Sundance 2026: The Biggest Revelations From This Year’s 7 Standout Interviews

2 weeks ago 15

Custom image featuring Kumail Nanjiani, Ethan Hawke and Danielle Brooks at Sundance 2026.

Published Feb 11, 2026, 5:06 PM EST

Summary

Collider was proud to be a part of the Sundance Film Festival 2026, for a bittersweet farewell to Park City, Utah, and a tribute to Robert Redford's legacy.
Check out candid interviews with our own Steve Weintraub and Perri Nemiroff as they celebrate indie films, creators, and bold storytelling.
Below, enjoy full interviews, must-see moments, and a time index for each video, straight from the Arby's Cinema Center.

This year’s Sundance Film Festival was a bittersweet moment in the independent filmmaking event’s history, not only as the first year in remembrance of founder Robert Redford, but as the final year in Park City, Utah, where industry insiders and movie lovers have been making the trek for over 40 years. So, with a hint of sadness and a wealth of memories, Collider joined the fold to champion indie film and television and celebrate new beginnings.

From sold-out premieres and buzz-worthy first looks, the Sundance Film Festival 2026 once again served as a platform for creatives to campaign for their passion projects. Collider was proud to be there on the ground, highlighting these standout films and series firsthand, where our team sat down with the cast and creators of some of the most talked-about upcoming feature films, documentaries, and television shows. We discuss the inspiration behind original narratives, the joys of storytelling, creative risks without studio interference, and the challenges they overcame to premiere at Sundance.

Below, you'll find the interviews conducted at Collider's media studio at the Arby's Cinema Center, where our own Steve Weintraub and Perri Nemiroff had the pleasure of sitting down with the creatives behind many of this year's buzziest features and upcoming series. The pair dig into the behind-the-scenes details with filmmakers like Gregg Araki, Kogonada, Vera Miao, Macon Blair, and Jay Duplass, as well as the on-screen star power, including Danielle Brooks, Ethan Hawke, Dave Franco, Kiernan Shipka, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Riz Ahmed, Zoey Deutch, Benedict Wong, Cooper Hoffman, Jin Ha, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Kate McKinnon, Molly Ringwald, Patrick Wilson, Margaret Cho, Mia Wasikowska, and more. We've provided the full video, as well as a time index, to make sure you don't miss out on a moment from this year's Sundance Film Festival!

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Arby’s, for making the Collider Studio happen at the Arby’s Cinema Center and keeping us all fed with their selection of curly fries, mozzarella sticks, and tastes of their new Italian Beef Dip, a new limited-time sandwich that brings Chicago-style flavors to its menu. In addition, thanks to our supporting partners, including Hendrick’s Gin, Sommsation - The Wine Company, Peroni USA, neau water, Bernier, and our producing partner Twenty35 Agency.

The Most Expensive “Mona Lisa” of Albums Was Made by a Superfan

The Disciple tells the bizarre and remarkable story of Tarik Azzougarh, a.k.a. Cilvaringz.

Truth is certainly stranger than fiction in Joanna Natasegara's documentary The Disciple. Struck by Tarik Azzougarh's (a.k.a. Cilvaringz) story while vacationing in Marrakesh, the filmmaker built trust with the fan-turned-collaborator after learning the incredible story behind the Wu-Tang Clan's seventh studio album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. "There were lots of other people who wanted to tell the story" she tells Weintraub while sitting with producer Abigail Anketell-Jones in the Arby's Cinema Center. "We got lucky."

Natasegara goes on to explain the premise of The Disciple, and why Azzougarh's story is so fascinating:

"The Disciple is a story of a fan of the Wu-Tang Clan. His name is Tarik Azzougarh, and he was born in Europe. He's a Moroccan European, and he found the Wu-Tang as a teenager, as many of us did, and basically decided that he wanted to become part of their universe. So, he practiced and practiced, and through great determination and a lot of twists and turns, he found himself as part of that crew.

The culmination of his story is that he goes through many, many hoops and makes one of the most controversial, definitely the most expensive, albums of all time. It’s a single-copy album called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, which was sold twice — first to Martin Shkreli in quite a controversial fashion… And secondarily, now it's owned by an art collective called PleasrDAO, and it sold for $4 million. So, it's literally the most expensive single album in the world."

Natasegara and Anketell-Jones go on to share the process of retrieving Azzougarh's archive footage, discuss Once Upon a Time in Shaolin being made an official Wu-Tang Clan album, how the band's members reacted to the album, and getting to attend an exclusive curated museum session of the album. For all of this and more, check out the full conversation in the video below, with time codes.

