The 20 most unforgettable Sundance films ever

What makes a cult classic? Well, is a prime example. It’s a film that was released to no fanfare, mild excitement and tepid box office but gained in notoriety as the years went by. A devoted loud few implored others to check it out. Its reputation built on repeat viewings on VHS, streaming and in repertory theaters. It even inspired a short-lived Broadway musical. And all of this started at Sundance in January 2000. Directed by Mary Harron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Guinevere Turner and based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho is a pointed and sharp satire of American consumerism and the “” culture that had its heyday in the 1980s. Its anti-hero Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale, who took it on after Leonardo DiCaprio passed) has become the poster boy for a certain type of scruples-free corporate go-getter, ensuring that this film’s legacy lives on. [Murtada Elfadl]

Following, Christopher Nolan’s first feature, was shot on weekends over the course of a year, but its ingenious plot and visual style drew enough attention for him to finance Memento, which was an instant sensation. The film, which made its U.S. premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, features a structure that is utterly novel: the hero suffers from a form of amnesia that allows him no more than 15 minutes of continuous experience before essentially wiping out that 15 minutes and resetting to an earlier state. To see the action as he experiences it, Nolan gives us a series of scenes presented in reverse order that are intercut with shorter scenes that progress forward. The result is one of the greatest puzzle films ever made. It’s never dull, but it takes multiple viewings to figure out exactly what the hell is going on. One would never have predicted the trajectory of Nolan’s subsequent career: After revitalizing a worn-out franchise in Batman Begins, he began making hugely expensive, successful blockbusters, only a few of which—Inception and Interstellar, in particular—dealt with the sort of challenging issues that made Memento such an indelible experience. [Andy Klein]

In the years since its release, Garden State’s reputation has unfairly lost a bit of its luster, overwhelmed by the omnipresence of its lilting alt-rock soundtrack (cue The Shins’ “New Slang) and assailed by revisionist cultural critics mostly for what it’s decidedly not. In its tackling and assessment of depression, youthful ambivalence and delayed-onset adulthood, however, Scrubs star Zach Braff’s feature writing and directorial debut still feels on-target—and in many ways prescient, offering up a compelling snapshot of the same type of debilitating emotional dislocation that fuels so much of the daily churn of social media. Following its premiere at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Garden State was purchased for $5 million, double its production budget. It went on to gross over $35 million in its theatrical run, and that aforementioned soundtrack won a Grammy Award. Even if Braff (whose latest effort, A Good Person, starring Florence Pugh, releases in March) hasn’t quite blossomed into a bonafide auteur, his debut film helped plant a commercial flag for the soul-searching work of aspiring young writer-directors, and remains a smart, engaging look at quarter-life confusion. (Brent Simon)

We have Sundance to thank for , and by extension for tater tots, quesadillas, “Vote for Pedro” shirts, ligers, side ponytails, the “Canned Heat” dance, and saying “Your mom goes to college.” One of the most ubiquitous cult hits of the 2000s, one that’s spawned endless amounts of merch, pop culture references, and Halloween costumes, Napoleon Dynamite is a true Sundance success story. In 2002, Jared Hess made a short film called Peluca for a college assignment. The film was accepted into the 2003 Sundance Film Festival where it caught the eyes of producers. Peluca was then expanded to the feature length Napoleon Dynamite, which arrived the following year to Sundance without distribution. It was snatched up by Fox Searchlight and given a very limited release, but the quirky masterpiece quickly found an audience to become one of the most quoted films of all time. Now if you’ll excuse me, “TINA. YOU FAT LARD! Come get some dinner!” [Matthew Huff]

The gory thriller that caused pundits to cry “torture porn!” and launched the career of James Wan, as well as the most convoluted franchise narrative in horror history, actually borrows its central hook from the original Mad Max: in a time crunch, will a shackled victim attempt to saw through his chain, or, more efficiently, his own leg? It’s a “would you rather” dilemma so visceral that the Watchmen comics had already cribbed it previously. Using the aesthetics of industrial music videos, and a score by Charlie Clouser, director Wan and co-creator Leigh Whannell constructed a twisty, mildly preposterous narrative that, unlike its more soap opera-esque sequels, remains genuinely creepy. Keeping its mastermind and his key minion mostly in the shadows, the film focuses on figuring out clues and using self-mutilation to stay alive. Cast solely on the strength of his voice, Tobin Bell became a complicated horror icon so popular that even death couldn’t stop his return in infinite follow-up flashbacks that continue to this day. [Luke Y. Thompson]

