Sundance Film Festival kicks off on January 23 and runs through February 2 with a lineup of highly anticipated dramas, thrillers, comedies, animated films, and shorts programs.
The festival also plays host to a long list of documentaries, many of which are making their world premiere — and this year over 60% of the film’s programming is available online to stream.
Here are Good Good Good’s picks for this year’s top Sundance documentaries, with topics ranging from racial justice, disability advocacy, Indigenous rights, and the exhaustive fight for peace during wartime.
To learn more about streaming Sundance films online, you can visit the “How to Fest” section of the Sundance Festival website.
“How to Build a Library”
In Nairobi, two women — Shiro and Wachuka — turn a former “whites-only” library into a vibrant cultural hub and grapple with Kenya’s troubled political history in the process.
Directors Maia Lekow and Christopher King capture the heartbreak of looking back, and the strength of moving forward.
“As the library team sifts through archival images, they face conflicting emotions of anger and appreciation, grappling with what aspects of this colonial history should be remembered and what can be left behind,” noted programmer Stephanie Owens.
“When are compromises justified in the larger conversation about decolonization? The result is a nuanced exploration of legacy and reclamation that extends beyond the library’s walls.”
“Cutting Through Rocks (یولالر اوزاک)”
In this international documentary, viewers are introduced to Sara Shahverdi, the first elected councilwoman of her Iranian village.
Pushing back against generations of sexism, Shahverdi hopes to break cycles of violence and suppression by teaching young girls how to ride motorcycles — and ending child marriages.
“In their insightful debut feature documentary, co-directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni shine a light through simple observation on an extraordinarily tenacious individual,” wrote Sundance programmer Ania Trzebiatowska.
“We witness Sara’s many wins and joys, as well as her struggles and heartbreaking setbacks. Her greatest goal, which feels so basic yet radical in this context, is to give women the option to choose their path — or at a minimum, have a say in it.”
“Endless Cookie”
Two half-brothers Seth and Peter Scriver revisit their upbringing in an animated documentary that puts a surreal, dream-like twist on the difference between growing up white and growing up Indigenous.
Filled with humor and sincerity, this documentary covers the politics of the 1980s and today from the remote region of Shamattawa to bustling Toronto, Canada.
“Sharply observed and rooted in an Indigenous resistance to colonialism, ‘Endless Cookie’ is a smart, fun-to-watch documentary that sits gentle in its own skin,” observed programmer Shari Frilot. “Pete and Seth offer an oral history and a cosmic vision as they unravel their bittersweet testimonials of life under the Cacanada sun.”
“Seeds”
Director Brittany Shyne looks at Southern agriculture through a Black lens, exploring the cultural significance of owning land and driving home sobering statistics (Black farmers owned 16 million acres in 1910, but own just a fraction of that today).
“In her stunning directorial debut, Brittany Shyne crafts a poetic and poignant portrait of Black farmers in the American South,” praised Owens.
“With an intimate lens, Shyne immerses us in the rhythms of everyday life…wind through hair, candy from grandma’s purse, conversations through car windows — turning them into striking vignettes that honor the families’ connection to the land and each other.”
“Third Act”
Director Tadashi Nakamura captures the messy realities of grief in a loving ode to his father Robert A. Nakamura, who is also known as “the godfather of Asian American media” — after his dad is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“With Robert in the last stage of his life and Tad a father himself, Tad looks to the past and the future with a searching curiosity of what legacy means and how it can be lived,” wrote programmer Sudeep Sharma.
“With a poignant relevancy to this moment in American history, Third Act is an intimate and emotional story of the Asian American experience in its political, historic, personal, and artistic fullness.”
“Life After”
In 1983, a disabled woman named Elizabeth Bouvia sought the “right to die” in California — and then disappeared from the public eye.
In “Life After,” director Reid Davenport — who is disabled himself — digs into the history of Bouvia, who was quadriplegic, and explores a complex topic with sensitivity and poise.
“‘Life After’ looks closely and critically at where progressive values of bodily autonomy and individual choice collide with latent fears of disability and an unequal value of the lives of disabled people,” observed programmer Ash Hoyle.
“In doing so, Reid untangles an issue at the heart of our moral societal standing.”
“André Is an Idiot”
After putting off a colonoscopy for too long, André is handed a sobering diagnosis.
As he lives out the remainder of his life, director Tony Benna explores the temporal nature of life and the importance of living with urgency and passion.
“Creative, funny, and inappropriate, [André] approaches the story of what it feels like to know he will die with the same passion and excitement his loved ones know him for and expect,” wrote Sharma.
“‘André is an Idiot’ is a hilarious portrait of a unique human being who goes on the journey we all must go on and learns that endings, while heart-wrenching and final, can be an opportunity for gratitude and joy for the path taken.”
“Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore”
When Marlee Matlin became the first Deaf actor to win an Oscar, she was only 21.
In this documentary, Shoshannah Stern — a Deaf director and actress — captures the legacy and life of Matlin in an intimate portrait that is largely communicated in American Sign Language.
“Matlin and the filmmaker’s genuine understanding allows them to explore the good, the bad, and the traumatic throughout Matlin’s career,” programmer Ania Trzebiatowska expressed in their review.
“From the early days and major successes to her famously tumultuous high-profile relationship, to the years of being ignored and patronized by Hollywood, and on to getting sober and repeatedly changing the game for her community — with and without their approval.”
“Coexistence, My Ass!”
Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi grew up in Neve Shalom Wahat Al Salam ("Oasis of Peace"): a community where Jews and Palestinians live together by choice.
This documentary from director Amber Fares follows Eliassi as she tours her one-woman show and advocates for peace and equality in Israel and Palestine.
“The film documents not only the shifting perspective of Eliassi — a UN diplomat turned comedian — but also the unfolding realities in the region and the resulting seismically dynamic discourse surrounding it,” observed Hoyle.
“Audiences will come away with a laugh, a tear, and an openness that feels all together like both a salve and a kick in the ass.”
Image via 2025 Sundance Institute | photo by George Pimentel/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival
