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At its heart, Sundance is about discovery. Some of our brightest, biggest filmmaking stars — we’re talking Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater, Ava DuVernay, Paul Thomas Anderson, Lulu Wang, Ryan Coogler, Aubrey Plaza, Catherine Hardwicke, Todd Haynes, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Eggers, the Duplass brothers, Michael B. Jordan, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Olsen, Brie Larson, Lakeith Stanfield, Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, and many, many more — first rose to acclaim by bringing their work to Sundance.
In 2025, a year that was long-heralded as one all about new discoveries, that tradition only continued. While this year’s lineup included a number of returning names, like Ira Sachs, Amy Berg, Andrew Ahn, Justin Lin, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Cooper Raiff, Kahlil Joseph, Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, David France, Jesse Short Bull, Ryan White, Sophie Hyde, Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine, Meera Menon, and Clint Bentley, there were also a hefty number of newbies joining those filmmaking ranks. The 2025 program was composed of 36 of 87 (41 percent) feature film directors who are first-time feature filmmakers.
And that’s just the filmmakers! Each film and series also included a wide range of stars, including a number of brand-new talents making their debut at Sundance (or, heck, just making their debut). Every year, we turn to Sundance to introduce us to the bright talents we need to know now. This year: we’ve got a dozen to share with you.
David Ehrlich and Ryan Lattanzio also contributed to this story.
Eva Victor (writer, director, and actor — “Sorry, Baby”)
If you were unlucky enough to catch me in the early, dehydrated, incredibly headachy days (daze?) of this year’s festival, I likely used all the coherent words left in my arsenal to sing the praises of Eva Victor’s staggering feature film debut, “Sorry, Baby.” And, yes, I may have already been back on a plane to NYC when the film actually premiered at the Eccles on Monday night, but I couldn’t help but feel the absolute joy oozing out of everyone blessed enough to see this one with a big crowd as all the sparkling reviews and delighted social media posts poured in. I love being right, but even more than that, I love a film world in which Victor’s film can emerge as the discovery of the festival.
Describing the film’s plot is a bit thorny, and points to whoever wrote the extremely concise logline for the film (“Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least”). It would be hard to accurately convey the power and potency of Victor’s debut, a darkly funny and enormously tender film, with just two sentences, but we promise there’s plenty wrapped in those 15 short words.
Yes, the film is about what happens after the worst occurs, but with plenty of room to weave the light next to the dark. Something bad happens to Agnes, but Victor is a wise enough creator to understand that’s only part of the story, because that’s only part of life itself. And while Victor’s film might be rooted specifically in Agnes’ story and the bad thing at its center, in its specificity, there’s still tremendous room for wider recognition and revelation. Part comedy, part drama, part horror film, this incredibly accomplished debut announces the arrival of a huge star both in front of and behind the camera. —KE
James Sweeney (writer, director, and actor — “Twinless”)
“Straight Up” director James Sweeney swears he has not read reviews for his mordantly funny second feature, the darker-than-you’d-expect queer comedy “Twinless,” which earned raves upon its opening night Eccles premiere. Sweeney writes, directs, and stars in the film as Dennis, a conniving Portland twink who strikes up a bromance with Dylan O’Brien after infiltrating a support group for people who’ve lost their twin siblings. Sweeney’s performance is not only impressive on its own oddball terms, but “Twinless” is striking for how bleak it’s willing to go, especially as Roman’s (O’Brien) equally damaged psyche starts to emerge.
Sweeney also directs O’Brien to a hilariously flamboyant turn as Roman’s gay twin Rocky, with whom Dennis had a brief but, it turns out, dangerously haunting fling. The setup of “Twinless” spells a recipe for disaster literally from frame one, but Sweeney demonstrates complete control over material that, even at this early stage in his career, I don’t think could have been made by anyone else. —RL
Bill Condon, Jennifer Lopez, and Tonatiuh at the IndieWire Studio 2025 at Sundance presented by Dropbox held at The IndieWire Studio on January 26, 2025 in Park City, UtahClayton ChaseTonatiuh (actor — “Kiss of the Spider Woman”)
Few rising performers would be up to the task of starring in a big-budget movie musical alongside one of our last true contemporary divas (Jennifer Lopez) and the bonafide can-do-anything gem that is Diego Luna, but Tonatiuh does not only that in Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” but also nearly steals the show out from both of them.
