The Playlist: Are you excited about this year’s crop of potential acquisition films? Do you think that distributors will get excited about these projects as compared to years past?
Heidi Zwicker: I think we are excited. I think the exact sort of things we’ve been talking about is that there are films with a lot of energy. We have films with humor and some great genre films. I do think there’s a lot of selection across the program in US competition in Midnight films that I think will really pop, and we’ll definitely have an audience that distributors will respond to. So I am optimistic.
Basil Tsiokos: I mean, as much as we can be with the marketplace as it is. As I like to say, the marketplace has changed. Things will sell. It just takes longer. They won’t necessarily be like seven or eight films being sold within the first weekend, as it was traditionally back in the day. That’s “O.K.,” though. I think we need to get away from the idea that that is what to expect. We are not expecting that. I don’t think anybody should be expecting that necessarily.
Heidi Zwicker: But it is funny because that’s something that’s been changing over such a long time, and yet every year every filmmaker comes thinking, “Will my film have the all-night bidding war?” And for 95% of the slate, that’s just not what the reality is anymore.
The Playlist: I was going to say, it doesn’t happen at any festival anymore, really.
Basil Tsiokos: Exactly, exactly what I was going to say. And yet many of these films will find some connection to an audience down the road at some point, whether that is doing a festival circuit for a little while or getting picked up within a few weeks or a few months after the festival. We still believe in the idea of theatrical. We still believe, obviously, in the idea of these films selling. We want to introduce these to audiences and to distributors. It’s just a different world.
The Playlist: Sundance has always been a hub for LGBTQ+ films. I know “Leviticus” is one film that is queer themed. Everyone is excited about it in Australia, but outside of that, it feels like it’s a little less than last year, at least narratively. Outside of the Billie Jean and Griner docs, am I wrong?
Basil Tsiokos: There’s a lot of docs for sure. On the narrative side, we have “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Extra Geography,” “I Want Your Sex,” “LADY,” and “Tell Me Everything.” And then definitely on the doc side, we’ve got “Barbara Forever,” Brittney Griner, the Billie Jean King film, “Jaripeo.” That’s a fantastic documentary that you’ll want to check out. “TheyDream” is another one. And there’s a big chunk of LGBT content in “Public Access” in the U.S. documentary competition. It’s not the main thing about the film, but it is a portion of it for sure. We don’t have a checklist of like, “O.K., we need to have 12 queer films or whatever.” We love, of course, to be able to do that. And, historically, we have had lots of queer content, just kind of what jumps out at us. And I feel good about the queer content of this year’s festival for sure. I mean, it’s a little different than maybe in the past, but there are definitely things for queer audiences to sink their teeth into. And I will for sure agree that I enjoyed the hell out of that film, [“Leviticus.”] It’s a great film.
The Playlist: Sundance dominated the Film Independent Spirit Award nominations once again. Rose Byrne looks like she potentially might get an Oscar nomination for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” And obviously “Train Dreams,” I think, will land a Best Picture nomination, which will be fantastic. How do you guys feel about how last year’s films have resonated throughout the year and with audiences? And then how do you feel about this year’s crop?
Heidi Zwicker: First of all, we’re so proud of the way that some of these films have resonated. I mean, “If I had Legs I’d Kick You” is such a stressful nightmare of a movie, so that people are really taking to it is awesome, and “Train Dreams” is beautiful, and it’s what we hoped would happen with a movie like that. So, we’re just thrilled with their success. I think this year there’s that I’m very excited for people to discover, both by established talent and some newcomers, that I think I am excited for people to discover their work as I discovered them for the first time in these films. I think it’s a good mix. But yeah, when I look at Seth Rogen and Penelope Cruz in “The Invite,” I think those are great kind of heavy comedic performances that people really meaty performances that people respond to. But they’re across the program. In the U.S. competition, we have a feature that is based on a short we played a few years ago called “Take Me Home.” And the director, Liz Sergeant, her sister has a disability, so she is very committed to actually portraying what life with a disability looks like. And her sister, Anna Sergeant, is the lead in the film. She carries the film, and I think people will really, really be impressed and moved by her performance.
