We say goodbye to Park City with our 9 favorite movies and memories of Sundance

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As we anticipate next year’s festival in Boulder, Colorado, this year’s Sundance Film Festival left us reminiscing. We’ve spent years enjoying intimate screenings in the snow, dealing with frustrating shuttle delays, and, surprisingly often, discovering fantastic new films. While reviewing this year’s highlights, we shared our favorite memories of the festival, which is currently undergoing changes.

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Amy Nicholson

At Sundance, there was a quiet, cozy spot just for film professionals and the press: the Holiday Village Cinemas. This small four-screen theater held screenings all day long, and it was wonderfully relaxed – no need for tickets, no star sightings, just a simple, enjoyable experience.

When I arrived in Park City, Utah, in 2010, I pretty much stayed at the Holiday Inn, only quickly running next door for beef jerky and sushi. (I know eating raw fish in a landlocked state is strange, but their sushi was surprisingly good, almost as good as you’d get at H-Mart!) Back then, and even now, my main goal was to watch movies for hours on end.

The Holiday theater had more film critics per row than anywhere else, making it the perfect place to see people I only knew from their writing. I remember Roger Ebert sitting in front of me during a screening of “The Runaways.” He’d recently had surgery on his jaw and wore a scarf to support his face, but it almost looked like a smile. I was too timid to tell him how much his writing—especially his advice to approach every movie on its own terms, and his book “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”—had influenced me. I’d give up seeing hundreds of up-and-coming actors at Sundance just for a chance to thank him now.

Watching a comedy with film critics isn’t ideal. We tend to hold back on our laughter to avoid swaying their opinions, even though we might laugh more freely with a regular audience. Despite this, the Sundance Film Festival has been a launching pad for many successful comedies, including films like “The Big Lebowski,” “Sorry to Bother You,” “Palm Springs,” “The Big Sick,” “House Party,” and “Napoleon Dynamite.” I especially remember leaving a screening of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s “What We Do in the Shadows” with my coworkers, still cracking up over a joke about sandwiches. We were eager to experience it again with a more enthusiastic audience.

I loved “The Ballad of Wallis Island” the most at last year’s festival, and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it. It was a little sad watching it at the Holiday theater, though, knowing it had closed for good in 2024. Its showing at Sundance was just a brief return before it’s torn down, as the festival is moving out of Utah.

I was especially happy that two of my favorite movies from the final in-person Sundance Film Festival were comedies I saw at the Holiday Theatre. David Wain’s new film, “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” is his silliest and most farcical work since “Wet Hot American Summer.” It’s a wild, funny movie that feels like a mix of “The Wizard of Oz” and the edgy humor of Terry Southern’s “Candy.” Zoey Deutch plays a charming woman from Kansas who decides to have one last fling with Jon Hamm before getting married. Deutch is reliably delightful, but the real standout is Ben Wang, who shines as an eager and intelligent receptionist – he’s the cleverest member of the group.

Olivia Wilde’s film, “The Invite”, is a funny and awkward comedy that provides satisfying, if unsettling, moments of relief. The script, penned by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, focuses on a struggling couple (Seth Rogan and Wilde) who invite their new neighbors (Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz) over for dinner. Be warned: the story opens with the revelation that Rogan’s character’s neighbor is annoyed by the couple’s loud intimacy. It’s a boldly honest and unexpected comedy that doesn’t just reveal a marriage’s problems – it puts them on full display for everyone to see.

Don’t miss Josef Kubota Wladyka’s “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!”— it completely won me over despite the silly title. Rinko Kikuchi is fantastic as a widow who’s a ballroom dancer and has a crush on her teacher. The film is surprisingly versatile and full of beautiful slow-motion shots, plus plenty of scenes of Kikuchi hilariously stumbling as she finds her footing. It’s a fun, feel-good movie that will make you want to dance. Though I’m sad to leave Park City, it’s time for me to head home and rest my legs.

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Mark Olsen

This year’s Sundance Film Festival felt unusually uncertain. With the festival planning to move to Boulder next year, it was hard to tell if this year should be seen as a farewell or a fresh start. While I wasn’t sure how much we should be looking back, the festival naturally created a space for remembering and reflecting on the past.

I’ll never forget my first Sundance experience. It was in 2008, and I saw Andrew Fleming’s hilarious “Hamlet 2” at the Library Center Theatre. Back then, I was a pretty resourceful freelancer, and I managed to snag a place to stay – a condo rented by The Times. Through a bit of luck and a long rental agreement, I ended up with the whole place to myself! And that’s how I unexpectedly found myself interviewing Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who were at the festival for the premiere of their tour documentary, “CSNY/Déjà Vu.” It was a completely surreal moment!

