#sundance-world-cinema

#sundance-world-cinema

On May 2, 2025, arts and cultural organizations across the country received notifications that grants and funding promised by the National Endowment for the Arts were being rescinded. This was part of a larger initiative by the Trump Administration to dismantle not just the NEA, but also other arts advocacy programs including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

Glander and producer Payson made Boys Go to Jupiter with a tiny team and a $30,000 budget, showcasing the potential of indie filmmaking in animation.

Soderbergh has become such a prolific, tirelessly resourceful, and altogether uncategorizable filmmaker that you have to wonder why the mechanics of the break-in still inspire him.

In a bustling Boston café, Charlie is instantly smitten with Emma, who is quietly reading a novel. He approaches her, gushing about the book, only to realize she hasn't heard him.

In the film, Bronz's character is commissioned to compose a new national anthem for post-Oct. 7 Israel, and writes a warmongering ballad about destroying Gaza and 'love sanctified in blood.'

Emma drops an absolute bombshell in the midst of a game where they're asked to reveal the worst thing they've ever done. Soon everyone around her starts to question how well they really know her.

South by Southwest is not the only annual genre fest out there by any means, but its equal focus on film, music, and tech makes it nearly unmissable for many a genre fan. The Austin-set fest has almost too much to offer, however you slice it: Building one's schedule feels like a perpetual exercise in killing your darlings.

"The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist," co-directed by Oscar-winning film-maker Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell, examines the promises and risks of AI through a personal lens, while bringing together some of the most influential voices shaping the global AI conversation. The film arrives at a moment when AI systems are being adopted faster than regulatory frameworks can keep pace, raising urgent questions about safety, governance and social impact.

Each year, most films leave the festival without a distributor in place, and we've only seen a handful of sales so far despite Netflix, Neon, Searchlight, Focus, A24, and more all on the ground. Plus, newcomer distribution groups like Row K and Warners' independent label also landed in Utah to make an impression. Alas, many movies still need a home, and below, IndieWire rounds up the ones we think distributors will click with - some more intrepid than others, but all worthy of a hopefully big-screen landing place.

In a small Australian town, two queer kids-Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen)-share furtive glances and intense kisses in an abandoned mill. Oftentimes, violence, like the rough play fighting they often engage in, incites their sexual passions, which they must conceal in their fiercely religious town. Their adolescent passion turns deadly, however, when Naim discovers Ryan cheating on him with the preacher's son; so naturally the jilted teenager spitefully reports his lover's tryst.

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