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While the Sundance Film Festival mulls a big move for 2027, the 2025 program, its 41st edition, kicked off January 23 in Utah, and you can look below for all of Deadline’s reviews from the fest.

Sundance founder Robert Redford promised that audiences “can expect a 2025 program that showcases varied and vibrant filmmaking globally.” Running through February 2, the lineup includes more than 85 features and six episodic projects set to screen in Park City, Salt Lake City and online.

Below is a compilation of our reviews from the fest. Click on the movie’s title to read our full take.

Atropia ‘Atropia’

Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition

Director-screenwriter: Hailey Gates

Cast: Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Chloë Sevigny, Tim Heidecker, Jane Levy

Deadline’s takeaway: Ripe with aughts nostalgia around the Og iPod, frosted lip gloss and Guy Fieri’s favorite flame-printed shirts, Atropia is ultimately a clever meditation on the atmosphere of war...

How do you capture a life? After all, there is nothing more breathtakingly vast than an existence full of joy, pain, pleasure and agony. Doing so is an immense undertaking that requires honesty and care in equal measure as we must look deeply at someone to expose all of what made them who they are without also hiding all of what can be many rough edges.

“Jimpa,” the latest film from “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” director Sophie Hyde, does this about as fully as one could ever hope to do. In a script Hyde wrote with her “52 Tuesdays” co-writer Matthew Cormack, we are taken fully into the world of Jim (aka Jimpa), played by John Lithgow, and his daughter Hannah, played by Olivia Colman, as they try to navigate their respective lives. Jim is a gay man who left Hannah and her mother when she was a child...

Exclusive: John Lithgow, who played Winston Churchill in The Crown and scores of major roles on stage and screen, is having the time of his life. He has a hit play on the London stage transferring into the West End in April — and to Broadway in 2026 — and now he’s starring alongside Olivia Colman in the Sundance opening-day premiere of Sophie Hyde’s terrific screen drama Jimpa, in which the multi-award-winning star plays a fictionalized version of his director’s own father.

Colman plays Hannah, his filmmaker daughter who’s visiting him at his home in Amsterdam to talk about a film she’s developing about her parents marriage, and how it broke up when Jim, her father, comes out as gay.

Growing up with a queer dad has allowed Hannah to accept sexuality as a normal part of life. Her own kid, Frances, is a transgender, nonbinary teen, just...

After Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, a virtuoso showcase for Emma Thompson that was also a rare candid conversation about an older woman’s sexuality, Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde returns in Jimpa to territory closer to 52 Tuesdays. That 2014 debut feature, a prize-winner for direction at Sundance, felt highly personal. This new film takes that quality several steps further, drawing inspiration from the death of Hyde’s father and casting her nonbinary teenager as a 16-year-old presumably not unlike themself. Made with love and acted with great empathy by a cast led by always dependable pros Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, Jimpa is nothing if not sincere.

But to be brutally honest, it’s also kind of a cringey bore, like being stuck in a room with a bunch of oversharers from queer studies class. Even the novel sight of Lithgow cavorting in an Amsterdam sex dungeon, naked aside from...

Director and co-writer (with Matthew Cormack) Sophie Hyde takes inspiration from her own life as daughter of a gay man and mother of a trans nonbinary teenager to tell the moving story of an Australian family on a visit to Amsterdam to spend time with the father and grandfather known affectionately as Jimpa.

Hyde most recently directed the Emma Thompson sex comedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, which also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. This one features an exceptional lead performance from Olivia Colman as Hannah, a filmmaker (think Hyde) navigating her experience growing up in a family where the father left after 13 years to find a new life as a gay man in Amsterdam. Now with a trans teenager, Frances (played by the filmmaker’s trans nonbinary child Aud Mason-Hyde), who is exploring their own identity and budding sexuality, they take a trip to visit Jimpa (John Lithgow...

Exclusive: Sundance prize-winning filmmaker Sophie Hyde says casting “a version of yourself” is not an easy task.

“It’s very tricky to do,” says Hyde, director of Jimpa, which is premiering today at Park City’s Eccles. It’s a film that sublimely explores what constitutes the makeup of family in our era.

From the get-go, though, Hyde knew that Oscar-winning Olivia Colman would be perfect to play her, or rather a fictionalized version of herself called Hannah.

Like Hyde, Hannah’s a married film artist from Adelaide, the mother of a transgender, nonbinary teenager and the daughter of a father who came out gay when she was a child.

Along with Colman as Hannah, Jimpa also stars Hyde and partner, editor and producer Bryan Mason’s 19-year-old offspring Aud Mason-Hyde playing Hannah’s teenage child Frances and John Lithgow as their grandfather Jim,...

