“Sorry Baby”
Director: Eva Victor
Cast: Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack
Premiere Date: Monday, January 27
Lowdown: A young college professor (Victor) deals with the lingering effects of an incident that occurred when she was a grad student in the same school. Victor initially made a name for herself creating videos for Comedy Central. Her directorial debut’s producers are the Oscar and Peabody-winning ream of Adele Romanski and Barry Jenkins. Acquisition Title
“Atropia”
Director: Hailey Gates
Cast: Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Chloë Sevigny, Tim Heidecker, Jane Levy
Premiere Date: Saturday, January 25
Lowdown: Gates wrote and directed this war satire which finds Shawkat portraying an actress cast in Atropia, an “invented city constructed to exercise Western imaginations and soldiers. Mostly home to war games rendered in dazzling 4D (smells included).” Luca Guadaginino is a producer but does not appear to be coming to Park City for the premiere.
Acquisition Title
“Rebuilding”
Director: Max Walker-Silverman
Cast: Josh O’Connor, Lily LaTorre, Meghann Fahy, Kali Reis, Amy Madigan
Premiere Date: Sunday, January 26
Lowdown: More timely than expected, this drama finds O’Connor as a rancher trying to, um, rebuild after a wildfire destroys the family farm. Walker-Silverman earned two Independent Spirit Awards nominations for his previous film, 2022’s “A Love Song,” which also debuted at Sundance.
Acquisition Title
“Twinless”
Director: James Sweeney,
Cast: Dylan O’Brien, James Sweeney, Lauren Graham, Aisling Franciosi, Tasha Smith, Chris Perfetti.
Premiere Date: Thursday, January 23
Lowdown: Sweeney plays a twin who meets O’Brien’s character at a twin bereavement group (Sweeny has a living twin in real life). Yes, it’s a dark comedy, and this is a big festival jump for Sweeney, whose last film, 2019 “Straight Up,” was a hit on the Gay Film Festival circuit after debuting at Frameline. This is a prime opening-day acquisition target.
Acquisition Title
“Bubble & Squeak”
Director: Evan Twoy
Cast: Himesh Patel, Sarah Goldberg, Steven Yeun, Dave Franco, Matt Berry
Premiere Date: Friday, January 24
Lowdown: Patel and Goldberg are a couple on the run after being accused of bringing cabbages into a European country that bans them. Can their love survive? Yeun co-stars and is also a producer alongside the Oscar-nominated Christine Oh.
Acquisition Title
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival screens from Thursday, January 23 – Sunday, February 2. Look for complete coverage on The Playlist.
Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
