooklyn”: Details remain slim about director Rachael Abigail Holder’s feature debut, but this love song of sorts to Brooklyn and the romantic and life entanglements of three of its residents is packed with talent. Fresh off his under-recognized performance in “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” André Holland leads a cast that includes Nicole Beharie and DeWanda Wise. Expect this one to get gobbled up for distribution fast. Available online.
“The Virgin of the Quarry Lake”: Jealousies and supernatural-tinged events escalate for a small circle of teens pining for the strapping Diego. Director Laura Casabé’s unnerving feature set in 2001 Buenos Aires draws its inspiration from two stories by celebrated horror author Mariana Enriquez. Available online.
“Plainclothes”: An undercover cop (Russell Tovey) in ‘90s Syracuse develops intense feelings for the gay man (Tom Blyth) he’s targeting in a sting operation. Director/screenwriter Carmen Emmi channeled some of his coming-out experiences into his debut feature, which addresses the dangers of policing our own feelings. Available online.
“Ricky”: After a 15-year stint in prison, life on the outside proves even harder for 30-year-old Ricky (Stephan James of “If Beale Street Could Talk”) as he navigates a changed world and tries to gain a foothold as an adult. Inspired by the experiences of some around him, co-screenwriter/director Rashad Frett developed his short film into his first feature. Available online.
“Life After”: Award-winning filmmaker Reid Davenport, a former Oakland resident and Stanford student, follows up his immersive, Oakland-set documentary “I Didn’t See You There” with this ambitious and powerful documentary. It melds personal observations with interviews, and is anchored around the 1980s California case of Elizabeth Bouvia, a disabled woman who went to court over her right to die. Available online.
“Third Act”: In director/producer Tadashi Nakamura’s deeply personal tribute to his dad, a groundbreaking force in Asian American film, he explores how his father’s Parkinson’s disease and depression altered the fabric of family life. The film also recounts how his father paved the way in making films about the Japanese internment camp experience. Available online.
“LUZ”: The tenuous lines between reality and virtual reality blur in Flora Lau’s audacious feature directorial debut that hopscotches from Chongqing to Hong Kong to Paris and co-stars the great Isabelle Huppert playing the stepmom of an art gallerist who finds meaning in a virtual reality world where she meets a frantic man looking for his daughter. Available online.
“Two Women”: Two bored, sexually bottled-up female neighbors (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman and Laurence Leboeuf) in an apartment building pursue hookups with service workers whom they call to “fix” problems at home. Director Chloé Robichaud’s jaunty feminist dramedy should be a frisky crowd pleaser. Available online.
“Where the Wind Comes From”: Two besties in Tunisia — he’s a fledgling artist and she’s caring for her depressed mom and her sister — hit the road for an art competition that they see as a chance to break away form their restrictive home lives. Eya Bellagha and Slim Bacar seem headed for stardom, and director/screenwriter Amel Guellaty’s feature looks to be to a breakout hit. Available online.
“2000 Meters to Andriivka”: Mstyslav Chernov follows up his Oscar-winning “20 Days in Mariupol” with another nerve-wracking, on-the-ground documentary that tracks a Ukrainian platoon as they advance on a village occupied by Russians. Available online.
“Khartoum”: Everyone involved in this of-the-minute documentary, including the five subjects, were forced to flee from Sudan due to intensified violence there at the hand of the paramilitary RSF (Rapid Support Forces). Rather than abandon this important project, the film cast and crew landed on a novel means to convey the experiences of residents through a creative mix of animation and re-enacted scenes. With the U.S. declaration that what’s happening in Sudan constitutes genocide, “Khartoum” demands to be seen. Available online.
“Zodiac Killer Project”: A huge roadblock got tossed into director/producer Charlie Shackleton’s path as he sought to gain the rights to adapt late CHP officer Lyndon Lafferty’s book “The Zodiac Killer Cover-up, AKA The Silenced Badge.” Lafferty pins the blame on the rash of killings that terrorized the Bay Area in the ‘70s on a certain someone. Shackleton’s edgy film visits the streets of Vallejo and other settings from the book and also considers the tropes most often deployed in true-crime series that are so popular. Available online.
“Kiss of the Spider Woman”: Although unavailable to stream, this buzzy premiere of Bill Condon’s new adaptation of the play and movie about an intimate relationship that blossoms between two cellmates (Diego Luna and Tonatiuh) in an Argentine prison promises to be one of the hottest tickets at the festival. Jennifer Lopez also stars.
“Middletown”: Bay Area documentarians Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine continue to make the Sundance Film Festival a habit. They return with the intriguing story of how a renegade 1990s high school teacher and his students in upstate New York pulled back the curtain on a toxic waste scandal. The film from the makers of “Boys State” and “Girls State” is not available online.
“Train Dreams”: Anyone who saw Clint Bentley’s well-drawn character piece “Jockey” will want to pony up and watch his latest, an adaptation of a somber Denis Johnson novella about a 20th century railroad worker (played by Joel Edgerton) confronting changes all around him. It too is unavailable online.
“En Memoria”: Rushed for time? Don’t discount the short-film categories at Sundance. Former Oakland resident Roberto Fatal’s 11-minute film stands out as a reason to check out the offerings with shorter run times. Their dystopian-laced feature finds a queer mom visited by an unwelcome authoritarian figure making demands. Fatal’s film, produced and co-written by Ali Meyers-Ohki, plays around with genres and has something important to impart. Fatal was just selected as a fellow for the Sundance 2025 Screenwriters Lab and Screenwriters program. The film is part of the Sundance Short Film Program 2 available online.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.