The Sundance Film Festival is Where the Best Documentaries Thrive
by Alex Billington
February 5, 2025
Year after year, the Sundance Film Festival in Utah continues to be one of the most important launching grounds for documentary films. They’ve been programming & featuring some of the finest documentaries ever made throughout their 40+ year history. But most of these doc films (or docs for short) rarely get much attention. Some critics ignore them; the media only covers the few they can turn into topical stories. While most screenings are full, it’s hard to get anyone to care about many of these doc films after their premiere. It’s one of the best aspects of the Sundance Film Festival – many other major fests like Cannes and Venice and AFI Fest always push docs to the side. A few will make the cut, but not enough, and most of these fests don’t have sections specifically to showcase docs in their own category. Above all else, the overall quality of doc films that Sundance shows is exceptional – they bring in the best of the best every single year. It’s quite exciting. One of my colleagues Anthony Kaufman just wrote an article for the International Documentary Association claiming that “Sundance May Now Be the World’s Most Important Documentary Launchpad.” I’m inclined to agree and after this year’s festival also have to comment on how amazing the docs have been.
Reflecting on the Sundance 2025 experience, many of the most intriguing discoveries throughout were docs. I watched a total of 54 films during the 2025 festival and compared to the narrative features, docs are still going strong. There were only a couple I didn’t care for. My #1 favorite film of the festival is Folktales, the latest doc creation from the super talented doc filmmakers Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady. I was so emotional throughout the entire world premiere screening, which was held in the infamous Library Theater, the exact same venue where I watched The Deepest Breath two years prior and was just as emotional, crying tears right up until the credits. I’ve been covering Sundance for 19 years and have quite a few strong memories of being amazed, shocked, blown away, infuriated, bewildered and/or fascinated by docs of all kinds: Finders Keepers, West of Memphis, American Teen, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, The Battered Bastards of Baseball, Life Animated, Chasing Coral, Catfish (the original doc!), The Edge of Democracy, Honeyland, American Factory, Exit Through the Gift Shop. Of course, I don’t love every doc I see there, but nonetheless it’s a testament to their programming team’s ability to find and bring in so many outstanding doc features.
Sundance has a long history of featuring exceptional documentaries of all kinds. They’re already known for being a prestigious festival that nurtures and celebrates non-fiction work, and they continue to be one of the most important places for these films. Here’s a tiny selection of some of the most iconic docs to premiere at Sundance over the years: Sherman’s March, For All Mankind, A Brief History of Time, American Movie, Super Size Me, Paradise Lost trilogy, The Kid Stays in the Picture, March of the Penguins, An Inconvenient Truth, Man on Wire, Capturing the Friedmans, Restrepo, We Live in Public, Minding the Gap, The Cove, Searching for Sugar Man, Icarus, Navalny, Exit Through the Gift Shop, and many others. The festival even published their own article back in 2023 titled the Sundance Institute Has Long History of Oscar-Winning Documentaries, highlighting the numerous films that went on to win Academy Awards. Browsing through the various films playing in either of their two Documentary Competition sections or in the main Premieres or Next categories, it’s likely that one of these will go on to win the Oscar. Some docs take even more time and effort and work than narrative features – years of research, thousands of hours of footage that must be put together, chasing interviews all over the world, finalizing (and getting legal approval) the film to be cinematic. After two decades of covering Sundance, I have nothing but respect for documentary filmmaking.
Another example of how powerful documentaries are is the Festival Favorite Award winner for 2025. In addition to the Audience Awards in the competition categories (full list of winners), this “Festival Favorite” prize is given to ANY film that plays at the festival as chosen by anyone at the screenings. The winning film for 2025 was Come See Me in the Good Light, a doc film about poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley dealing with a cancer diagnosis. In addition, four of the five runner-ups were docs: Deaf President Now! (which I also loved), The Alabama Solution, Andre is an Idiot (another favorite), Prime Minister about New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern. All of these are must watch docs. And it goes to show that audiences at the festival are also recognizing how important and incredible the documentary film selection is. Only one of the six films listed in the Festival Favorite picks was a narrative feature (The Ballad of Wallis Island). Kim Yutani, the Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming, commenting on the doc winner: “Throughout the Festival we saw audiences moved by Andrea Gibson’s and Megan Falley’s journeys in Come See Me in the Good Light. Festival goers embraced the humor and heartbreak of this intimate documentary directed by Ryan White, as it speaks to art and love and reminds us what it means to be alive as we face mortality.”
I can easily go on and on talking about many of the great docs from this year’s festivals. I can even chat about the few of them I didn’t care for, and why they are still interesting even if they are flawed or boring. I highly recommend the Sally Ride (first American woman in space) film called Sally; the music doc Move Ya Body: The Birth of House is good but didn’t leave a lasting impression; all the critics are flipping out over The Perfect Neighbor which is an exhilarating film to sit through; the music biopic doc It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is fantastic; Questlove’s Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is okay but it gets tedious; the best surprise was Middletowm (read my full review); comedian doc Coexistence, My Ass! is a worthy watch; GEN_ is heartbreaking and also quite moving; and I have been telling many people to see Cutting Through Rocks about a badass Iranian woman who’s challenging their patriarchal society. There is also Reid Davenport’s fascinating Life After, a doc about Canada’s right to die, made by a disabled filmmaker who examines this tricky topic with such a great amount of intelligence and compassion.
The most important message: watch more documentaries. There’s always so many to discover. You may end up loving one of the docs I hated, or you may dislike one of my favorites. I always suggest focusing on topics that sound interesting to you, as that will make sure you’re drawn into the story. Pat Mullen wrote an article for POV Magazine about the 2025 Sundance Documentary Report: See Them in a Good Light. He comments on “Sundance’s 2025 documentary slate boasts many committed political docs, a diversity of perspectives, and engaging takes on social issues.” He also mentions a few more that deserve attention: Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore about the Deaf actress; Seeds about Black farmers; and Selena y Los Dinos about Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla. I’m so glad that Sundance is a festival that gives docs a chance to shine on the same platform and with the same attention as all of the narrative features. I’ve covered doc specific fests like CPH:DOX, IDFA, DOC:NYC and others and they’re wonderful festivals, though their selections in the past few years have been lackluster. Wherever I can find them, wherever you can watch them, take the time to appreciate & celebrate documentaries. And not just the ones Netflix plays – seek out real innovative work.
If you’re lucky to have a chance to attend Sundance and catch some films playing, always make time for the documentaries in the line-up. I’m glad there’s such a wide range of styles to choose from – experimental and conventional, personal and global, heartfelt and humorous. I’m always delighted that Sundance feels like a vibrant place where doc films can shine, where they are embraced and discussed. And I hope audiences all over the world continue to appreciate Sundance docs and spread the word about the ones that really matter.
 |
Article by:Source: Alex Billington