, about a dysfunctional but endearing family of misfits, helped widen the already considerable spotlight on the festival when it premiered at Sundance in January 2006. The film proved to be an instant hit with the Sundance crowd, as enthusiastic word of mouth reached back to Hollywood, leading to one of the biggest acquisitions in the festival’s history at that point. Fox Searchlight picked up the film for $10 million, and it went on to gross $101 million worldwide and score four Academy Award nominations. In addition to Michael Arndt’s win for Best Original Screenplay, co-star Alan Arkin also won for Best Supporting Actor. Moreover, Sunshine would raise the bar on indie darlings-turned-mainstream-crossovers and it would inspire studio execs to spend the next few years looking for projects that could replicate its success. Some movies came close (think Juno), but most only reinforced how unique and special Little Miss Sunshine really was. [Phil Pirello]

Before premiered at Sundance in January 2010, no one knew who Jennifer Lawrence was. She had made appearances in TV shows like Medium and Cold Case and had a supporting role on The Bill Engvall Show. But it was her performance as Ree Dolly, a teenager in rural Missouri trying to protect her siblings and make ends meet, that made her an immediate star. The film’s awards journey started at Sundance where it won the grand jury prize. At the Oscars, Lawrence received a best actress nomination to go along with the film’s three other nods (best picture, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for John Hawkes). A year later, Lawrence was cast in The Hunger Games and the rest is history. This marks perhaps the only time that a Sundance debut launched an actual bonafide movie star with box office chops. Director Debra Granik went on to introduce another searing young talent—Thomasin McKenzie—with her 2018 film, Leave No Trace. [Murtada Elfadl]

The major careers that this small film launched are no less than Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan. Based on the true story of how the Bay Area police murdered Oscar Grant, a young Black man out with friends on New Year’s 2009, premiered at Sundance in January 2013. At the time, Octavia Spencer, fresh off her Oscar for 2011’s The Help, was the biggest name in the cast. Jordan was known for his critically acclaimed performances in The Wire and Friday Night Lights, but this marked Coogler’s film debut as a director. After it premiered, Fruitvale Station was immediately pegged as a Sundance breakout destined for the mainstream and awards season, like Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Precious (2010) and later, Coda (2021). Fruitvale Station didn’t quite reach those heights but its legacy remains potent because it launched these two careers, without whom we wouldn’t have Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018) or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2021). [Murtada Elfadl]

While is not Damien Chazelle’s directorial debut (that would be his black-and-white indie musical Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench), it certainly is the film that launched him to stardom, and Sundance is the festival that launched that film. As with many features from fledgling directors, Whiplash began as a short. The 18-minute film about a drummer and his abusive conductor premiered at Sundance, where it won a jury award and gathered enough attention to garner feature-length treatment. Chazelle’s full-length masterpiece returned the following year in the opening night slot, was quickly bought by Sony Pictures Classics, and was given a year-long awards campaign culminating in three Oscars, a Best Picture nomination, and Chazelle’s first Oscar nod for the screenplay. With 2016’s La La Land, Chazelle became the youngest Best Director Oscar winner, cementing himself as one of cinema’s finest young auteurs. [Matthew Huff]

Jordan Peele’s transition from comedy great to rising horror auteur was always going to be something everyone watched closely, but even with tremendous hype in the lead-up to its debut, the world wasn’t quite ready for what had to offer. We expected something funny, smart, and well-crafted from one-half of the Peabody-winning Key & Peele duo, but what we got went beyond those adjectives and into another realm. Premiering with a midnight screening at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Get Out’s story of a young Black man (Daniel Kaluuya) finding more than he bargained for at the house of his white girlfriend’s parents delivered the scares, then went further, steeping every moment in multiple meanings until it emerged as one of the most psychologically and thematically satisfying horror films in recent memory. The horror world has never been the same since, and Peele has only gotten better and more ambitious. [Matthew Jackson]