The mononym star, known for the TV series “Vida” and “Promised Land” and last year’s Netflix streaming smash “Carry-On,” “gives an earnestly star-making performance as the flamboyant and reverie-prone Luis, restoring the tale’s Latin American roots after William Hurt played him to an Oscar win in 1986,” we noted in our review. The actor’s layered performance, teetering between sweet and steely, heartbroken and heartbreaking, is a highlight of the film that could have relied on its razzle-dazzle to carry it. Tonatiuh does that, and more. —KE
Mathias Broe (director — “Sauna”)
Danish filmmaker Mathias Broe explores the horny subcultures (including the gay “Sauna” of the title) thriving in Copenhagen with his stylishly directed, coming-of-sexual-age feature debut. This frank film follows gay man Johan (Magnus Juhl Andersen), an employee in a gay bathhouse who sparks a connection with a transgender man, William (Nina Terese Rask, who is trans-masculine and a popular Danish comedian). While delivering to audiences one of Denmark’s first trans leads in an indie movie, Broe has an eye for the explicitly gay particulars of intimacy in 2025: douching, strap-ons, party drugs, and debasing sex dungeons. But at the movie’s warm but not soft-edged center is the chemistry between the lead actors, who make for one of Sundance 2025’s best love stories. —RL
Cole Webley, John Magaro, Molly Belle Wright, and Preston Lee at the IndieWire Studio 2025 at Sundance presented by Dropbox held at The IndieWire Studio on January 26, 2025 in Park City, UtahClayton ChaseMolly Belle Wright (actor — “Omaha”)
Too often, pint-sized breakout stars need to go big, broad, and mercilessly precocious to capture eyeballs, but that’s not often the case at Sundance, where more reserved performances can shine, even with our youngest performers. Such is the case of Molly Belle Wright, who does extraordinarily heavy lifting in Cole Webley’s debut “Omaha,” which sees the young star ably playing both the soul of her broken family (including our perpetual fave John Magaro as her dad and the very cute Wyatt Solis as her younger brother) and the mind of the audience itself.
It’s early morning when we meet them: Dad (Magaro), Ella (Wright), and Charlie (Solis). They’re going on a trip, but only Dad knows that, and when he carefully plucks his kids out of their warm beds and packs them into the car, it’s hard to imagine he’s doing it in service to a trip to Disneyland or anywhere else warm or fun. “Pretend that there’s a fire,” he tells his eldest, the wise-beyond-her-years Ella, as she dithers over what to pack. Ella’s initial confusion and worry will be well-founded, but as the family travels through the American West in pursuit of a secret location and a secret mission, it’s Wright who guides it, who holds it steady, who breaks our hearts. —KE
Joel Alfonso Vargas (director — “Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)”)
It’s no surprise that Bronx home-towner Joel Alfonso Vargas will soon take his NEXT premiere “Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)” to the Berlinale after Sundance. With eight short film credits under his belt prior to this bracing feature debut, Vargas is an uncommonly confident filmmaker for someone just starting out, and with a specific vision to match.
Here, he writes and directs a New York summer party movie on its surface that starts spinning out as Rico (Juan Collado) and his girlfriend Destiny (Destiny Checo) clash with his family at home. “Mad Bills to Pay” has an improvisatory energy despite what feels like Vargas’ sharp-eyed control over the material. Tightly framed in contrast to many of Sundance’s more freewheeling handheld entries from young directors, it’s a lively portrait of the local Dominican American population and urban diasporic identity that packs punches as sweet and bitter as the “Nutty” beach cocktail drinks Rico peddles to make a living. “Mad Bills to Pay” won a NEXT special jury prize for its ensemble, which the filmmakers assembled after a careful search. —RL
Kate Beecroft (writer and director — “East of Wall”)
No single story out of this year’s Sundance captured my heart and mind as much as the one behind Kate Beecroft’s stunning feature debut, “East of Wall.” An inventive, soulful piece of auto-fiction that has changed the lives of all involved with it, Beecroft’s film is absolutely luminous on its own, but when you consider the incredible serendipity that led her to her subjects and the years-long odyssey to make a film around them, it’s tough not to be in awe of her tenacity and tenderness. We can’t wait to see where “East of Wall” goes, and we can’t wait to see where Beecroft heads next. —KE
Amalia Ulman, Simon Rex, Joe Apollonio, Alex Wolff, Chloe Sevigny, and Camila del Campo at the IndieWire Studio 2025 at Sundance presented by Dropbox held at The IndieWire Studio on January 26, 2025 in Park City, UtahClayton ChaseJoe Apollonio (actor — “Magic Farm”)
Actor Joe Apollonio has memorably impressed with small roles on TV series including “Hacks” and “Young Sheldon.” The queer New York comedian, who debuted a one-man stage show at New York’s Public Theater in 2023 — playing not only himself but also his single mother — gets his first major big-screen showcase in Amalia Ulman’s Sundance premiere “Magic Farm.”
