It’s a big week for Sundance documentaries. The 2025 festival kicks off the in-person portion of its activities on January 23. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will reveal the nominees for Best Documentary Feature the next day, having delayed the announcement due to the wildfires devastating California. Awards might seem trivial at the moment, but the announcement coming at the beginning of the festival illustrates why cinephiles should keep an eye on the documentary side of the Park City slate. 10 of the 15 documentaries on the Oscar shortlist this year are Sundance docs. The last three consecutive Oscar winners for documentary feature won the Audience Award at Sundance: Summer of Soul, Navalny, and 20 Days in Mariupol. That pattern could bode very well for the Oscar-shortlisted 2024 Audience Award winners Daughters and The Remarkable Life of Ibelin.
Moreover, this year’s festival arrives amid two pressing—and not unrelated—concerns: the state of sales for political docs and Donald Trump’s return to office. Of the former, Sundance 2024 generally started off well for documentary sales with films like Will & Harper, Daughters, Skywalkers, and Super/Man. Things cooled off quicker than expected, though, and acclaimed films like Union didn’t find a home, while others like Porcelain War eventually did, albeit not nearly as quickly as an American jury prize winner at the festival normally would. With Trump back in the White House, documentaries again have an important a role in educating and engaging audiences with diverse perspectives. But whether distributors, studios, and the big streamers actually step up to help audiences see these films is another matter.
Whatever happens, audiences should follow the Sundance docs and expect to see them drive the conversation at festivals during the year ahead—and hopefully in theatres and in homes across the world.
Here are 10 docs to keep an eye on in during Sundance 2025. Stay tuned for more coverage from the POV team throughout the festival.
2000 Meters to Andriivka (World Cinema)
Fresh off his Oscar win for 20 Days in Mariupol, which did a marathon run from Sundance to the Dolby Theater, director Mstyslav Chernov returns to the festival with another tale about the resilience of Ukrainians amid Russia’s illegal invasion of their country. 2000 Meters to Adriivka promises another tale of journalistic rigour told with a cinematic eye as Chernov’s camera observes a Ukrainian platoon defending the homeland against Putin’s army. The documentary serves as an urgent reminder of a war that continues as other stories dominate the headlines and catch the world’s attention.
Come See Me in the Good Light (Premieres)
Have the Kleenex at the ready for the latest documentary from Ryan White (Good Night Oppy). The filmmaker returns to the festival with this portrait of spoken word poet Andrea Gibson and their experience with terminal cancer. Gibson lets White into intimate moments of their relationship with fellow poet/writer Megan Falley. They go along for the ride of chemotherapy trials, tests, and alternative treatments. White’s film especially merits attention following his character study Pamela: A Love Story, which inevitably played a hand in teeing up the second wind for Pamela Anderson’s career as an actress, as the doc set in motion renewed appreciation for her acting chops, which culminated in Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her performance in The Last Showgirl. All this is to say that White’s compassionate eye invites us to look at familiar things in new ways, with death up next on the menu.
Coexistence, My Ass! (World Cinema)
Audiences seeking a laugh at Sundance this year might find it in…a film about the neighbourly dynamics of Palestine and Israel? A genocide and a corrupt Prime Minister are certainly no laughing matter, but Israeli activist-comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi straddles an incredibly delicate political divide. She uses her comedic timing, quick wit, and outspoken fearlessness to put her comedy routine to good use by drawing attention to a shared hope for peace between equals. The doc follows Shuster as she prepares a new performance while touring, all the while using the Israeli-Palestinian village in which she was raised as her home base and point of reference. Coexistence, My Ass! invites audiences into the conversation through laughter as Canadian director Amber Fares (Speed Sisters) joins forces with American-Israeli writer/producer Rachel Leah Jones (Advocate) to offer a bit of levity alongside a plea for peace. Oscar-nominee Ina Fichman (Fire of Love) executive produces.
Endless Cookie (World Cinema)
If cookies are a sometimes treat, as Cookie Monster advises, then get ready for a lifetime of chocolate chips with Endless Cookie. Seth Scriver makes a long-awaited return to feature film after his 2013 animated odyssey Asphalt Watches. This time, he’s collaborating with his half-brother, Peter. The cinematic siblings promise another adventure from the lunatic fringe à la Asphalt Watches as Endless Cookie sees Seth, who is white, create a movie centered upon the stories told by his Indigenous half-brother, who lives in Shamattawa First Nations. The film puts a unique twist on traditions of oral storytelling—and documentary form—as animation provides the visuals for Peter’s interviews. But which brother is the unreliable narrator—the interviewer or the interviewee—may be part of the story as the animation favours a whimsically surreal aesthetic. Do not expect a conventional doc.
