The Sundance Film Festival is impossible to summarize because it has never followed one straight path. There is no set history of the Festival because it has been an infinite amount of memories and moments to an infinite amount of people. The Festival means something special and unique to everyone who encounters it — from the artists and crews who introduce their projects with us to the worldwide audiences who are touched by their stories.
When these discovered gems at the Festival evolve into essential viewing for filmlovers across the world, we’re honored to be a part of that story. Whether or not you realize it, the Sundance Film Festival has been a part of your life through the incredible wealth of stories and artists that have started here.
Diving into our filmography, four decades deep, is a daunting task, but don’t fret! The Festival’s Programming team is here to help. They have compiled a major watchlist for your viewing pleasure: Sundance Film Festival 101!
Below you’ll find the full list in chronological order — a crash course into our Festival’s history. And make sure to read the note from our Programming team about how the 101 films were selected. Celebrate our legacy, revisit past favorites, and learn about the Festival in the most exciting way possible: through the films themselves.
By the Sundance Film Festival Programming team
As we reflect on over four decades of the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, it’s impossible for any one list — however expansive — to represent the wide range of films and filmmakers that have written the Festival’s history. But in celebrating that history, it’s important to acknowledge the astonishing work that has emerged. So a group of Festival programmers has put together a Sundance Film Festival 101 watchlist.
The process was, at times challenging, but ultimately it was revelatory and exciting. Paring down the nearly 4,000 films that have premiered at the Festival led to almost unconscionable omissions. While the programmers considered artistry, social and cultural impact, popularity, influence, accolades, representation, overall balance and many other factors, the only official guideline was to choose 101 films that tell the story of the Sundance Film Festival.
Although Richard Linklater, Dee Rees, Gregg Araki, Lisa Cholodenko, Todd Haynes, and other notable alums were each initially represented by multiple films, in order to include as many names as possible, the final list contains only one title per artist. So as outrageous as it may seem to not include Slacker, Before Sunrise, Mysterious Skin, The Living End or Safe, it would have been equally outrageous to omit other filmmakers entirely. That led to more unbelievable choices: Pariah or Mudbound? High Art or The Kids Are Alright? You Can Count on Me or Manchester By the Sea?
The final list also emphasizes films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. So while Virgin Suicides, Bend it Like Beckham, Run Lola Run, Mississippi Masala and Y Tu Mama Tambien are amongst the most notable films in our history, they all screened first at other festivals.
Just as with each year’s slate, there are many more films that deserve to be included; certainly more than a hundred. We hope that by making our choices, we encourage others to make their choices. If you think it’s easy, give it a try!
What’s your Sundance Film Festival 101?
The Sundance Film Festival 101
Blood Simple (1985)
Directors: Joel Coen
The Times of Harvey Milk (1985)
Director: Rob Epstein
Desert Hearts (1986)
Director: Donna Deitch
Smooth Talk (1986)
Director: Joyce Chopra
Hairspray (1988)
Director: John Waters
Heathers (1989)
Director: Michael Lehmann
sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
House Party (1990)
Director: Reginald Hudlin
Metropolitan (1990)
Director: Whit Stillman
American Dream (1991)
Director: Barabara Kopple
Daughters of the Dust (1991)
Director: Julie Dash
Paris is Burning (1991)
Director: Jennie Livingston
Poison (1991)
Director: Todd Haynes
Gas, Food, and Lodging (1992)
Director: Allison Anders
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
El Mariachi (1993)
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Clerks (1994)
Director: Kevin Smith
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Director: Mike Newell
Go Fish (1994)
Director: Rose Troche
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Director: Steve James
Reality Bites (1994)
Director: Ben Stiller
Kids (1995)
Director: Larry Clark
The Doom Generation (1995)
Director: Gregg Araki
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Director: Bryan Singer
Bound (1996)
Directors: Lana and Lilly Wachowski
Citizen Ruth (1996)
Director: Alexander Payne
Walking and Talking (1996)
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)
Director: Todd Solondz
High Art (1998)
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Pi (1998)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Smoke Signals (1998)
Director: Chris Eyre
American Movie (1999)
Director: Chris Smith
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez
American Psycho (2000)
Director: Mary Harron
Girlfight (2000)
Director: Karyn Kusama
Love and Basketball (2000)
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Donnie Darko (2001)
Director: Richard Kelly
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Memento (2001)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Director: David Wain
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
Director: Justin Lin
Real Women Have Curves (2002)
Director: Patricia Cardoso
Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Director: Andrew Jarecki
DIG! (2004)
Director: Ondi Timoner
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Director: Jared Hess
SAW (2004)
Director: James Wan
Brick (2005)
Director: Rian Johnson
Grizzly Man (2005)
Director: Werner Herzog
March of the Penguins (2005)
Director: Luc Jacquet
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
Director: Miranda July
The Puffy Chair (2005)
Directors: Jay Duplass
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Director: Noah Baumbach
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Old Joy (2006)
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Once (2007)
Director: John Carney
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (2009)
Director: Lee Daniels
The Cove (2009)
Director: Louie Psihoyos
The Maid (2009)
Director: Sebastian Silva
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
Director: Banksy
The Oath (2010)
Director: Laura Poitras
Winter’s Bone (2010)
Director: Debra Granik
Pariah (2011)
Director: Dee Rees
Senna (2011)
Director: Asif Kapadia
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2012)
Director: Terence Nance
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Middle of Nowhere (2012)
Director: Ava DuVernay
Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
Director: Malik Bendjelloul
Blackfish (2013)
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Fruitvale Station (2013)
Director: Ryan Coogler
Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013)
Director: Morgan Neville
Boyhood (2014)
Director: Richard Linklater
The Babadook (2014)
Director: Jennifer Kent
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Directors: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Whiplash (2014)
Director: Damien Chazelle
Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)
Director: Chloé Zhao
Tangerine (2015)
Director: Sean Baker
The Witch (2015)
Director: Robert Eggers
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
O.J.: Made in America (2016)
Director: Ezra Edelman
Swiss Army Man (2016)
Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
A Ghost Story (2017)
Director: David Lowery
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Columbus (2017)
Director: Kogonada
Get Out (2017)
Director: Jordan Peele
Strong Island (2017)
Director: Yance Ford
Eighth Grade (2018)
Director: Bo Burnham
Hereditary (2018)
Director: Ari Aster
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Director: Boots Riley
The Farewell (2019)
Director: Lulu Wang
Minari (2020)
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)
Director: Eliza Hittman
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Director: Emerald Fennell
CODA (2021)
Director: Sian Heder
Flee (2021)
Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
Director: Amir “Questlove” Thompson
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021)
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
All That Breathes (2022)
Director: Shaunak Sen
Navalny (2022)
Director: Daniel Roher
Past Lives (2023)
Director: Celine Song
Sorry, Baby (2025)
Director: Eva Victor