The film follows an inept, mostly American crew to what they hope is Argentina in hopes of profiling a musician for their VICE-esque documentary show, a mix of ethnography and exploitation as they clash (and spark) with the locals. Apollonio — with an ‘80s-esque hairstyle one local tells him looks like a wig, but nope, it’s real — plays Justin, the curious, queer one of the group who forms an unlikely attraction to a South American motel manager. It’s a winsomely (and sometimes wincingly) hilarious performance as the most flamboyant head of the ensemble. His Instagram, in which Apollonio plays on the cultural tropes of the sliding queer spectrum, no doubt prepared him for this charming breakout role and caught the filmmakers’ attention. —RL
Sierra Falconer (writer and director — “Sunfish [& Other Stories on Green Lake]”)
A little flash goes a long way at Sundance, where young and emerging filmmakers hope to wow the whole American movie industry in one fell swoop and be labeled “the next big thing” on the strength of a single screening. In that context, the poise and modesty of Sierra Falconer’s feature-length debut was always going to make “Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake)” feel like something of an anomaly in the Competition line-up, but it’s Falconer’s confidence — expressed through, but not entirely defined by her complete refusal to capitulate to modern tastes and attention spans — that made it into a standout as well.
An original anthology consisting of four wistfully effervescent vignettes set on the shores of the northern Michigan lake that lend the film its literary title, “Sunfish” resists the unevenness endemic to its format by drawing a gentle power from the stillness of the water that runs through it. Falconer’s characters (a teenage girl ditched at her grandparents’ lake house, a young music prodigy, a barback in for the shift of her life, and two sisters on the verge of splitting up) don’t overlap in any literal respect, but they’re so bound together by a shared sense of place that it seems like they’re all bound up together, especially when they feel at their most alone. Falconer’s Cheever-esque writing and smartly unfussy direction help bring this world right out of her bones, and while “Sunfish” may not be the kind of movie that lands someone a Marvel gig, we suspect that Falconer’s sharp eye will see her toward a far more exciting future than that. —DE
Alex Russell (writer and director — “Lurker”)
“Lurker” writer/director Alex Russell comes to Sundance with established bonafides, having won an Emmy for producing TV’s “Beef” and a WGA Award for his writing on “The Bear.” But his bracing feature debut about the toxic relationships that form the Los Angeles music industry machine announces an exciting visionary behind the camera.
The buzzy Sundance premiere follows Théodore Pellerin as an introverted hanger-on who becomes a potentially exploited groupie of a Dominic Fike-like rising pop star, played by Archie Madekwe. Russell adeptly balances tones as the movie careens from L.A. celebrity portrait to an eerie character study of a desperate parasocial leech who still deserves our compassion anyway. We’re eager to see where Russell heads next — and if it’s for another Los Angeles story, he’s already nailed painting the town as a place where you’re defined not by who you are but what you do. —RL
Michael Shanks (writer and director — “Together”)
Michael Shanks, Alison Brie, and Dave Franco at the IndieWire Studio 2025 at Sundance presented by Dropbox held at The IndieWire Studio on January 25, 2025 in Park City, UtahClayton ChaseAt the Sunday night premiere of his debut film, the wickedly funny body horror joint “Together,” filmmaker Michael Shanks told an excited Eccles crowd that he was very pleased to have his family in the room, including his mother, who he promised flew a long way from their native Australia to see a film she would hate. That sort of sweetness, humor, and darkness goes a long way toward describing his winning Midnight entry (and, we hope and expect, his filmmaking worldview in general).
Producers (and real-life married couple) Alison Brie and Dave Franco star in the film as a young couple at loose ends, with high hopes that a move to the country will help solidify their bond. Oh, boy, does it ever. When Millie and Tim go on a hike, fall into a cave, and spend the night next to the grossest body of still water you’ve ever seen, we already know nothing good will come of it, but what the very funny Shanks offers is a twist: Maybe the most disgusting thing you’ve ever dreamed will be good for your relationship? Combining clever relationship drama with icky, sticky body horror, his “Together” was one of the real joys of the festival, and a testament to how much fun scary stuff can be when experienced, well, together. —KE
Brittany Shyne (director — “Seeds”)
For her debut film “Seeds,” filmmaker Brittany Shyne uses her camera to capture parts of her subjects others might ignore. Shyne, who also serves as cinematographer, focuses on hands, weathered with creases. She looks at hair, washed in a sink. She lovingly lingers on ash dangling off a cigarette and the worn toes of boots. Shyne’s powerful eye is one of the reasons “Seeds,” a lyrical portrait of Black farmers in the American South, was one of the must-see documentaries at Sundance, and will continue to be vital once released for a broader audience. Per our review, the film was clearly personal for Shyne.
The filmmaker, “who was raised in Ohio, did not grow up on a farm, but her ancestors did: Her paternal great-grandfather owned 300 acres in Louisiana. And while she does not state this in the film, she eventually alludes to her own intimacy with this community. Still, she herself remains on the outskirts of the story. The only glimpse of her we see is an outstretched hand, as if she’s reaching through her medium. And yet her viewpoint becomes like a family member for the Kenativa-Williams clan, a group with whom she embeds herself. … ‘Seeds’ requires patience. Clocking in at over two hours, Shyne takes her time. You have to orient yourself to the slow rhythms of the piece, which encourage you to relish in these quiet moments. But it’s an incredibly rewarding journey, a film indebted to the past that feels brilliantly alive.” —KE
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