Over the last 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival has earned a reputation for elevating the voices of independent filmmakers and providing attendees with an eclectic lineup of nearly 100 feature films, documentaries, and shorts across a variety of genres from all over the world.
The festival is often the first place to catch a glimpse of the year’s most celebrated releases, as well as future award season contenders. Last year’s festival saw the debuts of Sebastian Stan in A Different Man, Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain, and June Squibb in Thelma.
Although there are higher-profile releases to be found, the best part of the festival is the element of surprise. With such stacked programming, it’s easy to miss a hidden gem, whether that’s stumbling onto a promising first-time filmmaker like Sean Wang, who made his feature debut last year with Dìdi; or witnessing an actor’s breakout film role, like Katy O’Brian in Love Lies Bleeding; or catching a midnight premiere that completely rewires your brain, like Jane Schoenbrun’s psychological horror masterpiece, I Saw the TV Glow.
This year, it seems many of the festival’s filmmakers are leaning straight into the absurd—placing their characters in fictional settings, creating conflict out of contraband cabbages, personifying furniture, and exploring the psyches of menacing, fictional pop stars. To help you make sense of the festival’s 2025 offerings, here are just a few of the films we think are set to be breakout hits.
Artropia
Building on the premise of her 2019 short Shako Mako, writer/director Hailey Gates returns to Atropia—a fictional Middle Eastern village erected outside of Los Angeles to serve as a training ground for the military. There, aspiring actors do their best to create a convincing environment for soon-to-be soldiers in this strange liminal space that doubles as their home. Frustrated with the lack of creative fulfillment in Atropia, one actress (Alia Shawkat) finally gets a jolt of inspiration (and romance) when she meets a soldier (Callum Turner) cast as an insurgent. With a cast rounded out by Chloë Sevigny and Tim Heidecker, the film is set to be an off-kilter comedy-satire as the actors’ fictional lives begin to clash with reality.
Bubble & Squeak
Travel can put even the best relationships to the test, as newlyweds Declan (Himesh Patel) and Dolores (Sarah Goldberg) find out in Bubble & Squeak, the adaptation of writer-director Evan Twohy’s critically acclaimed play of the same name. While on holiday in a fictional foreign country, the couple’s stress mounts as they realize they’re being tailed by Shazbor (Matt Berry), a determined customs officer who suspects them of smuggling…cabbages…across the border. Will their marriage survive the stress of the trip?
By Design
In a premise that calls to mind Katy Perry’s megahit “Firework,” By Design doesn’t quite ask, “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?” but more like, “Have you ever felt like an overpriced chair?” In this surreal comedy directed by Amanda Kramer, Camille (Juliette Lewis) becomes enamored with an expensive chair she can’t possibly afford, and decides to trade places with it instead. In becoming the chair, she’s forced to reflect on the relationships in her life, as friends and strangers alike finally start giving her the acknowledgement she’s always been after.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Linda (Rose Byrne) is at the end of her rope. Between regular visits to the doctor for her sick child, an unreliable husband, a combative therapist, and NOWHERE to park, her back is up against the wall. One of A24’s festival offerings, the comedy drama directed by Mary Bronstein also features an interesting supporting cast in Conan O’Brien and A$AP Rocky.
Jimpa
After making waves at Sundance in 2022 with the premiere of her critically acclaimed film, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Sophie Hyde is back with Jimpa, a moving family drama that explores the generational tensions between nonbinary teen, Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde); their grandfather, Jim (John Lithgow); and their mother, Hannah (Olivia Colman). When Frances decides to go live with their grandfather “Jimpa,” Hannah is faced with the prospect of reconnecting with her estranged father. At this point in her career, no one needs to be sold on an Olivia Colman performance, especially one that seems teed up to be a heartfelt tearjerker.
