The Sundance Film Festival received more 1700 documentary submissions this year, and narrowed them down to 40 projects that it showed from January 23 to February 2 in Park City, Utah. With the recent announcement that its 2026 dates will be “no doubt an unforgettable experience,” it’s looking like this may have been the festival’s penultimate year in Park City. Here is a mostly spoiler-free baker’s dozen plus one of my 2025 favorites. Write these down in your diary and keep your eyes glued to your local film festival, art-house theaters and online streaming sites to see them soon. Part 2: Narrative films is coming soon.
Tony Benna’s André is an Idiot (US)
Winner of both the US Documentary Audience Award and the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award for US Documentaries, this riotous A24-produced jaw-dropper follows a 50-year-old lifelong San Franciscan named André. The wise-cracking, scene-stealing advertising director is a loving husband, father of two daughters, and a self-proclaimed “absolute idiot”—because he didn’t get a colonoscopy in a timely fashion. I laughed almost non-stop for the first hour of Tony Benna’s “uncomfortable comedy” and then was shook to the core during the film’s final, heartfelt act. This ultimate PSA for colonoscopies is also sure to be one of the year’s most memorable movies. A24 and Sandbox Pictures will be releasing the film in 2025.
Jesse Short Bull and David France’s Free Leonard Peltier (US)
One of the biggest surprises leading up to this year’s Sundance Film Festival was the announcement that Leonard Peltier’s life sentence had finally been commuted after spending 50 years in prison. Directors Jesse Short Bull and David France had already finished this meticulous deep dive into Peltier’s life, contentious conviction, and decades-long struggle to get him pardoned when the news of his release was announced, just seven days before the Sundance premiere of their film.
Peltier, who is one of the surviving leaders of the American Indian Movement, has maintained his innocence in the shooting deaths of two FBI agents in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The film thoughtfully positions him as a central figure in a 500-year history of resistance to the US government’s historical and ongoing abuses against Indigenous people.
In one of the film’s funniest moments, Nick Tilsen, a movement leader of the Oglala Lakota Nation, joked that Peltier’s offbeat sense of humor has gotten him through a half-century of confinement—and that he wants to make sure that upon Peltier’s release, he doesn’t instantly get canceled. According to the Biden White House’s statement, “while the commutation does not admit wrongdoing on behalf of the state, it will enable Peltier, who suffers from numerous health ailments, to spend his remaining days in home confinement.” Peltier’s release is scheduled for February 18. The film is seeking American distribution.
Sam Rice Edwards and Kevin Macdonald’s One to One: John & Yoko (UK)
Masterfully relying on archival and restored footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from 1971 to 1973, this film unites a treasure trove of unseen personal archives highlighting the unending unfair treatment towards Yoko Ono, as well the true love that Lennon and Ono displayed in their New York chapter. The movie also showcases absolutely incredible footage of a charity concert benefiting disabled children in 1972 at Madison Square Garden, which is the only full-length performance Lennon gave after leaving The Beatles. See this film at all costs! Magnolia plans to release the film exclusively in IMAX on April 11 before expanding to additional theaters.
Mstyslav Chernov’s 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Ukraine)
Winner of the Directing Award in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary category, this devastatingly brutal first-person account by a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. As the soldiers begin to realize that their mission and the war itself is utterly hopeless, this truly breathtaking (and often) cinéma vérité 110-minute journey is not for the faint of heart. From the Academy Award-winning director of 20 Days in Mariupol (2023), the Frontline film will be released by PBS Distribution later in 2025.
Isabel Castro‘s Selena Y Los Dinos (US)
Winner of the festival’s US Documentary Special Jury Award for Archival Storytelling and from the director of 2022’s astounding (yet still unavailable) Mija, Selena Y Los Dinos delivers an overwhelmingly confident tribute to Selena Quintanilla that beautifully humanizes the pop icon and captures the singer’s “exuberance, humility, and the profound bond she shared with her family.” It showcases remarkable never-before-seen VHS footage that includes some of the earliest recordings of her Tejano classics, direct from the family’s deepest archives.
An absolute must for Selena admirers with the power to convert the uninitiated, the film was unfortunately pulled from the festival’s streaming site after winning the Special Jury Prize due to a series of copyright infringements committed by fans posting clips on social media. The decision to pull the film from being seen—along with Audience Award winner, James Sweeney’s Twinless (US)—due to pirating was confusing. Why would you punish audiences who had worked hard to reserve a very elusive ticket? The decision left more than a few people I spoke to with a very bad taste in their mouth. Selena Y Los Dinos is seeking American distribution.
David Osit’s Predators (US)
A surprisingly complex exploration into the sensational NBC series “To Catch a Predator,” which aired in the mid-2000s, Predators has some pretty profound points to make about the show’s meaning and larger legacy. Director Osit truly digs into this triggering subject to reveal how complicated and perhaps-immoral the show and its contemporary copycat reboots actually are, largely by uncovering the inconvenient footage that is purposefully edited out. Perhaps the film’s bravest element is its third act, which not only turns the camera onto Osit and his own movie’s sensationalism, but leaves the viewers with some hard-hitting questions that popular culture seems to have all but forgotten. Easily one of the best films at Sundance this year, it is seeking American distribution.
Rachel Fleit’s Sugar Babies (US)
This unbiased account of a couple of 19-year-old women doing whatever it takes to overcome growing up poor in rural Louisiana was so raw and immersive that I had to remind myself that I was in a movie theater. Playing out like a cross between a Frederick Wiseman documentary and a modern-day, real-life version of Věra Chytilová’s Czech New Wave masterpiece Daisies (1966), these young women have devised a multifaceted online “sugar baby” operation. Confronting the many ethical power dynamics of the “girlfriend experience” or “sparkling,” these entrepreneurs seem to have figured out how to survive by just talking, flirting and/or sharing videos to get money from men online. The film is seeking American distribution.
