Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the United States. The highly acclaimed and renowned event began in August of 1978 and has been premiering films ever since. Thousands of people attend the festival every January in Salt Lake City, Utah to see what new and exciting projects are being created in cinema that year. This year Sundance has made the decision to make their event virtual due to the rapidly increasing cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. While an online screening isn't ideal, we are still excited to see what this year's films at the festival have in store.
Regardless of a film's budget or what studio has attached itself to it, what makes a film great is the story it’s trying to tell. Over the years, Sundance has been known to premiere truly great work that has ended up becoming some of the most loved movies of all time. The variety of filmmaking and storytelling presented makes the festival equally exciting and engaging. Here are ten of these extremely popular movies that first premiered at Sundance Film Festival.
10 Napolean Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite first premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January of 2004. This indie comedy from director Jared Hess quickly became a cult classic after its theartical release in June of 2004. There are countless iconic scenes in this movie that are still quotable today and the casting from Jon Heder, to Tina Majorino, and Aaron Ruell is hilarious. The movie was made with a budget of $400 thousand and ended up earning a box office revenue of over $46 million. Napoleon Dynamite will forever be funny, and is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
9 Manchester by the Sea
This film is a true masterpiece. At its core, Manchester by the Sea highlights the incredible acting abilities of Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Lucas Hedges, and Kyle Chandler to tell a beautiful and heartbreaking story rooted in loss and the power of family. The film premiered at Sundance in January of 2016 and by April of 2017, it received two Academy Awards: Casey Affleck received Best Actor for his portrayal of Lee Chandler, and Kenneth Lonergan won Best Original Screenplay.
8 Little Miss Sunshine
Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton's hilarious feel-good movie Little Miss Sunshine will always be a go-to. The film is a reminder that with the support of loved ones and a little determination anything is possible. Like so many others that premiered at Sundance Film Festival, Little Miss Sunshine went on to dominate the award season winning the Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor in addition to being nominated for two other Academy Awards including Best Picture.
7 Get Out
It's hard to believe that Get Out is an independent film because of how widely successful it was at the box office. Jordan Peele's horror/action/comedy made over $255 million at the box office with a production budget of only $4 million. This film is a true psychological thriller that explores topics such as race and social classes, as well as hypnosis and the character's mental well-being. Get Out received major critical acclaim as it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards, a remarkable accomplishment for Peele's directorial debut.
6 Whiplash
Whiplash is an intense drama from director Damien Chazelle that stars Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, and Paul Reiser. The film was released in 2014 and plays with the idea of how far an artist is willing to go for their craft. In this case, we see Andrew (Teller), an incredibly talented drummer being pushed beyond his limits into a dark and dangerous place under the pressure of terrifying and brutal instructor Terence Fletcher (Simmons). The performances in this movie are brilliant and resulted in an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Simmons.
5 Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is the first film from the unparalleled director and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. Released in 1992 this film stars Tarantino himself, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, and Chris Penn and marks the beginning of Tarantino's career. Since Reservoir Dogs, the filmmaker has been referred to as one of the greatest directors of all time and has gone on to create some of the most successful movies in modern-day cinema including Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglorious Bastards, Django Unchained, and most recently Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood.
4
American Psycho
Christian Bale is nothing short of brilliant and terrifying in Mary Harron and Morgan Freeman's American Psycho. The film manages to skate along the lines of extremely unsettling and extremely entertaining in a way that locks audiences in and keeps people coming back to the movie even twenty years after its initial release. Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) has become one of the most iconic movie killers of all time and it's safe to say people will still be revisiting this dark comedy/horror film even in another twenty years.
3 Blue Valentine
Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling shine in Blue Valentine. Premiering in January 2010 at Sundance, this film follows the crippling relationship between Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) as they reflect on how their once seemingly perfect relationship is now ending in anger and despair. Both performances from Gosling and Williams are remarkable and the movie ended up grossing over sixteen-million dollars at the box office.
2 Blackfish
Blackfish is a documentary that you can watch over and over again and it will touch you in a different way each time you see it. Premiered at Sundance in 2013 this film is heartbreaking as it exposes the cruelty rooted in the captivity of killer whales. This inhumane act is revealed to have catastrophic consequences that result in death and hinder the life of these extremely intelligent mammals. The documentary is available to stream on Amazon Prime and is definitely a must-watch.
1 Call Me By Your Name
Call Me By Your Name is a unique and important story that shares the relationship between Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet) and Oliver (Armie Hammer), two young men who are struggling to make their relationship flourish in a society that seems to be permitting them to grow. The film was directed by Luca Guadagnino and with a production budget of three million dollars grossed over forty million at the box office. This film is beautiful and received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars in 2018.