Following further social unrest over ICE operations in the US, Sundance 2026 became a place of both film enthusiasm and political activism.
Film festivals serve as effective platforms for their stated missions and causes, bringing together hundreds of thousands of people into one location for a multi-day blitz of entertainment and escapism. That location, whether it is Park City, Venice, or Cannes, is often a peculiar kind of bubble where attendees escape the reality of their daily lives and enter an immersive world filled with celebrities, red carpets, and paparazzi.
A platform of that scale, with that many people in attendance, can also be a sociopolitical hotbed when civil issues arise simultaneously to the screenings. I’ve attended festivals around the country and world, and lately it’s been rare not to witness vocal protests, civic gatherings, and visible forms of advocacy scattered around the venues.
There’s always something disquieting about the premise of watching movies during social calamity. You are locked away in a dark room for two hours (multiple times a day) while the world outside your bubble appears on the brink of collapse. Sundance Film Festival 2026 is no exception. While it is a remarkable expression of creative freedom expressed in the mission of the Sundance Institute and the films on this year’s screens, it is also yet another touchpoint for a nation in crisis, with many voices calling for change.
Three days into the festival, federal ICE agents killed Alex Pretti, the second such death in Minneapolis this month. Although many states away, people felt the shockwaves across the country, including in Utah. Sundance attendees grappled with the news in many ways. Attendees around me queuing for movies spent less time eagerly awaiting their next screening, and more time anxiously watching social media videos of Pretti’s death and discussing their fear and anger with those nearby.
Talent spent their press time and appearances denouncing ICE’s activities, while protests and vigils were held on Main Street. “ICE Out” pins were spotted being worn in press lines by Natalie Portman, Olivia Wilde, and many others.
Wilde stated, “I’m appalled and sickened. We can’t go another day just sort of accepting this as our new norm. It’s outrageous. People are being murdered…and so if we can do anything out here to support the movement to cast ICE out, to delegitimize this unbelievably criminal organisation, then that’s what we should be doing.”
She was not alone in expressing similar sentiment around the festival. At the World Premiere of Zi, I watched Jin Ha deliver his first response during the Q&A with a stern and simple message, “Fuck ICE.” Edward Norton, who stars in Wilde’s The Invite, stated, “We are sitting here talking about movies while an illegal army is being mounted against US citizens.”
While The Invite is just one of many sex comedy adjacent films on display, the festival programmers also did not shy away from politically provocative titles filling their lineup. Movies, particularly those from independent creators, can often blur the lines between escapist entertainment and a soundboard or mirror for the issues we contend with in reality.
Documentaries in particular show us in visceral detail the inequities and tragedies faced by humanity around the globe. In When a Witness Recants, Dawn Porter collaborates with author Ta-Nehisi Coates to share the story of three men who were wrongfully incarcerated for 36 years. Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie documents the attempted assassination of the British novelist over three decades after the Iranian death threats put his life at risk for what was perceived as a blasphemous depiction of Islamic figures in “The Satanic Verses.” American Doctor features the story of three doctors of different faiths who traveled to Gaza in order to provide medical assistance to those suffering in the war.
These documentaries shed even more light on global sociopolitical issues amidst reckoning with an already disconcerting atmosphere. To heighten matters, Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost was reportedly punched in the face at a Sundance private party while the assailant yelled racist remarks. The perpetrator was arrested and jailed.
There is truth in Norton’s words, implying the frivolity of watching and discussing movies during a critical juncture in political history, with such political violence happening right in the festival’s backyard. Undoubtedly, the last Park City Sundance will be marked by a calamitous era of governmental authoritarianism that manifested in Main Street being coated by signs that read the likes of “ICE Kills,” “ICE = Gestapo,” and “Melt ICE.”
There is also truth in knowing that events like Sundance spark creative expression, political awareness, and civil rights mobilization, and that motion is incredibly necessary. Movies will not change the political outcome of today, which is the far more urgent matter, but they can open a portal to long-term empathy and compassion, and that is critical for our future as a country.
Update Courtesy of Danny Jarabek
Feature Image Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Lauren Hartmann