00:27 - What is The Disciple about?
01:04 - Joanna Natasegara shares the unbelievable backstory of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.
02:54 - Natasegara explains how they retrieved three decades of Tarik Azzougarh’s archive footage.
03:37 - Natasegara discusses the process of finding The Disciple in the edit.
04:43 - How Tarik Azzougarh’s work was made an official Wu-Tang Clan album.
05:56 - The pair explain why Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is the Mona Lisa of music.
07:08 - Natasegara and Abigail Anketell-Jones discuss RZA's reexamination of the value of art.
08:30 - The Disciple team share their thoughts on the exclusive album after attending a curated listening.
08:51 - The duo reveal what it's like inside an exhibit.
10:24 - They discuss who was involved in the making of the documentary.
11:34 - Natasegara and Anketell-Jones discuss how their documentary displays the Wu-Tang Clan’s “spirituality and morality.”
12:47 - They comment on where The Disciple will go after Sundance.
13:02 - Joanna Natasegura and Abigail Anketell-Jones share their favorite movies from iconic directors.

It's a "Miracle" 'Frank & Louis' Finally Got Made

And it's a story the cast and crew believe must be told.

For 10 years, co-writer and director Petra Biondina Volpe (Late Shift) was developing the story behind her drama, Frank & Louis, working tirelessly to get financing in the US for a story she and the crew were confident was "a very universal story" that needed telling. In the movie, Kingsley Ben-Adir (Barbie) stars as Frank, a man serving a life sentence in prison for murder, who seizes an opportunity for parole.

Volpe discovered this story while working in a California men's prison in San Luis Obispo in 2014, where she was a firsthand witness to the Gold Coats, incarcerated people specially trained to provide care to fellow inmates with Alzheimer's Disease or dementia.

"[I] did encounter the Gold Coats there, and did very long interviews and conversations with them. That kind of kicked up this conviction that this story needs to be told, that there are these men doing this work behind bars, because they defy all the clichés you think about when you think about incarceration and what's happening there. It's so much a story of caretaking, men taking care of each other, that nobody ever thinks about.

So, for 10 years, I've tried to make this movie, and we couldn't finance it here. We financed it with Swiss money and shot it in the UK with American and UK actors because we all felt that it’s a very universal story and it needs to be told."

In Frank & Louis, Rob Morgan (Stranger Things) plays Louis, a man who was once feared within the prison walls, but has since become fragile and paranoid due to his early-onset dementia. When Frank is assigned to care for Louis, he first has to gain Louis' trust, but as their relationship progresses and their bond strengthens, Frank is confronted with his own memories and must face up to his life's regrets in the hope of redemption.

In this interview with Weintraub, Volpe and Morgan also discuss how making this movie independently allowed them to present a more challenging narrative. Rather than opting for a studio-friendly hero to root for, Volpe says it was important to show the "complicated" reality, where humanity still demands empathy.

"That was a really important aspect for us because that makes things much more complicated, and I think we need to be able to deal with complicated questions in society around crime, punishment, and incarceration. It's easy to be generous when there are innocent people, but how do you deal with it when a crime actually happened and there are victims, the people themselves, their families, the victims’? So, that was a really important aspect, to really raise important questions and not just give easy answers."

Check out the full conversation in the video below for more on Morgan's preparation for the role, working alongside Ben-Adir, his upcoming role on Chicago Fire, and his thoughts on Stranger Things after two seasons.

00:34 - Director Petra Biondina Volpe explains the story of Frank & Louis.
01:02 - Why This Story Is So Important to Tell
02:59 - Dealing With Society’s Complicated Questions
04:03 - Mental and Physical Preparation for the Role
06:26 - Kingsley Ben-Adir Completely Transforms in Frank & Louis
08:56 - How This Work Restores Humanity
10:50 - Rob Morgan on the Impact of Stranger Things
12:12 - Rob Morgan Teases His Upcoming Role on Chicago Fire
12:48 - Frank & Louis Team Play the Collider Bracket Challenge!

Jay Duplass Returns to Film With 'See You When I See You'

"It scared the hell out of me."

Jay Duplass (Paddleton) returned to Sundance this year with an exploration of grief in first-time feature writer Adam Cayton-Holland’s See You When I See You. The film is a spin on Cayton-Holland’s memoir, Tragedy Plus Time, drawing from the screenwriter’s life story of losing his sister to suicide, and the effect that loss had on his entire family. “Jay once said, ‘It's like a bomb goes off inside of a family, and now we're dealing with the wreckage,’” Cayton-Holland tells Weintraub, “and that is the story of the movie.”

