At its coronary heart, Sundance is about discovery. A few of our brightest, greatest filmmaking stars — we’re speaking 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-Pleasure, and plenty of, many extra — first rose to acclaim by bringing their work to Sundance.
In 2025, a 12 months that was long-heralded as one all about new discoveries, that custom solely continued. Whereas this 12 months’s lineup included quite a few 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 Brief Bull, Ryan White, Sophie Hyde, Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine, Meera Menon, and Clint Bentley, there have been additionally a hefty variety of newbies becoming a member of these filmmaking ranks. The 2025 program was composed of 36 of 87 (41 p.c) characteristic movie administrators who’re first-time characteristic filmmakers.
And that’s simply the filmmakers! Every movie and collection additionally included a variety of stars, together with quite a few brand-new abilities making their debut at Sundance (or, heck, simply making their debut). Yearly, we flip to Sundance to introduce us to the intense abilities we have to know now. This 12 months: we’ve obtained a dozen to share with you.
David Ehrlich and Ryan Lattanzio additionally contributed to this story.
Eva Victor (author, director, and actor — “Sorry, Child”)
When you have been unfortunate sufficient to catch me within the early, dehydrated, extremely headachy days (daze?) of this 12 months’s competition, I seemingly used all of the coherent phrases left in my arsenal to sing the praises of Eva Victor’s staggering characteristic movie debut, “Sorry, Child.” And, sure, I’ll have already been again on a airplane to NYC when the movie really premiered on the Eccles on Monday night time, however I couldn’t assist however really feel absolutely the pleasure oozing out of everybody blessed sufficient to see this one with an enormous crowd as all of the glowing evaluations and delighted social media posts poured in. I really like being proper, however much more than that, I really like a movie world through which Victor’s movie can emerge as the discovery of the competition.
Describing the movie’s plot is a bit thorny, and factors to whoever wrote the extraordinarily concise logline for the movie (“One thing dangerous occurred to Agnes. However life goes on… for everybody round her, no less than”). It could be laborious to precisely convey the ability and efficiency of Victor’s debut, a darkly humorous and enormously tender movie, with simply two sentences, however we promise there’s a lot wrapped in these 15 brief phrases.
Sure, the movie is about what occurs after the worst happens, however with loads of room to weave the sunshine subsequent to the darkish. One thing dangerous occurs to Agnes, however Victor is a clever sufficient creator to know that’s solely a part of the story, as a result of that’s solely a part of life itself. And whereas Victor’s movie is likely to be rooted particularly in Agnes’ story and the dangerous factor at its heart, in its specificity, there’s nonetheless great room for wider recognition and revelation. Half comedy, half drama, half horror movie, this extremely completed debut publicizes the arrival of an enormous star each in entrance of and behind the digicam. —KE
James Sweeney (author, director, and actor — “Twinless”)
“Straight Up” director James Sweeney swears he has not learn evaluations for his mordantly humorous second characteristic, the darker-than-you’d-expect queer comedy “Twinless,” which earned raves upon its opening night time Eccles premiere. Sweeney writes, directs, and stars within the movie as Dennis, a conniving Portland twink who strikes up a bromance with Dylan O’Brien after infiltrating a help group for individuals who’ve misplaced their twin siblings. Sweeney’s efficiency isn’t solely spectacular by itself oddball phrases, however “Twinless” is hanging for the way bleak it’s keen to go, particularly as Roman’s (O’Brien) equally broken psyche begins to emerge.
Sweeney additionally directs O’Brien to a hilariously flamboyant flip as Roman’s homosexual twin Rocky, with whom Dennis had a short however, it seems, dangerously haunting fling. The setup of “Twinless” spells a recipe for catastrophe actually from body one, however Sweeney demonstrates full management over materials that, even at this early stage in his profession, I don’t assume may have been made by anybody else. —RL
Tonatiuh (actor — “Kiss of the Spider Lady”)
Few rising performers could be as much as the duty of starring in a big-budget film musical alongside one in all our final true modern divas (Jennifer Lopez) and the bonafide can-do-anything gem that’s Diego Luna, however Tonatiuh doesn’t solely that in Invoice Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Lady,” but additionally practically steals the present out from each of them.
