The 2025 Sundance Film Festival will have not one, but two events that may divert attention from the program. The festival, which runs from January 23 to February 2, begins just days after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Then there will also be great anticipation and anticipation regarding the upcoming announcement of where the festival will be heading from its 2027 edition.

The program for the 2025 festival, which was announced on Wednesday, is intended to remedy the uncertainty: the usual mix of fresh talent and provocative topics.

“I think the program will do the job of putting aside the long-term home discussion for a moment,” said Eugene Hernandez, director of the festival, noting that a decision is expected to be announced no later than the end of the festival Winter or early spring. “This program truly underscores what Sundance is and has been for over 40 years. And this is just an incredible place to explore.”

Films in the US drama competition include Hailey Gates’ Atropia, starring Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner and Chloë Sevigny, Evan Twohy’s Bubble & Squeak, starring Himesh Patel, Sarah Goldberg and Steven Yeun, and Katarina Zhu’s Bunnylovr, starring Zhu with Rachel Sennott, Rachel Abigail Holders “Love, Brooklyn” with André Holland, Nicole Beharie and DeWanda Wise, Rashad Fretts “Ricky” starring Stephan James and Sheryl Lee Ralph and Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby” starring Victor, Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges.

Titles in the U.S. documentary film competition include Anthony Benna’s Andre Is an Idiot, Reid Davenport’s Life After, Geeta Gandbhir’s The Perfect Neighbor, David Osit’s Predators and Rachel Fleit’s Sugar Babies .

The NEXT segment features Amanda Kramer’s “By Design,” which is arguably the show’s most eye-opening logline, about a woman who swaps her body with a chair. Other titles in the section include “Serious People” by Pasqual Gutierrez and Charlie Shackleton’s documentary “Zodiac Killer Project.”

The Premieres section, which typically includes many of the festival’s major titles, features a mix of feature films and documentaries. Films premiering in this section include James Griffith’s The Ballad of Wallis Island, Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim’s Deaf President Now!, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Folktales, and If I Had Legs, I’d” by Mary Bronstein “Kick You”, Bill Condon’s remake of “Kiss of the Spider Woman”, Amalia Ulman’s “Magic Farm”, Sophie Brooks’ “Oh, Hi!”, Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams” and Ira Sachs’ “Peter Hujar’s Day.”

The Midnight section often features some of the festival’s most anticipated titles. These include “Opus” by Mark Anthony Green with Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis and Amber Midthunder, “Didn’t Die” by Meera Menon, “Rabbit Trap” by Bryn Chainey and “Together” by Michael Shanks.

When Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson premiered his first documentary “Summer of Soul” at the festival in 2021, it began a run that ended with him winning an Oscar. Thompson will be back at the festival with “Sly Lives!” (aka The Burden of Black Genius),” a portrait of musician Sly Stone and the specific challenges faced by Black artists.

Other celebrity portrait docs include It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley by Amy Berg, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore by Shoshannah Stern, Selena y Los Dinos by Isabel Castro and Prime Minister by Michelle Walshe and Lundsay Utz on the former New York New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, “Sally” by Cristina Costantini about astronaut Sally Ride and “Pee-wee as” by Matt Wolf Himself” about Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens.

“With these films that focus on specific people, do we always pay attention to the new angle we see? What’s special about this film?” said Kim Yutani, program director of the festival.

When Trump’s first inauguration coincided with the festival in 2017, an estimated 8,000 people marched in the streets. Although it is not yet clear whether such an organized demonstration of protest will occur in 2025, one can only assume that some films will be received very differently by audiences than if the election had had a different result, such as that of Jesse Short Bull and David France documentary “Free Leonard Peltier” about the imprisoned leader of the American Indian Movement, Kim A. Snyder’s documentary “The Librarians” about the role of librarians amid a wave of government book bans or Andrew Ahn’s remake of the LGBTQ+ theme “The Wedding Banquet”.

“I think Sundance has contributed to the culture of creating a space that celebrates freedom of expression,” Hernandez said, “and promotes opportunities for artists of all different backgrounds, experiences and cultures to tell personal stories.”

The episodic section, dedicated to works told in multiple episodes, will feature the documentary “Bucks County, USA” from directors and executive producers Barry Levinson and Robert May, which takes a look at two 14-year-olds in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, throw. , who are friends despite their opposing political beliefs.

“It provides a perspective enriched by the exploration of these two individual girls, their friendship and connection to their families who are on opposite sides of the red and blue divide,” Hernandez said. “And so it really invites greater understanding and greater consideration of what lies ahead in this country.”

Also appearing in the episodic portion will be “Hal & Harper,” a series from director and executive producer Cooper Raiff starring Lili Reinhardt, Mark Ruffalo, Betty Gilpin and Havana Rose Liu.

A special screening will be Eugene Jarecki’s “The Six Billion Dollar Man,” a documentary about Julian Assange.

Ideas of diversity and inclusion have always been at the heart of Sundance’s mission, dating back to Robert Redford’s founding of the Sundance Institute in 1981. Even as these core values ​​have become increasingly contentious in the larger political discourse, festival organizers would be increasingly contentious about theirs Do not describe work as part of a cultural agenda.

“If we have an agenda, it is to support artists and the voice of the artist,” Yutani said. “And that is always our North Star. We are under a lot of pressure and we hear a lot of voices outside – there is a lot of noise everywhere we go. But what’s always so grounding is the idea that we support artists. Every time we start a film, we have this in mind: What are these artists saying, what is going through their minds? How do they process the world we live in through their work? And together we have the opportunity to see what artists are dealing with in a given year.”

Films that premiered at the 2024 festival and have remained in the conversation since include “A Real Pain,” “A Different Man,” “Thelma,” “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Union.”

The way the 2025 Sundance Film Festival films fulfill their moment when discovered by audiences will form the core of the response to the upcoming program.

“I know that sometimes you can capture things in a certain cultural moment in a certain way,” Hernandez said. “But Sundance is over 40 years old and remains true to our mission. No matter what city we find ourselves in, Sundance will remain Sundance and we will remain true to, fight for and preserve the mission that Mr. Redford set out for us in founding this Institute.”