2026 Sundance Film Festival - Day One at Sundance: A last opening in Utah

 

Top Row (L-R) Jenny Slate and Chris Pine; Lou Diamond Phillips on January 22, 2026, in Park City, Utah.

Bottom Row (L-R) Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow; Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin, and Grant O'Rourke; Lou Diamond Phillips, Edward James Olmos, and Everett Katigbak on January 22, 2026, in Park City, Utah.

(Photo Credit: Jemal Countess / Sundance Institute)

The country’s most influential showcase for independent film is spending one last winter in the mountains that made it famous. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival, which opened Thursday in Park City and Salt Lake City, marks the final time the event will be held in Utah before relocating to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027.

Day One at Sundance: A last opening in Utah

This farewell edition, running January 22–February 1 with select titles online January 29–February 1, began with a familiar rush: packed shuttles, snow-slick sidewalks, and lines snaking outside the Eccles. The difference this year is the shared awareness that every routine — from grabbing coffee between screenings to trudging up Main Street — is happening here for the last time.

Juries and an era’s final slate

The day began with a jury orientation at The Park, where the festival welcomed the people who would decide this last Utah crop of prizewinners. The 2026 jury includes Janicza Bravo, Nisha Ganatr, and Azazel Jacobs for U.S. Dramatic; Natalia Almada, Justin Chan,g and Jennie Livingston for U.S. Documentary; Ana Katz, So Yong Kim, and Tatiana Maslany for World Cinema Dramatic; and Toni Kamau, Bao Nguyen and Kirsten Schaffer for World Cinema Documentary. Liv Constable-Maxwell, A.V. Rockwel,l and Martin Starr oversee the Short Film Program, while John Cooper and Trevor Groth judge the NEXT section, underscoring how much this edition is about continuity as much as change.

The jury for the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize deliberated ahead of opening night and awarded the prize to “In the Blink of an Eye,” directed by Andrew Stanton and written by Colby Day, giving the festival’s science-in-film banner a head start.

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Premieres that set the tone

Thursday’s premieres were a mix of local pride and starry showcases. Utah’s own Abby Ellis brought “The Lake,” an urgent documentary that played differently in a year when the festival is actively rethinking its relationship to the state.

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At the Eccles, Rachel Lambert’s “Carousel” screened to a full house. Chris Pine and Jenny Slate worked a stacked press line before Pine praised Lambert’s “delicate and intimate” script and the way it captures loneliness and people trying to connect without “hitting the nail over the head.” “The Incomer,” starring Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin, and Grant O’Rourke, was greeted with steady laughter from an audience ready for something lightly absurd.

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“Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story,” Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley’s deeply personal documentary about the comedian’s life and mental health struggles, drew one of the day’s most emotional responses, balancing candor with a hysterical, uplifting tone. Leslie Mann’s appearance in support of the film underlined the project’s blend of intimacy and profile.

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Elsewhere, John Wilson made his feature directorial debut with “The History of Concrete,” a film that plays as effortlessly funny and nearly impossible to summarize — very much in keeping with his small-screen work.

Midnight energy and the shorts

The festival’s first Midnight slot went to “Buddy,” which arrived with its own mascot: Buddy himself made a surprise appearance. Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Topher Grace, and Keegan-Michael Key joined the press line and a post-screening Q&A for what played as a quirky, unmissable crowd-pleaser.

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Shorts Program 1 — featuring “The Oracle,” “Sauna Sickness,” “Living with a Visionary,” “Pankaja,” “Candy Bar” and “La Tierra del Valor (The Home of the Brave)” — reminded festivalgoers that Sundance’s identity has always been as much about shorts as about splashy premieres. Talent in the room included Nash Edgerton and Cristina Costantini, whose presence helped anchor the program as a showcase for emerging and mid-career filmmakers alike.

Looking ahead to Day Two - O1.23.2026

The momentum carries into Friday’s Day Two, with the Celebrating Sundance Institute Fundraising Gala and premieres of “Hot Water,” “Josephine,” “Extra Geography,” “American Doctor,” “I Want Your Sex,” “The Shitheads,” “The Moment,” “Leviticus” and “Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant” on deck. A selection of titles will also roll out online January 29–February 1, allowing audiences far from Park City to take part in what has suddenly become a long goodbye.