Olivia Colman and John Lithgow head the cast of “Jimpa,” a multi-generational family tale involving a nonbinary teenager and her mother who take a trip to see their gay grandfather. The Australia- and Europe-set film is directed by Sophie Hyde, whose most recent film was the breakout “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.”

The film is now in its third week of production in Amsterdam and will later shoot in Adelaide, Australia and Helsinki, Finland.

Rights to the film are being handled by Protagonist Pictures in much of the world and by CAA Media Finance in North America, with sales kicking off at the Cannes Market next week. The film has already locked in Cineart as distributor in the Benelux region and Kismet and The Unquiet Collective for Australia and New Zealand.

Oscar winner Colman’s recent credits include “The Favourite,” “The Lost Daughter” and the hit Netflix series “The Crown.

Sophie Hyde’s personally inspired multi-generational family story Jimpa, starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, has been acquired by Protagonist Pictures. CAA Media Finance is repping North American rights.

Screen Australia and Align are backing the film with the Netherlands Film Fund and Netherlands Film Production Incentive support. Cinéart has Benelux rights, while Kismet will distribute in Australia and New Zealand. The Unquiet Collective, six women who work with filmmakers to help their films engage better with audiences, is involved in the Australian release.

The fictional story includes characters based on Hyde’s father Jim/Jim-Pa (Lithgow) and Hyde’s child Aud Mason-Hyde,...

Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian’s Hearts and Bones was named best original feature film screenplay at the Australian Writers’ Guild’s annual Awgie Awards yesterday evening, while Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps took home the adaptation prize for Penguin Bloom.

Two of 2019’s top dramas, The Hunting, written by Niki Aken and Matthew Cormack, and Total Control (Episode 3), by Pip Karmel, were recognised in the television categories, while The Heights, lauded for its depiction of contemporary Australia, won Peter Mattessi the Awgie in the television serial category, ending a run of 16-straight years for Neighbours and Home and Away.

Playwright Suzie Miller’s critically acclaimed one-woman play Prima Facie took out the evening’s highest honours, winning the 2020 Major Award, the David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre, and in the stage category.

The one-woman play holds a mirror up to the Australian legal system, exposing...

Monica Zanetti’s screenplay of Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt), Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian’s Hearts and Bones and Ally Burnham’s Unsound have been nominated for best original feature in the 53rd annual Awgie Awards.

The contenders for the feature film adaptation prize are Thomas M. Wright and Erik Jensen’s Acute Misfortune, Lisa Hoppe’s H is for Happiness, Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps’ Penguin Bloom and C.S. McMullen’s The Other Lamb.

The TV series prize promises to be a close race between episodes of Glen Dolman’s Bloom, Michael Petroni’s Messiah for Netflix, Belinda Chayko’s Stateless, Samantha Strauss’ The End and Pip Karmel’s Total Control.

Timothy Hobart, John Ridley, Jeremy Nguyen, Alan Nguyen and Michele Lee’s Hungry Ghosts will square off against Matthew Cormack and Niki Aken’s The Hunting for best miniseries.

In the TV serial category it must...

‘Lambs of God’.

Lingo Pictures’ Lambs of God was the big winner at yesterday’s Aacta Industry Luncheon, taking home seven of a potential nine awards, while Rodd Rathjen’s debut feature Buoyancy was named Best Indie Film.

Sweeping the afternoon, Lambs of God’s various accolades included Best Direction in a Television Drama or Comedy for Jeffery Walker; Best Cinematography in Television for Don McAlpine; Best Original Score in Television for Bryony Marks (one of two awards for the composer during the event); Best Production Design in Television for Chris Kennedy; Best Costume Design in Television for Xanthe Heubel; Best Sound Sound in Television for Nick Emond, Stephen Smith, Paul Devescovi and Mia Stewart; and Best Hair and Makeup for Zeljka Stanin, Paul Pattison, Cheryl Williams and Anita Howell-Lowe.

The Foxtel mini-series was beaten only out for Best Screenplay in Television, which went to Niki Aken and Matthew Cormack for The Hunting,...

‘The Hunting.’

France’s M6 Group is the latest international broadcaster to acquire The Hunting, Closer Productions’ four-part drama commissioned by Sbs.

Created by Sophie Hyde and Matthew Cormack and starring Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the series exploring the effects of online sexting on teenagers and their families will screen on M6’s digital terrestrial channel W9.

That follows deals negotiated by UK-based Dcd Rights with Viacom-owned Channel 5 in the UK, Sky New Zealand, RTÉ in Ireland, CBC in Canada, Ivi in Russia and Npo in the Netherlands.

The ensemble cast includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis, Anni Lindner and newcomers Kavitha Anandasivam and Alex Cusack.

Cormack penned the scripts with Niki Aken. Hyde shared directing duties with Ana Kokkinos and produced with Rebecca Summerton and Lisa Scott. Screen Australia and the Safc backed the production.

