Sundance 2026: Part 1

Documentary

Author

Julie Jones
February 14, 2026

My first Sundance started with a female ride-app driver asking if my mate and I were famous. Followed immediately by her asking us if we were LDS. And that about sums up the feeling of Sundance 2026! Chance encounters with talented filmmakers, casual celebrity sightings, and between-screening strolls nestled in the picturesque Wasatch Mountain Range felt like the high-art lap of luxury. Then plasticy sheets, a $38 glass of Barefoot wine, and the sustained blue glow of the Chase Sapphire Igloo Lounge brought the ridiculousness of it all back into view. Sundance is a silly little place to see and be seen. But at its heart, it is a robust platform for dedicated, passionate people to share their world view. And nothing is more luxurious than sitting in a packed theatre watching a film.

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

Fergie Chambers, a mercurial communist, is heir to one of America’s wealthiest families, and is attempting to topple the very capitalistic structures from which he avails. Or maybe it’s really just all about the money.

Much like Fergie himself, the structuring of this documentary is a bit erratic. One-dimensional pacing and unfocused b-roll, not to mention cringe-worthy stock footage, lend to stretches that are wandering. However, it is director Sinéad O’Shea’s ability to create an environment of safety and vulnerability that shines, as even the most volatile of characters share their deepest internal worlds. The result is a film that challenges ultra-wealth, rebellion, and the viability of structural disruption when humans are, despite their best efforts, self-serving. And O’Shea does all this with ultimate journalistic integrity. In the post-screening Q&A, one attendant pressured O’Shea about her resistance to asserting her opinion more overtly. To which she responded, “Telling the truth is a political act. Simply documenting has become a political act.”

Three American doctors risk their lives and their livelihoods to save countless victims in Gaza and expose the truth.

This heartbreaking film opens with a heated debate about how to best preserve the dignity of yet another horde of dead Palestinian children. In the end, the conclusion is brutal truth. Three doctors with 3 different religions, and 3 very different personalities, demonstrate that whatever lens you look through, a genocidal reality remains. With very little style or flair, the film allows for raw, unencumbered facts to do the talking. The result is a devastating experience, though necessary.

After a cable wire snaps in remote Pakistan, 9 passengers, including 6 young men, are trapped inside an open cable car dangling 900 feet up from a single wire.

The premiere screening of Hanging by a Wire began with Director Mohammed Ali Naqvi earnestly proclaiming “I always wanted to make an action-thriller!” and that he did. But it is the very use of flashy graphics and cinematic sound effects that strips this film of the humanity the heroic story calls for. Ironically, the no-frills archival footage from the villagers and trapped passengers alike is the most compelling. At one point, one of the stranded boys films the others before turning the camera on his own face, revealing a look of distant resolve. This most potent and brief moment demonstrates that sometimes the best thing a filmmaker can do is just get out of the way.

A dreamy portrait of Michoacán’s machismo rodeos, and the queer longing that exists within. 

The full 70 minutes of Jaripeo are visually arresting and full of soul. Observational documentary is blended with languid, lyrical vignettes, immersing audiences in the inherent loneliness and inherent eroticism of the rodeo. The gripping atmosphere braces like a restrained bull bucking to be freed, with ecstatic moments of candy-hued release. 

Filmmaker Sam Green spends a decade interviewing the ever-changing oldest person in the world, as he grapples with his own experiences of life and death.

I’ll begin by saying, a voiceover is really, really hard. The natural tenor, cadence, and inflection of one’s voice can make a heartfelt and relatable text feel manufactured and insincere. In director Sam Green’s newest documentary, the navel-gazing voiceover never lets up. But that didn’t stop me from crying through nearly each of the film’s 87 minutes. As a 38-year-old woman confronting my own biological clock, this may not be necessarily due to Green’s supreme craft. But with playful vignettes, interesting (and funny!) interviewees, and poignant reflection, The Oldest Person in the World proves meaningfully universal.

Trigger warning: Eric Adams makes a typically bizarre appearance in the first 5 minutes of the film.

SHORT DOCUMENTARY

*Short Film Grand Jury Prize*

Clarence B. Jones, a key player in the Civil Rights Movement as Martin Luther King Jr.’s speechwriter, offers an insider’s view on history. 

Jazzy and refined craft make 29 minutes of what is essentially an elevated interview interesting, with steam only just lost as the end nears. 

*Short Film Jury Award: Non-Fiction*

A pair of Black beekeeper parents nurture their homestead and two young sons. 

This visually stunning and intimate portrait left me wanting more, craving richer context to fill out the gentle slice of life.

Markus comes from a long lineage of nutcracker makers, a life perhaps less desired than he cares to admit.

While the main subject proves interesting, this portrait is better suited as an in-depth interview versus a 9 minute meandering short film.

Former members of a 1970s therapy group-turned-cult recount the systematic abuse they endured.

Experimental and stylistic, this short doc implements imaginative tools to turn real audio recordings into a fascinating immersion. 

Accused killer Luigi Mangione has inspired fevered fantasies and cultural obsession, revealing the way one man became a blank canvas for unwieldy fears and desires.

This vibey glimpse into the idoltry that today’s internet culture fosters left me wanting a deeper dive into the pain from which the craze originates. 

The LA wildfires left thousands of Eaton homes contaminated with toxic ash, forcing residents to choose between their health or their homes.

The vintage, dreamlike aesthetic feels more like Cali aloofness than intentional detachment, creating desensitizing distance between the audience and the Eaton victims. 

An experimental exploration of lichen, land, and coexistence in the Inuit territory of Nunavut. 

With just imagery and subtitled text, this no-dialogue short certainly stands out. But the visuals quickly stagnate, leaving this short feeling more like a student film than an official Sundance selection.

To truth,

<3 Julie

Reply

or to participate.