I keep returning to this festival year after year because of the unexpected discoveries and the unique connections you make with people there. I especially love the NEXT section, which showcases films that don’t easily fit into other categories. This year, Georgia Bernstein’s first feature film, “Night Nurse,” really stood out. It’s a remarkably confident film about a young woman (played brilliantly by Cemre Paskoy) who takes a job at a retirement home and gets entangled in a web of phone scams, suggestive conversations, and complicated relationships with one of the residents. It feels a bit risky to recommend this film to coworkers, but the film’s intriguing and unsettling atmosphere is definitely worth it.

While most festival-goers talked about “The Invite” and “Josephine,” another film kept coming up in conversations: “Wicker.” This imaginative film, directed by Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer and based on a story by Ursula Wills-Jones, is set in a vaguely medieval European village. It follows an unmarried woman (Olivia Colman) who commissions a local basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to create her a husband – and things get complicated when he appears as Alexander Skarsgård, causing quite a stir in town. Clever and visually impressive, “Wicker” is a delightful and constantly surprising story.

Whether it was intentional or not, “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” was the perfect choice to close out the fiction films at the Eccles Theatre, a famous and beloved venue at the festival. This film marks the directorial debut of character actor Noah Segan, and it’s a touching and thoughtful look at New York City, and the sadness of realizing your prime is over. John Turturro gives a strong and understated performance, and the film also stars Steve Buscemi and Giancarlo Esposito.

When the three actors joined Segan and the rest of the cast onstage after the movie, it was clear how meaningful it was to have them all together. Buscemi casually listed a surprising number of films he’d been in that included “New York” in the title – like “New York Stories,” “Slaves of New York,” and “King of New York.” Meanwhile, Turturro spoke with emotion about his connection to Robert Redford, who everyone missed being there at the festival.

When Esposito started talking about Sundance, he spoke with great passion about what the festival meant to him. He remembered his first time attending in the 1990s, feeling thrilled that it provided a platform for underrepresented voices. He explained they weren’t there to attract big studios, but to connect with audiences who could see their own lives reflected in the film.

He described Redford’s creative insight as invaluable, calling it the driving force behind the film and something he’ll never forget. He explained that Redford, as the festival’s founder, will always inspire him and remain a guiding light throughout his career.

Leaving the theater and Park City felt wonderful and hopeful. While the future is uncertain, it’s filled with the exciting possibility of new experiences.

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Joshua Rothkopf

Park City has always been lucky for me, and it feels strangely fitting, though hard to fully describe, that I’m now saying goodbye.

Sundance holds a special place for me. I got my first freelance job there in 2004, writing about films for the Village Voice. I also had a memorable (and slightly clumsy!) job interview there, which ended with me falling into a pool—fully clothed! More recently, in January 2020, I went back after losing my job, feeling optimistic about what the future held. Little did I know everything would change soon, but Sundance gave me a much-needed boost.

More than anything, this festival was where I discovered so many important horror films. It hosted an incredible series of world premieres – something no other festival has matched – including movies like “The Babadook” (2014), “The Witch” (2015), “Get Out” (shown as a surprise screening in 2017), and “Hereditary” (2018). Seeing Ari Aster present “Hereditary” was a rare moment in my career – I truly felt like I was witnessing the arrival of a groundbreaking filmmaker, captivating the audience with his Q&A sessions.

Facilitating the Q&A for Adrian Chiarella’s unsettling film, “Leviticus,” reminded me of the excitement of discovering a new talent in horror. However, what truly resonated with me were the thoughtful questions from the audience – especially from young LGBTQ+ individuals who found inspiration in Chiarella’s work. Sundance often offers films that deeply affect you, and this one was no exception – it was inspiring to witness its impact.

“Once Upon a Time in Harlem” is a documentary built around a fascinating 1972 conversation with leading figures from the Harlem Renaissance, held at Duke Ellington’s home. While the film beautifully celebrates and preserves history, it’s the lively debates and friendly disagreements between these artists that truly make it come alive. The film captures the passion people have for art, and even shows how they sometimes disagree about what it means to appreciate it – one participant firmly defines ‘appreciation’ as the role of criticism, a view not everyone shares.

Our trip to Park City was about debating films, finding common ground on the best ones, and criticizing those we thought didn’t deserve the hype. It was perfect that the most talked-about movie of the festival – and the winner of both the jury and audience awards – was “Josephine,” a tough but important film about a young person witnessing a sexual assault. It’s a movie that really makes you want to talk about it. Being an independent production, driven by strong acting performances, and definitely not a mainstream film, “Josephine” was ideally suited for a Sundance launch. And it looks like the festival might be moving to Boulder next year.

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2026-02-01 04:32