The mononym star, recognized for the TV collection “Vida” and “Promised Land” and final 12 months’s Netflix streaming smash “Carry-On,” “offers an earnestly star-making efficiency because the flamboyant and reverie-prone Luis, restoring the story’s Latin American roots after William Harm performed him to an Oscar win in 1986,” we famous in our overview. The actor’s layered efficiency, teetering between candy and steely, heartbroken and heartbreaking, is a spotlight of the movie that might have relied on its razzle-dazzle to hold it. Tonatiuh does that, and extra. —KE
Mathias Broe (director — “Sauna”)
Danish filmmaker Mathias Broe explores the sexy subcultures (together with the homosexual “Sauna” of the title) thriving in Copenhagen together with his stylishly directed, coming-of-sexual-age characteristic debut. This frank movie follows homosexual man Johan (Magnus Juhl Andersen), an worker in a homosexual bathhouse who sparks a reference to a transgender man, William (Nina Terese Rask, who’s trans-masculine and a well-liked Danish comic). Whereas delivering to audiences one in all Denmark’s first trans leads in an indie film, Broe has an eye fixed for the explicitly homosexual particulars of intimacy in 2025: douching, strap-ons, occasion medication, and debasing intercourse dungeons. However on the film’s heat however not soft-edged heart is the chemistry between the lead actors, who make for one in all Sundance 2025’s finest love tales. —RL
Molly Belle Wright (actor — “Omaha”)
Too usually, pint-sized breakout stars must go large, broad, and mercilessly precocious to seize eyeballs, however that’s not usually the case at Sundance, the place extra reserved performances can shine, even with our youngest performers. Such is the case of Molly Belle Wright, who does terribly heavy lifting in Cole Webley’s debut “Omaha,” which sees the younger star ably enjoying each the soul of her damaged household (together with our perpetual fave John Magaro as her dad and the very cute Wyatt Solis as her youthful brother) and the thoughts of the viewers itself.
It’s early morning once we meet them: Dad (Magaro), Ella (Wright), and Charlie (Solis). They’re happening a visit, however solely Dad is aware of that, and when he rigorously plucks his children out of their heat beds and packs them into the automobile, it’s laborious to think about he’s doing it in service to a visit to Disneyland or wherever else heat or enjoyable. “Faux that there’s a hearth,” he tells his eldest, the wise-beyond-her-years Ella, as she dithers over what to pack. Ella’s preliminary confusion and fear will probably be well-founded, however because the household travels via the American West in pursuit of a secret location and a secret mission, it’s Wright who guides it, who holds it regular, who breaks our hearts. —KE
Joel Alfonso Vargas (director — “Mad Payments to Pay (or Future, dile que no soy malo)”)
It’s no shock that Bronx home-towner Joel Alfonso Vargas will quickly take his NEXT premiere “Mad Payments to Pay (or Future, dile que no soy malo)” to the Berlinale after Sundance. With eight brief movie credit underneath his belt previous to this bracing characteristic debut, Vargas is an uncommonly assured filmmaker for somebody simply beginning out, and with a selected imaginative and prescient to match.
Right here, he writes and directs a New York summer time occasion film on its floor that begins spinning out as Rico (Juan Collado) and his girlfriend Future (Future Checo) conflict together with his household at residence. “Mad Payments to Pay” has an improvisatory power regardless of what seems like Vargas’ sharp-eyed management over the fabric. Tightly framed in distinction to lots of Sundance’s extra freewheeling handheld entries from younger administrators, it’s a full of life portrait of the native Dominican American inhabitants and concrete diasporic id that packs punches as candy and bitter because the “Nutty” seaside cocktail drinks Rico peddles to make a dwelling. “Mad Payments to Pay” gained a NEXT particular jury prize for its ensemble, which the filmmakers assembled after a cautious search. —RL
Kate Beecroft (author and director — “East of Wall”)
No single story out of this 12 months’s Sundance captured my coronary heart and thoughts as a lot because the one behind Kate Beecroft’s beautiful characteristic debut, “East of Wall.” An creative, soulful piece of auto-fiction that has modified the lives of all concerned with it, Beecroft’s movie is completely luminous by itself, however when you think about the unbelievable serendipity that led her to her topics and the years-long odyssey to make a movie round them, it’s robust to not be in awe of her tenacity and tenderness. We are able to’t wait to see the place “East of Wall” goes, and we are able to’t wait to see the place Beecroft heads subsequent. —KE
Joe Apollonio (actor — “Magic Farm”)
Actor Joe Apollonio has memorably impressed with small roles on TV collection together with “Hacks” and “Younger Sheldon.” The queer New York comic, who debuted a one-man stage present at New York’s Public Theater in 2023 — enjoying not solely himself but additionally his single mom — will get his first main big-screen showcase in Amalia Ulman’s Sundance premiere “Magic Farm.”
The movie follows a clumsy, principally American crew to what they hope is Argentina in hopes of profiling a musician for his or her VICE-esque documentary present, a mixture of ethnography and exploitation as they conflict (and spark) with the locals. Apollonio — with an ‘80s-esque coiffure one native tells him seems like a wig, however nope, it’s actual — performs Justin, the curious, queer one of many group who types an unlikely attraction to a South American motel supervisor. It’s a winsomely (and typically wincingly) hilarious efficiency as probably the most flamboyant head of the ensemble. His Instagram, through which Apollonio performs on the cultural tropes of the sliding queer spectrum, little question ready him for this charming breakout position and caught the filmmakers’ consideration. —RL
Sierra Falconer (author and director — “Sunfish [& Other Stories on Green Lake]”)
A bit of flash goes a good distance at Sundance, the place younger and rising filmmakers hope to wow the entire American film business in a single fell swoop and be labeled “the following large factor” on the energy of a single screening. In that context, the poise and modesty of Sierra Falconer’s feature-length debut was all the time going to make “Sunfish (& Different Tales on Inexperienced Lake)” really feel like one thing of an anomaly within the Competitors line-up, however it’s Falconer’s confidence — expressed via, however not solely outlined by her full refusal to capitulate to trendy tastes and a focus spans — that made it right into a standout as properly.
