Get to Know This Summer’s Filmmakers Through These 12 Sundance Films

(L–R) Writer-director Hannah Pearl Utt and co-writer Jen Tullock star as sisters in “Before You Know It,” which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

By Lucy Spicer

Summer is just around the corner, and with it comes the time-honored tradition of beating the heat by losing yourself in a new story inside a darkened movie theater (or through a streaming service on your couch, take your pick). 

This summer’s lineup of films runs the gamut — a music documentary, a historical drama, a video game adventure, a classic disaster movie sequel, an absurdist anthology, and much more. And a dozen of their filmmakers have ties to Sundance Institute. 

So before you book your tickets to their new releases, why not familiarize yourself with these filmmakers’ earlier Sundance-supported works?

Combining previously unseen footage with both archival and contemporary interviews, Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny’s documentary celebrates the history of The Beach Boys, whose iconic harmonies and lyrics made them one of the most influential bands in pop music. Streaming on Disney+ May 24.

Told in his own words as well as those of close family and friends, this multipart series traces the legendary career of Willie Nelson — spanning an impressive seven decades — and paints a portrait of the man’s legacy in music, philanthropy, and activism. Directed by Zimny and Oren Moverman, the series premiered in its entirety at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Check viewing options here.

Academy Award–winning director Ron Howard chronicles the life of filmmaker and puppeteer Jim Henson, whose tireless imagination created characters that continue to be beloved by all ages today, over 30 years after Henson’s passing. The new documentary features interviews with Henson’s family and collaborators, including fellow puppeteer Frank Oz. Streaming on Disney+ May 31.

On November 18, 2018, the town of Paradise was almost entirely destroyed by the deadliest wildfire in California’s history. Howard’s poignant film bears witness to both the trauma and resilience of the town’s residents as they attempt to rebuild their community. Featuring a score composed by Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer, the documentary premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Check viewing options here.

Cora (Megan Stalter) hasn’t had much luck launching her music career in Los Angeles, and her long-distance open relationship with girlfriend Justine (Jojo T. Gibbs) isn’t thriving, either. When it looks as though Justine may have fallen in love with someone else, Cora travels to Portland in an attempt to revive her love life and prove to everyone back home that she’s fine, thank you very much. Director Hannah Pearl Utt’s comedy-drama also stars Manny Jacinto, Chelsea Peretti, Darrell Hammond, and Margaret Cho. In theaters June 14.

Rachel (played by Utt, who also co-wrote the film with co-star Jen Tullock) and her eccentric family own and operate a small theater in New York City where her playwright father (Mandy Patinkin) performs his own works. The already dysfunctional family is thrown into chaos when a tragic loss reveals a bombshell: Rachel’s presumed-dead mother is alive and working as a soap-opera star. Supported by Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, Utt’s feature directorial debut premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Check viewing options here.

As the sixth wife of Henry VIII (Jude Law), Katherine Parr (Alicia Vikander) is in a precarious position. Not only must she balance her responsibilities as regent while the increasingly volatile king is fighting abroad, but she also has to contend with religious unrest from figures like the formidable Anne Askew (Erin Doherty). Director Karim Aïnouz’s first English-language film is an adaptation of Elizabeth Fremantle’s novel Queen’s Gambit, written for the screen by sisters Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth. In theaters June 14.

Supported by a Sundance Documentary Film Grant in 2018, Aïnouz’s documentary follows a year in the life of asylum seekers temporarily living in an unexpected place for a refugee camp — Berlin Tempelhof Airport, which had been reconstructed in the 1930s as a symbol of Hitler’s Germania. Check viewing options here.

Screened in the Spotlight section of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Nichols’ coming-of-age film Mud follows teenage boys Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) and their unlikely friendship with charismatic vagrant Mud (Matthew McConaughey). Mud is lying low in an abandoned boat on a small Mississippi River island, waiting for his girlfriend, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). As the boys help to orchestrate a reunion, they discover a murkier side of their community. Check viewing options here.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos is back with more absurdist dark humor, and this time it’s three for one. Lanthimos’ new anthology film stars Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, and Mamoudou Athie, with every actor playing three different characters: one in each of the three loosely connected fables. In theaters June 21.

Coupledom is law, and David (Colin Farrell) is newly single. In order to find a mate, David goes to a resort where residents have 45 days to enter a relationship or else be transformed into an animal of their choice — in David’s case, a lobster. This unsettling dark comedy, which screened at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, is Lanthimos’ first English-language film. Check viewing options here.

Scream queen Mia Goth is back as aspiring actress Maxine in the third installment of writer-director Ti West’s X series. A direct sequel to X, the first film in the series, MaXXXine finds the main character continuing her pursuit of fame in 1980s Los Angeles after surviving a harrowing film shoot in Texas. If the cutthroat entertainment industry wasn’t brutal enough, Maxine also has to watch out for the infamous Night Stalker serial killer. In theaters July 5.