Gen_ (World Cinema)
Audiences who said the doctor in Emilia Pérez was too politically incorrect to feel real might need to eat crow after seeing Gen_. The film by Gianluca Matarrese (Fashion Babylon) takes audiences inside the offices of Milan’s Niguarda public hospital where Dr. Maurizio Bini provides essential services for gender and reproductive rights. An intimate glimpse into the doctor-patient relationship observes how Dr. Bini juggles multiple roles—caregiver, therapist, and comedic relief—as he provides an empathetic ear for patients seeking gender affirmation surgery and/or in vitro fertilization. Both rights are under the microscope with Italy rolling back laws that are already conservative in comparison to other countries. And yet as the doctor readies for retirement after a career helping patients find comfort in their bodies, he isn’t afraid to let a flubbed pronoun get in the way of a good joke that might soothe a soul—or convince a parent to consent to treatment that could save a child’s life.
Heightened Scrutiny (Premieres)
Covering documentary—covering anything, really—was totally exhausting during Trump’s first term. With Sundance kicking off just two days after the convicted felon’s return to the White House, the urgency of portraits that capture the present couldn’t be clearer. One significant case is this documentary portrait of Chase Strangio, who previously served as a face of the Herculean effort of keeping up with the Trump administration’s war on human rights in The Fight. Director Sam Feder (Disclosure) captures the lawyer in action as Strangio advocates a case very close to his heart: transgender rights. The fight goes all the way to the Supreme Court with decisions that would have a ripple effect for trans and queer people across the country, as well as Americans of diverse gender identities. With Trump’s executive orders this week confining gender identity to a binary experience, the stakes are clearly very high with this doc positioned to serve as a canary in the coal mine.
Life After (Premieres)
After breaking ground with the 2022 documentary I Didn’t See You There in which he let his own body and lived experience fuel a personal essay about disability rights, Reid Davenport’s new feature continues the fight. This time, he’s looking at death and disability as advocacy for medically-assisted dying presents complicated ethical debates—and, in some cases, convenient strategies amid larger conversations about ableism and accessibility. Davenport’s previous doc won the directing prize at Sundance for its reinvention of the city symphony format, and while Life After ostensibly takes a more direct approach in dealing with various parties implicated in the tale, how Davenport injects his perspective into the tale should prove exciting.
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House (Premieres)
It’s no festival without a music doc and Move Ya Body promises to put the “dance” in Sundance with its look back at the movement that rejuvenated disco beats, largely for an accepting crowd of Black and queer night owls. Director Elegance Bratton (Pier Kids) returns to documentary after his acclaimed drama The Inspection by connecting all the players, like DJ Frankie Knuckles who had a hand in keeping the joyous beats alive when the white majority decided it was time for disco to be dead and buried. It’s the story of a movement that turned the beat around.
Sly Lives! aka the Burden of Black Genius (Premieres)
Sundance made a huge leap forward to solidify its stance as the ultimate launchpad for documentaries when the 2021 virtual edition arguably proved the best COVID-era effort to capture the in-person festival experience. Part of that success was obviously the calibre of docs with Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s thunderously popular Summer of Soul! sweeping the U.S. Documentary Competition, winning both the Grand Prize and Jury Prize, before going on win the Academy Award for its energetic and faultlessly assembled archival rock concert. That’s obviously a high bar for Questlove to meet after his dazzling music doc, but bowing outside the competition this time eases the pressure somewhat. After looking at the cultural moment of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, he tightens his scope to consider the music, life, and legacy of Sly and the Family Stone. Expect this one to ride high after the success of Summer of Soul.
Speak (US Doc Comp)
Anyone looking to make a quick buck on the Sundance betting odds might want to place a dollar on Speak. This upbeat doc from director Jennifer Tiexiera (Subject) and director/cinematographer Guy Mossman (Feels Good Man) follows five students as they put their gift for gab to the test in pursuit of winning the original oratory field of the national public speaking championship. Speak takes the tried and tested model of the competition doc and rouses audiences by letting them hear young Americans articulate passionate speeches about causes close to their hearts. It’s a sure-fire crowd-pleaser, and surely one that speaks to the moment.
