Sundance 2025: 11 New Films with the Best Shot at an Oscar Run
The Sundance Film Festival reliably delivers Oscar contenders every year, whether they be usually one or two standout narrative features (like recent picks “A Real Pain,” “A Different Man,” “Living,” and “Minari”) or the lion’s share of Best Documentary Feature nominees (current contenders “Sugarcane,” “Porcelain War,” “Black Box Diaries,” and “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” all premiered at the festival, as have past Oscar winners like “Navalny” and “20 Feet from Stardom”).
2025 should be no exception.
More from IndieWire
But don’t look to all the Sundance 2025 award winners as likely Oscar contenders. Most films with Sundance jury awards, while worthy, are ultimately too small-scale to wind up in Oscar contention. Expect narrative winner “Atropia” and critical favorite “Rebuilding” to land at the Gothams or Indie Spirits. But the international award winners, for example, get a leg up on tipping their countries to submit them for International Feature Film consideration.
The lucky movies at Sundance that can fit into the right Oscar box find distributors, hire award campaigners, and wind up shortlisted or even nominated by the new year. Here is our list of potential Sundance entries, narrative and documentary, ranked by how likely they are to make the Oscar cut. —AT
Best of IndieWire
Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.