The 2025 Sundance Film Festival gets underway on January 23, kicking off an 11-day parade of the latest in American and international independent cin
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival gets underway on January 23, kicking off an 11-day parade of the latest in American and international independent cinema. (Or, at least, some of the latest.) Last year’s festival saw the debuts of, among many other films, Oscar favorite A Real Pain, critical darling I Saw the TV Glow, and sneaky awards contender A Different Man. Will this year’s edition similarly launch previously unknown films onto the world stage? Let’s take a look at some of the breakout possibilities.
Olivia Coleman and John Lithgow appear in Jimpa by Sophie Hyde, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Jimpa
Six years ago at Sundance, I took a flyer on a little Irish film called Animals, from a filmmaker I hadn’t heard of, Sophie Hyde. Animals turned out to be one of the best films I saw at the festival that year, thoughtfully written and blisteringly acted by Holliday Grainger—giving one of the most criminally underseen performances in the last decade. This year, Hyde returns to Sundance (she was last there in virtual form with Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) with Jimpa, a family dramedy about a mother (Olivia Colman) and her non-binary teen (Aud Mason-Hyde, the director’s own child) traveling to Amsterdam to visit with the kid’s gay grandfather, played by John Lithgow. There’s a corny, overly sentimental family comedy lurking in that premise—but my guess is that Hyde, who tends to zig when another movie would zag, will find a sharp and poignant path through the story.
Dylan O’Brien and James Sweeney appear in Twinless by James Sweeney, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.Greg Cotten
Twinless
Little birdies have told me that this movie, from second-time writer/director/star James Sweeney, could be a breakout. It stars Sweeney and Dylan O’Brien, a nimble actor who’s long seemed poised for something large. Maybe this comedy, about two men who meet in a support group, will be just that. Sweeney’s first film, the romantic comedy Straight Up, was well received six years ago, and I’m curious to see how Sweeney has evolved from that early promise. And to see if O’Brien can further develop his innate star power.
Lea Myren appears in The Ugly Stepsister by Emilie Blichfeldt, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
The Ugly Stepsister
Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt no doubt wrote and directed her twisted fairytale film before The Substance ran rampant through Cannes and, later, the awards season—but her body-horror reimagining will earn comparisons to that movie nonetheless. The Ugly Stepsister is a tweak on the Cinderella story from the titular character’s perspective, said to be a descent into the grotesque as a less-than sibling tries to compete with her indigent soot-sweeping sister’s beauty. This definitely seems like the kind of movie that will lock in with a particular kind of Sundance zeitgeist.
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