European Films Head To The Sundance Film Festival And The Last Splash In Park City

Emotions will be running high at the 2026 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. The premiere event for independent cinema will say farewell to Park City with its last edition in Utah. It will also be the first festival to roll out the red carpet following the passing of its founder, screen legend Robert Redford. But spirits will be buoyed down Main Street as the festival once again offers a feast of some of the year’s most anticipated titles. Filmmakers like Andrew Stanton, Gregg Araki, Kogonada, Rachel Lambert, John Wilson, Olivia Wilde, Cathy Yan, David Wain, and Jay Duplass will all be unveiling new pictures, while actors like Ethan Hawke, Natalie Portman, Seth Rogen, Russell Crowe, Chris Pine, Rinko Kikuchi and even Charli xcx will be getting ready for the cameras.

One of Sundance’s most undersung qualities is the depth of its international programming. This year, European Film Promotion are backing a strong handful of movies that are dialled into the current moment and promise to be exciting options for those navigating the snowy sidewalks of Park City.

Capitalism is a force to be reckoned with across a trio of pictures. Visar Morina’s third feature, Shame and Money, follows a Kosovar family who find their rural farming life upended following a sudden financial loss. Starting over in the capital of Pristina, patriarch Shaban soon finds himself struggling to make ends meet in an economic landscape where the only guarantee is precarity. Sinead O’Shea shines an utterly captivating light on James “Fergie” Chambers, a bad boy member of the 0.01%, in her documentary All About The Money. A self-disavowed member of one of the wealthiest families in the United States, Fergie rails against his own financial status and privilege by starting a communist compound in rural Massachusetts. From there a globe-trotting tale emerges where Fergie realizes that money and ideals don’t always mix. Meanwhile, audiences will get a taste of the upcoming series The Oligarch and the Art Dealer with the debut of its first episode. The docu follows high profile, Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier who is accused of betrayal by his Russian collector Dimitry Rybolovlev. Can a Rothko or Da Vinci fix the situation? We’ll have to wait to find out.

As the world seems headed worryingly closer to global conflict, a duo of pictures echo the concerns of many. Filmmaker Andrius Blazevicius unveils How To Divorce During The War, a drama that follows Marija and Vytas whose marriage is falling apart just as Russian invades Ukraine. To Hold A Mountain is a documentary by Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazic that chronicles Gara, a shepherd and mother who fights to protect her ancestral in the Montenegro highlands from being turned into a NATO training facility.

Rounding out EFP’s selections are Frank & Louis, the next effort from writer-director Petra Biondina, the filmmaker behind Switzerland’s Oscar contender Late Shift. The drama stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as a convict who takes up caring for prisoners suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia in a bid for parole, only to forge an unexpected bond with this patient, played by Rob Morgan. Lastly is Myrsini Aristidou’s Hold Onto Me, in which an 11-year-old navigates a strained relationship with her estranged father.

Pack some layers, bring your boots, and get ready — the Sundance Film Festival runs from January 22nd to February 1st.