In the movie, Cooper Raiff (Hal & Harper) plays Aaron Whistler, a comedy writer struggling with a severe case of PTSD from his little sister’s suicide. Leah, played by Kaitlyn Dever (A House of Dynamite), was not only Aaron’s sister but his best friend, and he seems to be having the hardest time moving forward from the night he found her. The cast is rounded out by David Duchovny (The X-Files) and Hope Davis (The Mastermind), who play Aaron’s parents; Lucy Boynton (The Greatest Hits), who plays his other sister Lucy; and Camila, a sympathetic love interest played by Ariela Barer (The Last of Us).

See You When I See You marks Duplass’ official first return to film since The Do-Deca-Pentathalon in 2012, leading Weintraub to ask what it was about this script that drew him back into the fold. The filmmaker explains:

“When I got the script, I don't think I had made an original movie in, like, 12 years. I don't know if Emily and Kumail knew that at the time, but I was hoping and trying to come back to making films. They sent me the script, and I read it, and I laughed and cried super hard through the whole thing, and it scared the hell out of me. It was unlike anything I'd ever made before.

I love Kumail and Emily. I have a strict no-assholes policy. You know, the light goes off sometimes, and I was like, ‘I don't know how I'm going to make this movie.’ It was late pandemic. The climate was not quite right to make a suicide, PTSD, cancer comedy, but I just felt like I needed to explore it. I met Adam, and just started working on figuring out how we would bring this very challenging thing to life.”

For more on the movie, how the cast got involved, and how the experience personally impacted the crew, check out Weintraub’s full conversation with Duplass, Cayton-Holland, Raiff, Dever, Duchovny, and producers Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani below.

01:35 - The cast of See You When I See You discuss how they tackle a sensitive story.
02:52 - Jay Duplass explains why he was eager to return to the director's chair for this film.
04:10 - The cast discusses joining the project.
07:47 - They share their thoughts on taking a chance on See You When I See You's heartbreaking story.
09:31 - The group open up about how this filmmaking experience impacted them all personally.
15:27 - The team plays Collider’s Bracket Challenge!
17:13 - The See You When I See You crew answers a round of questions to get to know them better.

‘Run Amok’ Straddles a “Tonal Tightrope”

“Art is meant to challenge and reflect what we're all going through as a society.”

When writer-director NB Mager was first pitching the idea to turn her short, Run Amok, into her first feature-length film, the response was less than encouraging. Though the Brooklyn-based filmmaker’s short was shortlisted for the Academy Awards, Mager tells Weintraub that the initial reaction wasn’t so enthusiastic. After all, it’s a tender subject.

Run Amok follows a high school student, Meg (once again played by the short’s star, Alyssa Marvin), who wants to put on a play. In Mager’s own words, the movie is “about a group of young people, this ragtag group of misfits in high school, who decide to put on a play, a musical that no one wants them to put on, about a controversial subject.” The students set to work on an elaborate play that will revisit a school tragedy and confront the trauma head-on. In addition to Marvin, Run Amok also stars Patrick Wilson (Insidious: The Red Door), Margaret Cho (Queens of the Dead), Molly Ringwald (Sixteen Candles), and Sophia Torres (Pulse).

When asked if she always intended to turn Run Amok into a feature film, Mager tells us:

“I had a draft of the feature when we made the short. I was kind of starting to pitch the idea for the feature to people, and folks were really excited about it, but also like, ‘What? Can you do that? Can you pull that off?’ It's like it straddles a lot of tonal tightrope walking, and making the short was a way for me to feel confident, and like, ‘Yes. I can execute on this.’”

For Mager, the inspiration behind Run Amok was to tackle a violent truth about today’s world, and to offer a voice to those most directly affected by it. For Wilson, that was the driving factor to join this first-time feature filmmaker’s journey. He says:

“When I read it, I said, ‘I have to meet her. I have to sit down and see where this came from,’ because as a parent and filmmaker and actor, I've seen scripts that kind of deal with the issue in some form or fashion, and it's very difficult because we want to reflect the hardest subjects. Art is meant to challenge and reflect what we're all going through as a society, but you don't want to make a film that's just preaching to the choir… But the script was such an original take on seeing it through the kids’ eyes, because they're the ones, she's the one, who are the most affected.”

As for the kids in question, Torres joins Marvin in the film as Penny. Like the film itself, she doesn’t sugarcoat the urgency of highlighting tragedies like school shootings, which have become an increasingly prevalent public concern. She tells Collider:

“The feature also explores the reality of what it's like to be a teenager today in this generation, and I personally related to a lot of my character and the other characters…For me, the one thing that I learned the most is the power we have to use our voices, and how important it is that we take advantage of that. So, I think when people our age, me and Alyssa, when they watch this, I hope that they feel inspired and want to use their voice to make these changes.”

