By Jessica Herndon

To be fully immersed in Charli xcx’s world is to live inside a constant surge of energy. Like a strobe light pumping without pause, the demands stack: Go bigger. Be better. Get it. Stay on. Always. More. More. More. What’s next? Catch up. Party. Be in. Be cool. Be innovative.

Debuting at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in the Premieres section, Aidan Zamiri’s The Moment  plays like a tantalizing fever dream, feeding our obsession with Charli xcx as she shifts from pop icon to cinema darling. Charli xcx is officially entering her film era, and like her other artistic moves to date, she’s out to prove she’s an undeniable creative force whose career keeps evolving. 

The Moment marks the pop star’s bold transition to the big screen. This isn’t just Charli xcx acting; this is her dissecting, spoofing, and toasting the phenomenon she’s created. A flashy mockumentary, the film riffs on her brat era and finds the artist playing an exaggerated, hilariously manic version of herself as she grapples with the pressures of fame while preparing for her first arena tour.

The Moment sees her collaborating with director Zamiri, who makes his feature debut after establishing himself as the go-to music video director. Co-writing with Bertie Brandes, he brings his edgy style to faux-documentary. Influenced by films like Spinal Tap and Black Swan, Zamiri says The Moment “is about Charli and the end of brat summer, but hopefully everyone can, in some way, find how it relates to them and the terror of letting something go, even when you know you’re supposed to.” 

Watching Charli xcx poke fun at herself is especially refreshing, as the film calls out the absurdities of the music industry, the tension between artistic integrity and commercial demand, and opposing creative visions. Still, Zamiri ensures we never lose sight of the emotional stakes beneath the satire.

“I think for me, those more spiral moments that we see in the film, I have been there,” says Charli when asked how she approached playing an exaggerated version of herself by Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez at the film’s premiere. “I think I am, as an artist, quite a volatile person.” She paused before adding, “I am quite nice, too! But having been in the music industry since I was 16, I’ve gone through various different stages of my career where I’ve felt on top of the world, where I felt like an absolute piece of shit on the ground. I’ve really gone through it all.” She adds that these experiences, and the people she’s met along the way, prepared her for this film. 

Hailey Gates, as Charli’s creative director, and Alexander Skarsgård, as a director who has been hired to shoot Charli’s concert film, portray opposing figures in her orbit. Rosanna Arquette, Jamie Demetriou, Rachel Sennott, Kylie Jenner, and others round out a roster that mirrors the friends, collaborators, and rivals of the brat universe. Each performance adds another layer to the film’s hyperreal yet fiercely self-aware humor.

For her part, Arquette, who plays a record executive, says she drew inspiration from her own life for the role. “I do know a lot of music business executives, and people who started off loving the artist and then started becoming the bean counters and not really giving a shit about the artist, just wanting to get that money,” she says. “So, I ended up playing that person.” 

Although Skarsgård’s character is wildly passionate about his creative ideas, he’s deeply disconnected from who Charli is as an artist and pushes concepts that don’t sync with her vision. While on stage with The Moment cast, Skarsgård earns laughs from the audience, saying, “I got one note from Aiden, and it was basically to play yourself. So, it was a breeze.” Gates channeled her character organically. “I had the great fortune of spending time with Imogene Strauss, who is Charli’s creative director,” she says. “And it was an absolute fucking pleasure.” 

The Moment isn’t just a film for die-hard fans. It’s a look at what it means to be one of today’s biggest artists. With A.G. Cook’s hyperpop score weaving throughout the movie, The Moment focuses on how major the brat era was while proving that Charli xcx’s artistry extends beyond the music scene. 

“I am really wanting to pivot, like, as far away from [brat] as possible,” she says. “And that’s not because I don’t love it. It’s just because I think for all of us as artists, you want to challenge yourself and switch the creative soup that you’re in and go and like, live in a different bowl for a while or whatever, and just feel enriched by that. And I think that’s how I feel about the projects that I’m taking on in film. I really just want to work with these incredible directors like Aidan, Gregg Araki, Cathy Yan, who I feel like I can live completely different lives with.” 

With appearances in other films premiering at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, including Araki’s I Want Your Sex and Yan’s The Gallerist, this is only the beginning of Charli xcx’s cinematic takeover.