An unique anthology consisting of 4 wistfully effervescent vignettes set on the shores of the northern Michigan lake that lend the movie its literary title, “Sunfish” resists the unevenness endemic to its format by drawing a mild energy from the stillness of the water that runs via it. Falconer’s characters (a teenage woman ditched at her grandparents’ lake home, a younger 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, however they’re so certain collectively by a shared sense of place that it looks as if they’re all certain up collectively, particularly once they really feel at their most alone. Falconer’s Cheever-esque writing and neatly unfussy path assist convey this world proper out of her bones, and whereas “Sunfish” might not be the sort of film that lands somebody a Marvel gig, we suspect that Falconer’s sharp eye will see her towards a much more thrilling future than that. —DE
Alex Russell (author and director — “Lurker”)
“Lurker” author/director Alex Russell involves Sundance with established bonafides, having gained an Emmy for producing TV’s “Beef” and a WGA Award for his writing on “The Bear.” However his bracing characteristic debut concerning the poisonous relationships that kind the Los Angeles music business machine publicizes an thrilling visionary behind the digicam.
The buzzy Sundance premiere follows Théodore Pellerin as an introverted hanger-on who turns into a probably exploited groupie of a Dominic Fike-like rising pop star, performed by Archie Madekwe. Russell adeptly balances tones because the film careens from L.A. celeb portrait to an eerie character research of a determined parasocial leech who nonetheless deserves our compassion anyway. We’re wanting to see the place Russell heads subsequent — and if it’s for an additional Los Angeles story, he’s already nailed portray the city as a spot the place you’re outlined not by who you might be however what you do. —RL
Michael Shanks (author and director — “Collectively”)
On the Sunday night time premiere of his debut movie, the wickedly humorous physique horror joint “Collectively,” filmmaker Michael Shanks informed an excited Eccles crowd that he was more than happy to have his household within the room, together with his mom, who he promised flew a good distance from their native Australia to see a movie she would hate. That kind of sweetness, humor, and darkness goes a good distance towards describing his profitable Midnight entry (and, we hope and count on, his filmmaking worldview normally).
Producers (and real-life married couple) Alison Brie and Dave Franco star within the movie as a younger couple at free ends, with excessive hopes {that a} transfer to the nation will assist solidify their bond. Oh, boy, does it ever. When Millie and Tim go on a hike, fall right into a cave, and spend the night time subsequent to the grossest physique of nonetheless water you’ve ever seen, we already know nothing good will come of it, however what the very humorous Shanks provides is a twist: Perhaps probably the most disgusting factor you’ve ever dreamed will probably be good on your relationship? Combining intelligent relationship drama with icky, sticky physique horror, his “Collectively” was one of many actual joys of the competition, and a testomony to how a lot enjoyable scary stuff might be when skilled, properly, collectively. —KE
Brittany Shyne (director — “Seeds”)
For her debut movie “Seeds,” filmmaker Brittany Shyne makes use of her digicam to seize components of her topics others may ignore. Shyne, who additionally serves as cinematographer, focuses on arms, weathered with creases. She seems at hair, washed in a sink. She lovingly lingers on ash dangling off a cigarette and the worn toes of trainers. Shyne’s highly effective eye is among the causes “Seeds,” a lyrical portrait of Black farmers within the American South, was one of many must-see documentaries at Sundance, and can proceed to be important as soon as launched for a broader viewers. Per our overview, the movie was clearly private for Shyne.
The filmmaker, “who was raised in Ohio, didn’t develop up on a farm, however her ancestors did: Her paternal great-grandfather owned 300 acres in Louisiana. And whereas she doesn’t state this within the movie, she finally alludes to her personal intimacy with this group. Nonetheless, she herself stays on the outskirts of the story. The one glimpse of her we see is an outstretched hand, as if she’s reaching via her medium. And but her viewpoint turns into like a member of the family for the Kenativa-Williams clan, a bunch with whom she embeds herself. … ‘Seeds’ requires endurance. Clocking in at over two hours, Shyne takes her time. It’s important to orient your self to the gradual rhythms of the piece, which encourage you to relish in these quiet moments. But it surely’s an extremely rewarding journey, a movie indebted to the previous that feels brilliantly alive.” —KE