Six short films. One unforgettable program. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour is coming! Award winners and bold new voices in fiction, doc, and animation. Presented by Ketel One Vodka. Find a screening near you: festival.sundance.org/short-film-tour

Submitting your film to the Sundance Film Festival? Get a head start before submissions open this summer. Join programmers Sudeep Sharma & Kelly Young on June 12 for a FREE session on setting your short or feature up for success. Register: sndnc.org/4wT8fl6

Let’s get freaky. I WANT YOUR SEX is only in theaters July 31. Full trailer tomorrow.

📣 Introducing the 2026 Sundance Institute Directors & Screenwriters Lab Fellows! These signature labs provide filmmakers with a supportive environment to develop their projects, refine their artistic voice, and work alongside accomplished creative advisors. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3Qzhoip

The 2026 Tribeca Festival, running June 3–14, features 11 Sundance Institute–supported projects, highlighting distinctive new voices, award-winning premieres, and standout titles across documentary, narrative, and short film storytelling. Read more: sndnc.org/3PGDteJ

The 2026 Indigenous Film Tour returns this month! The program features the 2026 Sundance Film Festival film “Aanikoobijigan (ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild),” with additional short films "Native Sin" and "Menil and Her Heart" playing in select cities. Supported by Mellon Foundation.

Adding to your June watchlist... 🍿 From horror to comedy and everything in between, explore this month’s Sundance Institute–supported releases. Read this month’s Release Rundown: sndnc.org/4ei3g66

Happy Pride Month 🌈 If you need us, we’re rewatching But I’m a Cheerleader. Again.

“The Best Summer,” directed by Tamra Davis, captures rare performances, candid interviews, and behind-the-scenes moments from a legendary 1995 tour. Presented at Outside Days Festival in partnership with the Sundance Film Festival. Sun May 31, 2PM. Q&A to follow. Tickets: sndnc.org/4fONsJi

3 tickets to Backrooms, please.

“Time and Water” follows Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason as he creates a cinematic time capsule preserving family, memory, and water amid the loss of Iceland’s glaciers and his beloved grandparents. Premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. From director Sara Dosa, in theaters May 29.

Pack your bags for Hollywood chaos! David Wain’s “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and stars Zoey Deutch as a bride-to-be on a wildly chaotic mission to even the scales after her fiancé cashes in their “celebrity pass.” In theaters July 10.

Join Sundance Collab for an Advisor Studio on Games as a Narrative Medium with Nic Yulo ("Splinter Cell", "Ghost Recon"). Learn how traditional screenplay structure meets interactive design in game storytelling. Thursday, May 28 at 1 p.m. PT Register here: sndnc.org/4tpykGn

Join us today, May 23 at 7:00 p.m. MT at the Boulder Creek Festival for a free outdoor screening of “Napoleon Dynamite.” Stop by the Sundance Film Festival booth to learn more about ways to engage with us and take home some fun giveaways. More details: sndnc.org/4fCP48W

Summer is almost here and it’s full of new films from Sundance Film Festival alumni. ☀️ New films from Boots Riley, Christopher Nolan, Jane Schoenbrun, and more are hitting theaters and streaming all season. Before you watch what’s next, revisit where it started. Read more: sndnc.org/4wKVOYC

With both Tuner and The AI Doc out now, Oscar-winning filmmaker and Letterboxd obsessive Daniel Roher tells Brian Formo about the creative paralysis and personal process of his two new movies. https://boxd.it/39o

We are thrilled to celebrate Sundance Institute-supported filmmaker Abinash Bikram Shah, whose “Elephants in the Fog” (Nepal), developed through our 2023 Screenwriters and Directors Labs, has world premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.

This ended yesterday; genuinely one of the most exciting, inspiring creative experiences of my career. I left awed by the talent of the people in my cohort, inspired by the craft, brilliance, and kindness of the advisors who donated their time and talent - on both the creative and industry side! - &

30 years later, “Welcome to the Dollhouse” remains one of indie cinema’s defining coming-of-age films. Todd Solondz’s unflinching look at adolescence, anchored by Heather Matarazzo’s performance as Dawn Wiener, still captures the brutal honesty of growing up. Read more: sndnc.org/4doY8Nm

Biennial of the Americas, MATTER, MCA Denver, and Sundance Film Festival present a special screening of “BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions” at MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater. May 29 | 5:30–9:00 PM MDT Sundance Film Festival community tickets are $10: bit.ly/4wFpjej

A sold-out Denver screening of “I Love Boosters” brought Boots Riley to the Sundance Institute community for a conversation on the ideas behind his latest film. “I Love Boosters” opens in theaters this Friday via @neon-rated.bsky.social. Read more about the screening: bit.ly/4dzlmz5

After falling into a bizarre weight-loss craze of eating human ashes, a lovelorn medical student is haunted by the ghost of the person she consumed. Directed by Natalie Erika James, “Saccharine” premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and hits theaters Friday via Independent Film Company.

Independent filmmaking is about carving your own path. Join us for a free session with the award-winning team behind “Ricky,” Rashad Frett & Simon TaufiQue, as they discuss alternative distribution and making an impact. May 26 | 10 a.m. PT Register: sndnc.org/48Y78Gz

Get ready to hit the dance floor. Directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka, “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” won the Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Coming to theaters this fall via Sony Pictures Classics.

Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival for “The Virgin Suicides”.

Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director of the Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs, is included on the TIME100 Philanthropy 2026 list for her lifelong impact on independent film. Read more: bit.ly/4nreBUs

The personal news: incredibly excited and honored to be part of this amazing cohort!

Announcing the 10 fellows selected for the 2026 Sundance Institute Episodic Lab. The Lab will take place at its new home in Dunaway Gardens in Newnan, Georgia, from May 15–20. Learn more: bit.ly/4eRSWTn

Your next Sundance Film Festival 101 Watchlist double feature: Kelly Reichardt’s “Old Joy” and Celine Song’s “Past Lives.” Two quietly devastating films about evolving relationships, missed timing, and the people we carry with us. Read more: bit.ly/3PzLRfM

Cookie season is serious business. 🍪 Directed by Alysa Nahmias, “Cookie Queens” follows four ambitious Girl Scouts navigating competition, pressure, and big dreams during one of America’s most beloved rituals. Premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. In theaters August 7.

Happy Mother’s Day 💐 This year, we’re toasting Joan Rubinsky of “Theater Camp” and the mentors like her who build spaces where kids are supported, challenged, and free to be fully themselves. Read more: bit.ly/4eJ6lgt

🥹

Join our next Sundance Institute Founder Series to discuss Robert Redford’s impact on climate storytelling with Jill Tidman, Paula DuPre’ Pesmen, and Louie Psihoyos. May 13 | 12 p.m. PT Learn to weave social impact into your craft. Register for free: bit.ly/3QWCWWg

For over four decades, Michelle Satter has shaped independent cinema, guiding artists, championing storytelling, and building the Sundance Institute Labs into a year-round creative home where risk, failure, and discovery are all part of the process. Read more: bit.ly/4dpWZoA

TOMORROW! 🇵🇷 The final film in our DOC NYC Selects series, co-presented by MUBI. THEYDREAM, the NEXT Special Jury Award winner at @sundance.org, makes its NYC Premiere at 7PM at @ifccenter.bsky.social. Q&A with the filmmakers to follow. 🎟️ www.docnyc.net/theydream/

May brings new Sundance Institute–supported films and series from Festival alums to theaters and streaming, spanning crime, horror, and documentary. Read more in this month's Release Rundown: bit.ly/3OPv4VL

Join us this Friday for our next Global Cinema Meetup featuring the visionary directing duo Thunderlips! We’re diving into the journey behind their body-horror comedy "Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant," which premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Register free: sndnc.org/4mdqQDu

A cross-country journey becomes a search for hope in Cole Webley’s “Omaha,” which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and is now in select theaters. Read more about writer-director Cole Webley and the making of “Omaha”: sndnc.org/42ujVg6

“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” and “No Other Land” are among this year’s Sundance Institute–supported Peabody Awards (@peabodyawards.bsky.social) winners, recognizing powerful storytelling that endures. Read more: sndnc.org/4mPU9wl

Rashad Frett’s “Ricky,” now in select theaters, is a Sundance Institute–supported debut that premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Executive produced by/starring Stephan James, the film follows a 30-year-old rebuilding his life after incarceration as a teen. Read more: sndnc.org/3P2fUMO

A lineup of 17 Sundance Institute–supported films head to the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (@hotdocs.bsky.social), April 23–May 3. See what to add to your screening schedule: sndnc.org/4eHRDWN

Get ready for "Leviticus" directed by Adrian Chiarella. 👻 Premiered in the Midnight Section at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it left audiences shook. In theaters June 19 via @neon-rated.bsky.social.

Join us, along with event partners Rocky Mountain Equality and The Center on Colfax, for Andrea Gibson: Love Letter from the Afterlife — a multimedia evening of film, poetry, and music premiering at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Sunday, July 5, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. MT.

Sundance favorite OMAHA starring John Magaro (PAST LIVES) opens at IFC Center this Friday. Get tickets to Q&As with filmmaker Celine Song (MATERIALISTS), actor John Slattery (MAD MEN), and actor Lily Rabe (AMERICAN HORROR STORY): ifccenter.com/films/omaha

Applying to the Sundance Institute Feature Film Development Track? Join us April 21 at 10 a.m. PT for a FREE Insider Session with Ilyse McKimmie and Beth de Araújo. Get tips on the application process and an inside look at the Lab experience. Register: sndnc.org/40z79w7

It’s her day :)

Watch the trailer for “Ricky”, directed by Rashad Frett, in theaters April 24. Premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, supported by Sundance Institute’s Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers Labs, and winner of the Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic.

Get to know Joel Alfonso Vargas, writer-director of “Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)”. Premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, winning the NEXT Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast. Now in select theaters. Read more: sndnc.org/4cBToCh

10 years ago today, Jeremy Saulnier’s “Green Room” was released theatrically, following its screening at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Feature fiction filmmakers! In the early stages of a screenplay? Apply now for the 2027 Development Track to be considered for multiple programs, fellowships, and grants. Deadline: May 12, 2026. Apply here: sndnc.org/3Ol3LCs