Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival, originally named Utah/US Film Festival, takes place in Utah, in January, every year. It is organized by the Sundance Institute, founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Its first edition was in 1985, with the aim of showcasing US and international independent films to various audiences. Today, the festival has been around for 40 years, and it’s one of the most important movie events when it comes to independent storytelling. Sundance mainly takes place in Park City, Utah: the galas and red carpet events are held at the Eccles Theatre, but there are many more locations, such as the Egyptian, Prospector Square, Redstone, Holiday Village, The Park, and The Ray, and also many venues in Salt Lake City.

Sundance’s main strands are the US and World cinema dramatic and documentary competition, Midnight, NEXT, and Spotlight, and the Premieres. But the festival also has a fantastic Virtual Reality strand called New Frontiers, where the best AR, VR, and XR installations of the year make their debuts.

Many indie gems premiered at sundance, such as (500) Days of Summer, Brooklyn, Hereditary, Little Miss Sunshine, and Get Out. But box office hits like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Whiplash and Saw also had their world premieres at the festival. Recent Sundance hits include CODA, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Cha Cha Real Smooth and Past Lives. The dates of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival are January 23–February 2, 2025.

Loud and Clear Reviews covers Sundance every year, and this page is where you’ll find our movie and series reviews, articles, interviews, and red carpet coverage from the festival, and our lists of films to watch at the Sundance Film Festival.