The Sundance Film Festival has announced its lineup for 2025, featuring a diverse range of films and performances from emerging and established voices.
This year’s festival will include Jennifer Lopez in the musical adaptation “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” directed by Bill Condon. Questlove will explore the legacy of Sly & The Family Stone with his documentary “SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).” Associated Press journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s latest documentary about the war in Ukraine, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” is also set to premiere.
Narrative films and documentaries will tackle topics such as transgender stories, “stand your ground” laws, incarceration, and book banning. However, Sundance does not program by theme or have mandates on specific topics, according to director of programming Kim Yutani.
Documentaries like “Free Leonard Peltier,” which looks at the Indigenous activist who spent most of his life in prison since his conviction, and “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House,” about the roots of house music, will also be part of the festival.
Some performances to watch include Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Thing with Feathers” and John Lithgow and Olivia Colman as father and daughter in “Jimpa.” Lopez will sing and dance in Condon’s musical adaptation, while Lily Gladstone and Youn Yuh-jung star in Andrew Ahn’s “The Wedding Banquet.”
Over 40% of the films selected from nearly 16,000 submissions are directorial debuts. The festival is also available online for the first time, with about 60% of the program available starting on January 30.
As Sundance prepares to move its primary base out of Park City in 2027, this year’s festival marks one of the last times the event will be centered in the Utah town. The Sundance Institute has been exploring options for host cities and is expected to announce an official location in the first quarter of 2025.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/sundance-film-festival-2025-lineup-3f434437acbd58b7a8030334114a2511