It’s that time of year – the time when folks goes to Utah to check out today what could be the films others will be talking about tomorrow. As a celebration of Sundance’s first 40? The institute chose their top ten films that got their start at the Festival. And it’s an incredible list!

Read on for all the info straight from Sundance!

Park City, Utah – Today, in advance of the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival kicking off on January 18, the nonprofit Sundance Institute is commemorating the four decades of extraordinary independent filmmaking presented at the Festival with the results of a survey taken by the filmmaking communities on their top ten feature films that have screened at the Festival since it began in 1985.


In honor of this milestone Festival, filmmakers, critics, and industry members shared their personal top 10 lists. Over 500 people participated — pouring over the nearly 4,000 feature films that have been presented at the Festival — and below is the collective top 10 list of the Sundance Film Festival films that have touched hearts and changed lives.


The 2024 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 18–28, 2024, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles available online nationwide from January 25–28, 2024. This year marks the 40th edition of the Festival, bringing together audiences in Utah and beyond to celebrate Sundance’s rich history of supporting engaging new stories and groundbreaking independent artists. Tickets are on sale now at festival.sundance.org.


What from the 2024 Festival will make the top ten list in the future?


40th Edition All Time Top Ten Films Selected by the Filmmaking Community


10. Blood Simple (1985), Joel and Ethan Coen

9. Y tu mamá también (2002), Alfonso Cuarón

8. Boyhood (2014), Richard Linklater

7. Before Sunrise (1995), Richard Linklater

6. sex, lies and videotape (1989), Steven Soderbergh

5. Memento (2001), Christopher Nolan

4. Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

3. Get Out (2017), Jordan Peele

2. Reservoir Dogs (1992), Quentin Tarantino

1. Whiplash (2014), Damien Chazelle


About the films and the filmmakers whose features were selected as the personal favorite films from the filmmaking community:

Blood Simple was the debut feature film of Joel and Ethan Coen and won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic.

Richard Linklater directed two of the ten films selected.

sex, lies and videotape was the debut feature film of Steven Soderbergh and won the Audience Award: Dramatic.

Memento won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Christopher Nolan.

Get Out was the debut feature film of Jordan Peele.

Reservoir Dogs was the debut feature film of Quentin Tarantino.

Whiplash won the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic and the Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic.

Share your top 10 films that have screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Maybe they challenged you, thrilled you, made you cry, laugh, and see the world differently. What ten films for you best represent the breadth, diversity, artistic resonance, social, political, or cultural impact of independent storytelling that have screened at the Sundance Film Festival?

The Sundance Film Festival®

The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the nonprofit, Sundance Institute, is the pre-eminent gathering of original storytellers and audiences seeking new voices and fresh perspectives. Since 1985, hundreds of films launched at the Festival have gone on to gain critical acclaim and reach new audiences worldwide. The Festival has introduced some of the most groundbreaking films and episodic works of the past three decades, including Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, Fair Play, A Thousand and One, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Rye Lane, Navalny, Fire of Love, Flee, CODA, Passing, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Minari, Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, O.J.: Made in America, On the Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Top of the Lake, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me by Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs, and sex, lies, and videotape.

The program consists of fiction and nonfiction features and short films, series and episodic content, innovative storytelling, and performances, as well as conversations, and other events. The Festival takes place in person in Utah, as well as online, connecting audiences to bold new artists and films.

The 2024 Festival will be held January 18–28, 2024. Be a part of the Festival at festival.sundance.org and follow the Festival on Facebook,Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), andYouTube.

Facebook: @Sundance Film Festival

X: @sundancefest

Instagram: @sundanceorg

Linkedin: @sundanceorg

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