From raunchy comedies and electrifying documentaries to sci-fi epics and lowkey indie dramas, here are some of the movies we’re looking forward to seeing at the largest independent film festival in the United States.
Zi (dir. Kogonada)
Kogonada’s next feature Zi promises a return to his indie roots. Set in Hong Kong over the course of one night, the film follows an isolated young woman whose life is changed after a chance meeting with a mysterious stranger. Starring Kogonada alumni Michelle Mao and Hayley Lu Richardson.
I Want Your Sex (dir. Gregg Araki)
With I Want Your Sex, it looks like we’ll be getting more of the same darkly funny, raunchy and punkish treatment that made us fall in love with Queer New Wave provocateur Gregg Araki in the first place. His first film since White Bird in a Blizzard in 2014, I Want Your Sex will see Araki playing with an updated arsenal of stars, including Cooper Hoffman, Charli xcx and Chase Sui Wonders, and follows Hoffman as a young man who lands a job as assistant (and, soon, sexual muse), for alluring artist Olivia Wilde.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass (dir. David Wain)
A bride-to-be (Zoey Deutch) embarks on a quest to seduce actor Jon Hamm (playing himself) after discovering that her fiancé successfully cashed in his own celebrity hall pass, in this irreverent romp from Wet Hot American Summer director David Wain that turns one of modern dating’s great hypotheticals into reality.
The Moment (dir. Aidan Zamiri)
It’s shaping up to be a whirlwind year for Charli xcx. Alongside roles in Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex and Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero, as well as producing the soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s hotly anticipated Wuthering Heights, she stars in this mockumentary as a fictionalised version of herself embarking on her first headline tour. The film is premiering at Sundance before opening nationwide on 30th January.
Once Upon A Time In Harlem (dir. William Greaves)
A final, posthumous gift from documentarian William Greaves, Once Upon A Time In Harlem captures the enduring spirit of the Harlem Renaissance through a legendary house party hosted by the Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One director himself. Filmed by Greaves in 1972 and completed decades later by his family, the film unfolds as an intimate chorus of voices reflecting on the heart and legacy of one of America’s most influential cultural movements.
In The Blink of an Eye (dir. Andrew Stanton)
From Wall‑E and Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton, this ambitious sci‑fi triptych spans three eras of human history, tracing our enduring relationship with life, love, and legacy—from the age of Neanderthals to a distant, technologically advanced future. Starring Kate McKinnon, Rashida Jones and Daveed Diggs.
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