The city on everybody’s lips at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was…Cincinnati. Countless festival guests whispered about the festival’s potential move to the Ohio city, one of three finalists in its search for a new home. The resounding consensus? “Please, not there.”

When Sundance leaves in 2027, attendees are weighing the pros and cons of the three finalists, Salt Lake City, Boulder, and Cincinnati.

It was a slow Sundance in terms of sales, but Variety's critics still found movies to inspire them as to the artistic health of the indie film scene.

Questions about the future hung in the frigid January air last week at Park City, Utah, during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival (which ended over the weekend). There was the usual hand-wringing about a lack of commercially minded movies on the slate,

It's the halfway point of the fest and themes are beginning to emerge — technological detachment, pets — along with stars Dev Patel, Steven Yeun and Rachel Sennott.

In Park City Utah, Black film programming, cultural events, panels, and well-being activations were hosted at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Read below to see some of the influential Black stories helmed by Black filmmakers and casts that debuted at the cinephile fest.