Basil Tsiokos: Docs historically have done really well for us in the Oscar race and every other sort of documentary race out there. I feel good. Again, to echo what Heidi said, I’m so happy that films like “The Perfect Neighbor” and “Come See Me In The Good Light” have done so well. And that resonates with many others as well, like “2000 Meters to Rifka” and “Alabama Solutions,” etc. So, I feel good about this year’s crop that there will be films that will be standouts for audiences and for critics, and that they will have the staying power to again make it to around this time next year and hopefully resonate with the Academy voters and other bodies of voters.
The Playlist: “The Perfect Neighbor” was the number one film on Netflix in many territories around the world, including the U.S. How did you guys react to that in the virtual offices of Sundance? What did that mean to the festival and the programmers?
Basil Tsiokos: That film was so special, and we just knew that we wanted to give it a platform. And it’s a hard film. Just hearing about what it is and watching and experiencing it. It is just so validating that people have actually tuned in to Netflix and said, “I’m going to watch this difficult film because it’s important and it’s also really well crafted.” It’s not just an important film. It is actually a really well-made film. So I think that to have it sort of reach that kind of audience speaks to so many things, speaks to Netflix’s reach, speaks to the importance of this subject of this topic and of audiences wanting to see it and wanting to understand it. So, I’m happy for Geeta Gandbhir, I’m happy for her team, and for the family that this film has resonated in that way.
The Playlist: How excited were you guys when A24 came with CharlieXCX’s “The Moment” to give you guys a potential pop culture moment for the last time in Park City?
Heidi Zwicker: It’s incredibly exciting, and it’s such a fun movie, and it’s a good movie. It’s a ride. It’s a totally cool satire. Alexander Skarsgard is hilarious in it, but it’s also, I think, in some way a genuine reflection of how she views her meteoric rise to fame. And so it’s everything we could have wanted it to be. We’re super excited. And it’s also crazy that she’s also in two other films at the festival. It’s such a smart film.
The Playlist: Remember when there used to be the Queen of Sundance? It was Parker Posey, it was Maggie Gyllenhaal one year. Kristen Stewart. She’s the queen of Sundance this year.
Basil Tsiokos: Right? It’s true. It’s true. Yeah. But to Heidi’s point, there could be a version of this kind of project, not for Charli, just anybody, this kind of a vanity piece or whatever. This is just so smart. It is put together really well. It’s so engaging the whole time. It is done in this sort of satirical, almost not a mockumentary. It feels like it could be real. I think audiences are going to really love this film. It has such great energy, humor, as Heidi said, and it does feel kind of very true to life, very genuine. So, we’re excited.
The Playlist: Last but not least, off the top of your head, your favorite memory at Sundance and Park City ever. What pops?
Basil Tsiokos: For me, the most memorable, because I’m a crybaby sometimes, and I was called in last minute to do the world premiere Q&A for “Beasts of the Southern Wild” at the Eccles. And I’d seen the film and all that, but I forget, a senior program programmer had a conflict or whatever, so they’re just like, “Go do it.” And the energy in that room was absolutely ridiculous. The music, everything about it, I had to compose myself as I was trying to introduce the talent to the stage to do the Q&A. Seeing a sort of career and a film sort of pop that massively was just something really special.
The Playlist: How about you, Heidi?
Heidi Zwicker: The first few years I worked for Sundance, I was a screener. I didn’t come to the festival. And when I came to the festival first time, I was overwhelmed. I’m an introvert. I’m like, “This is a lot. I dunno if this is for me.” And I was hanging out with one of the films in Next, a small film called “Bellflower.” And I happened to be hanging out with them when they got the call that they got distribution for their film. And right before my eyes, watching their life change, I was like, “Oh, I absolutely get what is magical about this festival right now.”
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 22–February 1, 2026, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. The at-home program is available online from January 29–February 1, 2026.
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