The 5 best films we saw at Sundance 2026

We want to talk to you about the best stuff we saw at Sundance. We weren't there in person but

we hit it on the online so let's get into it. Number five, Mom I'm alien pregnant. It's about

a slacker who accidentally gets pregnant with a alien child and she doesn't want it. It's from

the writing directing team out of New Zealand called Thunder Lips and I feel like you're in

or you're not right? I feel like too often lately we're getting like pitched crazy concepts for

movies and then the movie's not as crazy as we want them to be. Like you know Anaconda

but bum I'm alien pregnant man it it makes that promise and it goes there like in moments I was

like are they gonna show the alien genitalia yeah they are they're gonna show the any alien genitalia

but it's actually a really funny movie about like motherhood there's a mother-daughter bond as she

tries to figure out what's going on with like her body with her own mother it's also about bodily

autonomy but it managed to do all these things in a deeply silly story that just kept making me go

wait, what now? Number four for me, very different energy, is Everybody to Kinmer Street. This is a

documentary and it's about something that happened in 2021 in Scotland where their immigration

task force descended on a neighborhood and grabbed two men who were on their way to a mosque for a

high holiday. And a man walking down the street who knew neither of the other men saw what was

happening and got under the van and wrapped himself around the axle so they couldn't drive away

That allowed time for the neighbors to come out and see what was going on and everybody

It's the biggest act of civil activism that Scotland had seen in a very long time And it a very inspiring movie about what it means to be a neighbor and what it means to you know help your neighbor And it was a movie that made me feel a lot of hope

If you are looking for something that can restore your faith in humanity, this is a pretty good movie for that, honestly

So look for it. Number three for me is Run Amok, who, which is a much sweeter but still very dark comedy

about a nerdy high school girl who is trying to make sense of the school shooting that took her

mother's life 10 years before by creating a public performance. Her thought process is that she's

learned in class that like art can be a place for group catharsis. And so she genuinely earnestly

wants to create something that everyone can help process this thing that happened to them. And maybe

she, who is really little when this happened, can better understand what happened to her and what

happened to her mom. And it's very sweet. And it sounds like it would be really tear jerky

But it's not because it focuses on this deeply nerdy girl and her cousin who's a little bit cooler than her and them reconnecting through art

But then there's a conflict because what these teenagers decide is how they can best express how they feel about what happened is not in line with how grownups feel they should be processing it

It actually becomes a really incredible story about how we need art to process the things that are hard

and whether it's something we're making ourselves or something we're witnessing, it can give us the space to act out those emotions that maybe your day-to-day life just doesn't feel

like it's going to give you room for. And I really, really love that about Run Amok

That kind of ties into number two another story about trauma and storytelling The Incomer This one is the broadest comedy I watched and the one that while still dealing with dark subject matter was definitely the silliest It is about two siblings who when they were children were left alone on a desert island by their parents

Not a great situation, but they were tasked with surviving on the island and keeping away incomers

and so when Dinal Gleeson shows up as a pencil pusher who really likes Lord of the Rings and

wizards they try to chase him off with weaponry like blunt objects and dressing as birds and like

you had me there I'm in I'm interested but it becomes this really interesting story about the

stories we tell ourselves there's a lot of lore there's animated sequences to explain like who

these people think they are and why they believe they need to stay on the island and then it becomes

the thing about culture clash where like they come from the smallest community you can have

being two people and they're being told like oh you have to come to the mainland like you have to

come to the mainland and what if that's not what they want it becomes a really interesting comedy

about relationships and about growing and learning and experiencing new things and I thought it was

really funny while also being really sweet and if you've ever wanted to see Denal Gleeson reenact

parts of Lord of the Rings good news guys this is your moment last but certainly not least is

Josephine, which is the movie you're going to hear probably the most buzz about out of the festival

And I will say this. It's an intense one. It is about a little girl, I think she's eight

and she witnesses a sexual assault while she is out playing with her dad in the park

And it becomes about how does she cope with this? How do her parents cope with this

It a really riveting story The filmmaker really gives space to this child protagonist to try to work through what they going through I think for anybody who pays attention to child development

or even is just around kids, you'll recognize some of these things. And what is interesting is the film does such a brilliant job

of showing how she's processing this and how she's trying to get through it. Her name is obviously Josephine

But also how her dad has to confront rape culture in a way he's never had to before

because while his daughter was not physically harmed, he feels he's failed to protect her

and he would do anything to make that better. But what does that look like

What is the roadmap to that? Because even if there are experts saying

it's this and this and this, maybe you're like, this is my child, you don't know my child

And that's very much what Josephine is about. And I will say this, did I cry? Absolutely

But I'm not really going to call this a tearjerker because while it is a tearful movie

it's not like reaching for that. I think it is a piece of fiction

that gives you the space. to put those feelings and to feel not just like where have you felt threatened where did you all

of a sudden become disillusioned and realize maybe the world isn't as safe as you wanted to be where was the moment where your kids all of a sudden realize that where's the world's not as

safe as you want it to be but also like what about those times you wished you could do more to fix it

and I think this film does a really beautiful job of telling that story and I just think that's why

we go to the movies, man. We go for the catharsis. We go for the community. And even though I watched

all of these at home through Sundance Online, I felt a part of a community because that's what

these films are about. That's the best stuff I saw at Sundance. What did you like best? Let us know