Film Festival Watch: 24 Sundance Institute-Supported Films to Catch at the SXSW Film Festival

By Jessica Herndon

We love kicking off each year by introducing the world to powerful projects from dynamic voices at the Sundance Film Festival. It's always exciting to see films we've championed at the Festival, and through Sundance Institute programs, continue gaining momentum at other festivals, including the recent Berlin International Film Festival and the True/False Film Festival.

As we head into spring, Sundance Institute-supported projects will continue inspiring audiences at the SXSW Film Festival, which kicks off today and runs through March 18. Twenty-four projects that either premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival or received support through our artist programs will screen at the Austin, Texas-based festival.

In the mood for laughs? Don't miss The Shitheads, which follows two men (Dave Franco and O'Shea Jackson Jr.) who land a gig relocating a privileged teen to rehab. Looking for something eerie? Catch Leviticus, about the haunting of two teenage boys (Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen) who begin to desire each other.

You can also dive into powerful documentaries, like #WhileBlack, exploring the social, political, and emotional realities of Black communities. And short films, including Gender Studies, about a trans college student's attempt to follow in the footsteps of a girl she admires from class.

Find all the Sundance Institute-supported projects screening at SXSW below. If you're in Austin for the fest, be sure to add these titles to your schedule. And for more about our programs, click here.

FEATURE FILMS

Adam's Apple - Documentary Film Program

Logline: A transgender teen and his mother chronicle their lives, artistically weaving a rare and intimate portrait of a family in transition. Two decades of footage trace a boy's path to manhood and his parents' vulnerability as they reckon with change.

American Doctor - 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Artist Accelerator Program

Logline: When three American doctors - Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian - enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth.

Big Girls Don't Cry - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: Over one transformative summer in rural New Zealand in 2006, 14-year-old Sid Bookman discovers desire, identity, and the internet as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by.

Buddy - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids television show.

Chasing Summer - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: After losing both her job and boyfriend, Jamie retreats to her small Texas hometown, where friends and flings from a fateful high school summer turn her life upside down.

Cookie Queens - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: It's Girl Scout Cookie season, and four tenacious girls strive to be a top-selling Cookie Queen, navigating an $800 million business in which childhood and ambition collide.

Daughters of the Forest: Mycelium Chronicles - Catalyst, Artist Accelerator Program

Logline: Deep in Mexico's forests, this immersive sci-fi doc follows the unusual, fungi-driven paths of two indigenous mycologists as they seek to reconcile the past and present while reimagining the future for themselves and the changing world they inhabit.

Do You Love Me - Documentary Film Program

Logline: Welcome to Beirut. Disorientation is part of the journey.

Joe Engressia is the subject of the new film Joybubbles.

Joybubbles - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: Joybubbles discovers he can manipulate the telephone system by whistling a magic tone. Born blind and yearning for connection, his early obsession unwittingly lays the groundwork for a subculture that shapes the future of hacking and technology.

Leviticus - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: Two star-crossed teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other.

Mickey - Documentary Film Program

Logline: A journey through self-perception and the anti-punitive confrontation of the past.

Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: Blurring the line between performance and personal crisis, comedian Maria Bamford turns her mental health journey into material that's riotously funny and ultimately inspiring. What emerges is a portrait of an artist transforming vulnerability into creative strength through honesty.

Rock Springs - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: After the death of her father, a grieving young girl moves to an isolated house in a new town with her mother and grandmother, only to discover there is something monstrous hidden in the town's history and the woods behind their new home.

See You When I See You - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: With the help of his family, a comedy writer battles PTSD after the tragic death of his sister.

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: A father-to-be tries to figure out what is happening with the AI insanity, exploring the existential dangers and stunning promise of this technology that humanity has created.

The Oldest Person in the World - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: A decade-long global journey chronicles the ever-changing record holders of the title of oldest person alive. What begins as a portrait of longevity becomes a meditation on the passage of time, the randomness of fate, and the joy and profound human experience of being alive.

The Shitheads - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: When two unqualified bozos are hired to transfer a rich teen to rehab, their straightforward gig quickly spirals into dangerous mayhem.

Time and Water - 2026 Sundance Film Festival

Logline: Facing the death of his country's glaciers and the loss of his beloved grandparents, Icelan

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