For Weintraub’s full conversation with Mager, Wilson, Cho, Ringwald, Marvin, and Torres, watch the full video below, with time codes.

00:33 - NB Mager's Run Amok pushes controversial boundaries.
02:00 - The cast share how they got involved with the film.
03:49 - Patrick Wilson discusses putting trust in a Mager's unique vision.
08:19 - Wilson and Margaret Cho discuss the importance of seeing the film through a different perspective.
09:24 - The cast share how Run Amok changed them personally.
11:43 - The Run Amok Crew play Collider’s Bracket Challenge!
16:57 - Get to know the Run Amok Team!

Kogonada Calls ‘Zi’ a “Reset” and a Return to His Roots

“We just wanted to be away. We wanted to do something like we did before we were within the system of filmmaking.”

After last year’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, filmmaker Kogonada tells Weintraub he needed “a real break from the system.” He discusses how he and cinematographer Benjamin Loeb (After Yang) decided to escape to Hong Kong, in search of a city with stories to tell. They weren’t certain what kind of film they would be making — maybe a documentary, or maybe an anthology of stories — but Kogonada knew his next journey wouldn’t be found in tandem with the aforementioned system. There, on the streets of Hong Kong, with a bare-bones cast and crew, they filmed Zi in a whirlwind of three weeks.

Starring Jin Ha (Pachinko), Michelle Mao (A Big Bold Beautiful Journey), and Haley Lu Richardson (Ponies), Zi follows the titular character, a young woman unnerved by puzzling visions of her future self, played by Mao, as she encounters a stranger (Richardson) who may alter the course of her entire life.

When asked how the making of Zi impacted him, Kogonada calls it “transformative.” He further explains the motivation to scale back after a big Hollywood blockbuster:

“It's 100% transformative for me, really, at the right time in my life. After I made Columbus, I just thought, ‘Oh, I think I can make this kind of film,’ but I was just very new to the industry. This film is very much in the realm of Chris Marker and René, and all these films that meant so much to me. Whenever I would try to pitch that in LA, people were just like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And so it became very clear that if I wanted to make a living, I had to just navigate and figure it out.

But I think I got to a point where the love for cinema and a certain kind of cinema kept feeling like it was further away. My opportunities kept getting bigger, but I wanted to make films to try to capture something that meant so much to me. So, it was really almost a desperate act just to get a reset on my own career, and it has been.”

Check out the full conversation below, where Ha explains the unusual approach Kogonada took with his actors to keep their dynamics as authentic as possible, and the duo discuss their “guerrilla-style” filmmaking in the city. They also play Collider’s Bracket Challenge, discuss their favorite films by Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Stanley Kubrick, and discuss their favorite failures and the project that most intimidated them.

00:27 - Kogonada explains how the making of Zi embodies the spirit of Sundance.
01:51 - The filmmaker reveals his desire for creative freedom that led to Zi.
05:53 - Zi experiments with the “art of not knowing.”
08:36 - Kogonada calls this return to his filmmaking roots a “reset” on his career.
12:55 - Kogonada and Jin Ha play Collider’s Bracket Challenge!
13:24 - The Zi duo shares their favorite films from Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Stanley Kubrick.
16:46 - Get to know Kogonada and Jin Ha!

‘Burn’ Puts Viewers on the Streets of Tokyo

Makoto Nagahisa breaks down his filmmaking process.

Writer and director Makoto Nagahisa returns to the Sundance Film Festival after 2019’s We Are Little Zombies and 2024’s Pisko the Crab Child is in Love, alongside Nana Mori (Weathering with You), the star of his latest feature, Burn. This drama takes to the streets of Tokyo to explore both the vibrant youth culture and generational trauma.

In the movie, Mori plays Ju-Ju, a young runaway aimlessly wandering the neon-washed streets of Kabukicho, a district in Shinjuku. When she’s embraced by a group of misfits, Ju-Ju believes she’s found a place in the world, and revels in a new sense of belonging. But when a betrayal sours her newfound acceptance, she’s left with only one option.

As Burn traverses the labyrinthine streets, the viewer is put directly into the city's nightlife with Ju-Ju. In this interview with Weintraub, when asked about what appeared to be guerrilla-style filmmaking, Nagahisa explains his process, how he captures his vibrant visuals, and puts the audience right there with his characters.