David Borenstein’s Mr. Nobody Against Putin (Denmark/Czech Republic)
Filmed secretly over two years in its protagonist’s Ural mountains hometown, this courageous film centers on a very personable Russian teacher named Pasha. Initially an enthusiastic instructor at the same primary school he attended as a child, Pasha is forced to confront the complications of such schools across Russia’s most remote towns being suddenly transformed into military recruiting grounds after the country launches its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Director David Borenstein stated in an interview at Sundance that “it was extraordinarily difficult communicating with Pasha as he proceeded with the project as the consequences for him, if he were discovered, would have been brutal.” The movie showcases footage of Pasha dodging checkpoints just to smuggle footage out of Russia. The interview also stated that the director hasn’t seen any attempts by the Russian government to stop the film from being distributed or screened so far. “We’re going to keep our eyes open,” says Borenstein. “We’re ready for it. It’s a little bit early, but I have noticed that my personal website is like, all views from Russia, so I’m just wondering what’s going to happen.” The film is seeking American distribution.
Geeta Gandbhir’s Perfect Neighbor (US)
Winner of the Directing Award in the US Documentary category, the film shows what seems like a minor neighborhood dispute in a small Florida neighborhood escalating into a devastatingly deadly scenario. While director Gandbhir had a personal connection to one of the victims (they were her sister-in-law’s best friend), she uniquely structured the film around police bodycam footage and investigative interviews. The gripping thriller explores the unending dilemmas of Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” laws and does a wonderful job at digging past “Karen” versus “troublemakers” oversimplification by uncovering each individual’s real-life trauma and the effects it has on an entire community. Netflix is nearing a $5 million distribution deal, so keep your eyes peeled for a 2025 release.
Reid Davenport’s Life After (US)
Winner of the US Documentary Special Jury Award, this film’s disabled director Reid Davenport (I Didn’t See You There) unearths the fascinating story of a disabled Californian woman named Elizabeth Bouvia, who sought the “right to die” in 1983. At the time, it ignited “a national debate about autonomy, dignity, and the value of disabled lives.” Decades later, director Davenport curiously seeks out why Bouvia disappeared from public view while simultaneously delving into a myriad of contemporary dilemmas where “progressive values of bodily autonomy collide with latent fears of disability and an unequal value of the lives of disabled people.” There is no easy answer in this film and its conclusion will keep you talking for days. A co-production of Independent Television Service (ITVS), it will be distributed by Multitude Films, available to rent beginning April 30.
Gianluca Matarrese’s GEN_ (France/Italy/Switzerland)
One of the kookiest docs at Sundance this year is this immersive Frederick Wiseman-esque experience that sits audiences smack dab in the middle of Milan’s Niguarda public hospital, following the daily interactions of the unconventional Doctor Maurizio Bini. “His bold mission overseeing aspiring parents undergoing in vitro fertilization and the journeys of individuals reconciling their bodies with their gender identities” (as summed up by press materials) will leave you breathless by how casually supportive and immensely validating he is with patients. It’s even more eye-opening to see how he navigates the logistical constraints set by the current conservative Italian government.
Following Paul Schrader’s Transcendental style to a “t,” the documentary’s viewers witness Bini’s day-in, day-out interactions at one of the few public hospitals in Italy allowed to provide this kind of care, providing a look into the lives of a diverse group of patients who often have nowhere else to turn. Audiences who are patient with Gen_’s intimate cinematic style will be rewarded with a conclusion that achieves genuine catharsis. The film is seeking American distribution.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) (US)
Academy Award-winning director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Summer of Soul) returns to Sundance with an addictive and inspired examination of the life and legacy of Sly and the Family Stone. Exploring the groundbreaking interracial and multi-gendered band led by the charismatic and enigmatic Sly Stone (who clearly paved the road for Prince and the Revolution), the film thoroughly captures “the band’s rise, reign, and subsequent fadeout while shedding light on the unseen burden that comes with success for Black artists in America,” according to its promotional materials. Similar to Questlove’s previous film Summer of Soul, you may find your next stop will be your local record store to uncover Sly’s lesser-known tracks. The film is scheduled to be released Thu/13 on Hulu.
Nyle DiMarco Davis Guggenheim’s Deaf President Now! (US)
In this hypnotic account of eight tumultuous days in 1988 at the world’s only Deaf university, four very different students come together to help lead a campus-wide revolution that ultimately caught the attention of a nation. Channeling the importance of 2020’s Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution and told primarily through American Sign Language, the universal crowd-pleaser teleports its viewers into archival footage and modern-day reflections by the film’s subjects (who often get quite emotional.) The inspired story truly walks the talk by utilizing an experiential sound editing style of silence and vibration. It will be available to stream on Apple TV+ and released in select theaters in 2025.
Matt Wolf’s Pee Wee As Himself (US)
This 205-minute chronicle of the life of artist and performer Paul Reubens and his alter ego Pee-wee Herman is executive-produced by the Safdie Brothers and was screened at the festival with a 15-minute intermission. Prior to his recent death, Reubens shared hundreds of hours of archival footage with director Matt Wolf, who also made the 2008 heartbreaker Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell. This revelatory epic shows many sides of Reubens that he had previously kept in the closet via more than 40 hours of in-depth interviews about his creative influences and the personal struggles he faced in persevere the public’s perception of him being a pariah as opposed to a performance artist (ala Andy Kaufman), a pop-icon and ultimately a person. HBO has plans to release it as a two-part miniseries later on in 2025.
