Feb. 1, 2026, 4:17 p.m. ET
The movies at Sundance Film Festival‘s swan song in Park City, Utah, were very on theme for the event, celebrating independent cinema with familiar faces in challenging fare, quirky examinations of youth and fascinating documentaries.
We’ll have to see if any of this year’s slate reaches the level of Sundance’s greatest hits, films like “Get Out,” “Clerks” and best picture winner “CODA.” But the 2026 fest was ruled by “Josephine,” a family drama that picked up two major honors, the U.S. dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. dramatic audience award, and boasts Channing Tatum’s best performance yet.
As we await Sundance’s move to Colorado in 2027, here are the top 10 movies we saw at this year’s festival, ranked:
10. ‘Public Access’
In the 1970s, the wild and woolly New York public TV channels were the Internet before the Internet and made public access cool prior to “Wayne’s World.” David Shadrack Smith’s mesmerizing documentary chronicles how the shows’ free-for-all nature won over fans (and brought well-known figures like Debbie Harry to the programming), prompting free-speech fights but also creating an important cultural hub for the gay community.
9. ‘Carousel’
Divorced doctor Noah (Chris Pine) hasn’t seen his childhood sweetheart Rebecca (Jenny Slate) in years since she skipped town for D.C. When she returns to their Ohio hometown and becomes the debate coach for Noah’s daughter, they decide to give their relationship another go. However, their long time apart and family problems become obstacles and old issues arise again for the cute couple in a solid romantic drama about love and reconnection.
8. ‘Bedford Park’
In the romantic drama (which won a special jury award for debut feature), physical therapist Audrey (Moon Choi) moves back home to help her mother recover after a car accident. She also makes an unlikely new friend in Eli (Son Sukku), the mall security guard who hit her mom. With his car in the shop, Audrey drives Eli to work and school and the two grow closer as Audrey comes to grips with an abusive childhood and Eli wrestles with his shady past.
7. ‘Hot Water’
The gonzo road-trip dramedy stars Lubna Azabal as a Lebanese college professor who decides to drive her hockey-loving teen son (Daniel Zolghadri) from Indiana to California to live with her ex after the kid gets kicked out of school. Mother and youngster get personal for the first time in a while as she deals with a family issue back home, and the oddball twosome runs into various crazy situations, from one really smelly hitchhiker to a nudist colony.
6. ‘Extra Geography’
The clever teen comedy centers on Minna (Galaxie Clear) and Flic (Marni Duggan), top students and codependent besties at a British girls’ boarding school. In an effort to be more worldly, the pair decide to try being in love and to audition for a production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” However, their friendship is sorely tested when they vie for the affections of their geography teacher (Alice Englert) and get very different roles in the play.
5. ‘Broken English’
This loving tribute to Marianne Faithfull is the answer to boring rock docs and uninspired music biopics. Tilda Swinton and George MacKay play members of a fictional Ministry of Not Forgetting who chronicle the six-decade career of Faithfull and prove the singer and actress was more than just Mick Jagger’s girlfriend. Mostly filmed before her death last year, the movie lets Faithfull reminisce about her high-profile life and have one last song with Nick Cave.
4. ‘Run Amok’
Meg (Alyssa Marvin) lost her art-teacher mom in a devastating school shooting. A decade later, with the help of her lacrosse-playing cousin Penny (Sophia Torres), Meg is determined to pull off a high school musical re-creating those fateful six minutes. She begins to see different perspectives in the undertaking − including that of the shooter himself, much to the dismay of music teacher Mr. Shelby (Patrick Wilson) − in the thoughtful teen dramedy.
3. ‘The Incomer’
Domhnall Gleeson stars in the absurdist comedy as Daniel, a nerdy government official who arrives on a remote Scottish isle to let the lone inhabitants know they need to leave. The protective Isla (Gayle Rankin) and her man-child brother Sandy (Grant O’Rourke) have spent their life there and won’t go quietly. As this bird-brained trio spend time together, hearts and minds are changed in an enjoyably daft narrative exploring family, fantasy and folklore.
2. ‘Rock Springs’
The rare horror movie that’s an outstandingly freaky mix of family drama and tragic historical tale. The recent death of her husband leads Emily (Kelly Marie Tran) to moving her young daughter and Chinese mother-in-law to a Wyoming coal-mining town. Both mom and kid are forced to face a dark presence around them as they deal with ghosts of their own past in a haunted place forever marked by racism and a brutal massacre.
1. ‘Josephine’
The standout family drama digs into a parent’s worst nightmare as well as innocence lost. An 8-year-old girl (Mason Reeves) and her father (Channing Tatum) are in a park on a soccer outing when she witnesses a young woman being raped. In the aftermath, the kid exhibits bad behavior and asks hard questions, with dad and mom (Gemma Chan) at a loss to help when she’s asked to testify in a jury trial. Reeves turns in a heartbreaking performance, Tatum is at the height of his talents and Philip Ettinger is also great as the assailant who becomes a phantom-like figure in the child’s mind.