“I'm very happy if it seemed like guerrilla filming and if it seemed like we were just putting the camera in this realistic scene, in this realistic part of the city, but actually, we had to do it legally. So, we had permits for everything. Everyone in the frames are actually all actors. But having said that, behind the camera, we always had this real noisy part of the city, so there was a lot going on behind the camera, and sometimes it was too noisy and we couldn't use a sound, or sometimes we had trouble. So, there was this mix of the two happening.”

He goes on to say:

“I am very meticulous with prep, so actually, in the script, when I have the script, I already start working on sound, and I have all the music kind of planned in my head, and then everything is storyboarded, so all the visuals are pre-planned. But having said that, there are always nice surprises that happen on set, so I always try to be prepared for anything that happens. If a miracle happens on set or the actors do something very interesting, I try not to have that moment of hesitation and use it as much as possible. And as for post-production, I am very particular about sound, so I always spend months adjusting the sound just one decibel up or one decibel down.”

In addition to discussing the film, Nagahisa and Mori share their favorite Studio Ghibli movies, favorite movie theaters, and Nagahisa admits his favorite failure led him to making movies, and how that failure ultimately influenced his singular style. Check out the full conversation below, with time codes.

00:32 - Director Makoto Nagahisa explains the story of Burn.
01:33 - Star Nana Mori explains what drew her to this project.
03:33 - Mori reveals what about Burn made her the most nervous.
04:12 - On-location filming required Burn to employ a mixture of guerrilla-like filmmaking at times.
05:58 - Nagahisa explains his process for sound, visuals, and post-production.
08:04 - The pair share their all-time favorite Studio Ghibli movies.
09:31 - Nagahisa and Mori play Collider’s Get to Know game!

‘Levitating’ Explores Indonesia’s Trance Rituals Through a Surreal Supernatural Lens

“Imagine you go to the club, but it doesn't involve any substance or booze; it only involves mantras, chanting, and spirits.”

In Indonesia, and within numerous cultures, there is a practice that co-writer and director Wregas Bhanuteja (Photocopier) explores in his latest feature, Levitating. The film is a blend of genres — romance, action, adventure, and horror — that makes its own on-screen interpretation of what Bhanuteja calls “trance parties,” while talking with Weintraub.

In the movie, Angga Yunanda (Two Blue Stripes) is Bayu, a young man with an aspiration. In his town, the locals find pleasure not through partying at clubs, but through trance parties, where the participants become possessed by spiritual beings with the guidance of a shaman. Bayu is determined to train to become a shaman, using his flute to transport dancers into a hallucinatory realm, in order to earn enough money to help prevent an eviction. For Bayu, this will be an arduous journey to sharpen his talents and learn to incorporate disruptive outside forces into his focus to continue guiding those his flute possesses. The movie also stars Maudy Ayunda (Losmen Bu Broto) and award-winning singer and television personality, Anggun.

Bhanuteja utilizes these rituals to confront capitalism’s threat to Indigenous communities, crafting his own hallucinatory realm through brilliant colors, music, and dancing. The filmmaker explains this practice, as well as the cast’s roles in the film:

“The film is about trance parties. We create a fictional trance party inspired by some traditional trance parties in Indonesia. Basically, this film is when some people go to a park in a village, and then they dance together with the music, and then they get possessed by the animal spirits, with the help of a shaman. Once they get possessed, their mind gets transferred into another realm, a hallucination realm, that is full of flowers, full of colors, with a lot of delicious food. After that, after doing the parties, they will feel satisfied and happy, and they want to go back to the parties the next week. So imagine you go to the club, but it doesn't involve any substance or booze; it only involves mantras, chanting, and spirits.

It follows our main character, played by Angga Yunanda, who is a student who wants to become a spirit channeler. The spirit channeler is the one who is responsible for channeling the animal spirits into the dancers. So, he wants to be the next spirit channeler, and he learns from the guru, the shaman guru, played by Anggun. He practiced a lot, the skill with the dancer, Laksmi, Maudy Ayunda, here. So, that's what the story’s about.”

Check out the video, with time codes, below, for more on Bhanuteja’s imaginative “pleasure realm,” learning spirit animal movements, and to get to know this crew a little better.

00:55 - Levitating explores the Indonesian practice of trance parties.
02:49 - Anggun discusses how trance parties transcend cultures.
07:06 - Wregas Bhanuteja and the stars discuss tackling the most intimidating scenes.
09:42 - Maudy Ayunda talks about learning spirit animal movements.
10:23 - Bhanuteja explains his process of creating a meditative realm on screen.
12:50 - Get to know the Levitating crew!

Be sure to check out Collider for more exclusive content from the Sundance Film Festival 2026.

Read Entire Article