Kiss of the Spider Woman
One of the most highly anticipated premieres on this year’s lineup, Kiss of the Spider Woman is an adaptation of the 1976 Manuel Puig novel later brought to the screen in 1985, and to the Broadway stage as a Tony-winning musical in 1992. Languishing in the same cell in 1980s Argentina, political prisoners Valentín (Diego Luna) and Molina (Tonatiuh Elizarraraz) grow closer as Molina recounts the story of his favorite musical, starring siren of the screen, Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez). Also serving as executive producer, the singer/actress worked closely with John Kander, the composer behind the Broadway musical (as well as Chicago and Cabaret) to record the songs for the film directed by Bill Condon.
Love, Brooklyn
In this coming-of-age drama by first-time feature director Rachael Abigail Holder, friends Roger (André Holland), Nicole (DeWanda Wise), and Casey (Nicole Beharie) navigate their relationships against the backdrop of an ever-changing Brooklyn. Produced by Steven Soderbergh, the film feels in line with previous character-driven Sundance gems like Cha Cha Real Smooth, Rye Lane, and Exhibiting Forgiveness, which featured a raw and moving performance from Holland.
Magic Farm
At turns a dark comedy and a sharp satire, Magic Farm begins when a film crew heading to shoot a profile of a musician in Argentina winds up in the wrong country. Trying to make the best of their mistake, the group pivots to create something with the locals, despite an emerging health crisis playing out around them. The film, directed by Amalia Ulman, features an ensemble including Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, and Simon Rex, and has already been acquired by Mubi, the streamer that found massive success in last year’s body horror satire The Substance.
Opus
“Starring John Malkovich and Ayo Edebiri” would’ve been enough to pique people’s interest in Opus, directed by Mark Anthony Green. But the trailer, released yesterday, just made the psychological thriller even more enticing. After vanishing under mysterious circumstances 30 years ago, pop icon Moretti (Malkovich) is ready to stage his big comeback…or almost ready. First, he’s invited a select group of journalists and fans to his remote compound (commune? cult?) for an album listening party. There, the young and ambitious reporter, Ariel (Edebiri) quickly realizes there’s much more going on than meets the eye. If that’s not enough to draw you in, the cast is rounded out by Juliette Lewis, Rosario Dawson, Murray Bartlett, and Tony Hale.
Rabbit Trap
One of Sundance’s “Midnight” offerings, Rabbit Trap, from filmmaker Bryn Chainey, is a surreal trek through the past. Set in a remote Welsh cottage in 1976, the supernatural drama follows husband and wife, Darcy (Dev Patel) and Daphne (Rosy McEwen), two avant-garde musicians working on their latest project. But when Darcy heads out to make field recordings in the nearby forest, he stumbles on something that upends their reality and brings a mysterious young rabbit trapper (Jade Croot) to their door.
Rebuilding
In 2022, writer-director Max Walker-Silverman wowed audiences with his feature debut, A Love Song, an intimate portrait of two childhood friends spending the night out in the Colorado mountains. His sophomore feature returns to the landscape of the American West, this time following a cowboy (Josh O’Connor) left to pick up the pieces with his daughter and ex-wife (Meghann Fahy) after a wildfire destroys his family farm. Hot off a stellar year with Challengers and La Chimera, it’s clear O’Connor is ready to be a leading man.
The Wedding Banquet
More than 30 years after the release of Ang Lee’s classic 1993 rom-com, Fire Island’s Andrew Ahn reimagines the story with a few more modern twists. Teaming up with the original film’s co-writer, James Schamus, Ahn follows four friends Min (Han Gi-Chan), Chris (Bowen Yang), Angela (Kelly Marie Tran), and Lee (Lily Gladstone) who hatch a convoluted plan to secure Min’s green card through a fraud marriage with Angela. Those plans are thrown into chaos when Min’s grandmother decides to surprise the “couple” with a wedding banquet. Yang is sure to be gold, but personally, I can’t wait to see Gladstone and Tran get a chance to flex their comedic muscles.