Victoria Cocks’ ‘Davi’.

The South Australian Film Corporation (Safc) and Adelaide Film Festival (Aff) have partnered with Panavision to launch a new $100,000 short film production initiative.

The aim is to co-fund the production of up to three short films to premiere at the 2020 Adelaide Film Festival, with Panavision to supply $10,000 equipment to each selected project.

Safc head of production, development, attraction and studios Amanda Duthie said the fund was created to drive the growth of the local screen industry and support emerging filmmakers to find their authorial voice and develop their craft.

“Short films supported by the Safc have launched the careers of many notable South Australian filmmakers and have achieved considerable critical success. Significantly, the success of this early career funding is evident in the fact that almost all of the active local screen sector were funded as emerging filmmakers. Short film has long been the proving ground for...

‘Animals’ (Photo credit: Bernard Walsh).

Sophie Hyde’s Animals opened in UK cinemas last weekend, its first territory, winning plaudits from the critics and sizable audiences.

Picturehouse Entertainment launched the female relationships dramedy adapted from the Emma Jane Unsworth novel, which stars Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, on 73 locations: 38 in greater London and 35 in the regions.

The weekend total including Q&a screenings hosted by Unsworth and a National Girlfriends’ Day promotion was £107,000.

Closer Productions’ Rebecca Summerton, who produced the Irish-Australian co-production with Hyde, Sarah Brocklehurst and Vico Films’ Cormac Fox, tells If she is very pleased with the UK opening and Picturehouse’s marketing campaign.

That augurs well for the September 12 release via Jonathan Page’s Bonsai Films. Page has booked nine screens and aims to have 15 on board at launch.

“It is hard to stand out but I think our uber-cool cast of Alia Shawkat and Holliday...

‘My Life is Murder.’

Cjz’s private investigator series My Life is Murder and Closer Productions’ four-part drama The Hunting have been acquired by UK broadcasters.

Multi-channel operator UKTV will screen the 10-part Cjz production, which follows Lucy Lawless as former homicide cop Alexa Crowe as she investigates baffling and bizarre murders, on its crime drama channel Alibi.

Directed by Leah Purcell, Mat King and Jovita O’Shaugnessy and produced by Elisa Argenzio and Cjz head of development Claire Tonkin, the series premiered on Network 10 on Wednesday night.

The first episode drew 482,000 viewers in the mainland capitals, trailing Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell’s 495,000, despite the fact the ABC mistakenly put to air the previous week’s episode of Micallef.

However the 7-day and 28-day figures for 10’s murder-mystery are bound to be a lot higher. The consolidated total for Five Bedrooms, for example, was 642,000 in the five metros,...

Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh in ‘The Hunting.’

Closer Productions’ The Hunting, a four-part drama which examines how teenagers navigate the complexities of relationships, identity and sexuality via technology, will premiere on Sbs at 8.30 pm on Thursday August 1.

Created by Closer’s Sophie Hyde and Matthew Cormack and starring Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the plot follows two high school teachers who discover students are sharing explicit photos of their underage friends and peers online.

The revelation has devastating consequences for the students and their families, tackling themes of misogyny, privacy, sexuality and sexualisation, online exploitation, masculinity and gender.

The ensemble cast includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis, Anni Lindner and newcomers Kavitha Anandasivam and Alex Cusack.

Cormack penned the scripts with Niki Aken, and Hyde shared directing duties with Ana Kokkinos. Hyde produces with Rebecca Summerton and Lisa Scott.

Niki Aken.

When screenwriter Niki Aken started writing TV shows seven years ago, she was the only one with an Asian or non-white heritage in the room.

That situation did not change until two years ago when the writer, who has a Malaysian father and an Aussie mother, and Benjamin Law began developing a show for Fremantle.

“For the first five years nearly everyone I worked with was middle class, Anglo and aged 40-plus,” she tells If.

As a founder member of Australian Writers’ Guild’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Committee alongside Law, Kodie Bedford, Jaime Browne, Mithila Gupta and Que Minh Luu, she has been heartened by the much greater diversity on screen and in writers’ rooms in the past couple of years.

One show she is developing with Ian Collie’s Easy Tiger is emblematic of the advances in pluralism across the industry. Based on an idea by Collie,...

Alison Bell, Kodie Bedford and Niki Aken.

Screen Australia has announced it will support a delegation of 13 creatives to travel to New York in March to attend the Australian International Screen Forum and participate in professional development and networking opportunities.

“There is an increasing appetite for Australian stories in the USA, most recently evident at the Sundance Film Festival where our films were making substantial sales,” said Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason.

“Talent USA is an important opportunity to showcase and promote some of our best creative talent to the North American market and help elevate their projects to be in the best position to compete and be seen internationally.

“Attending the Screen Forum will give these delegates an opportunity to hear from key Us players on latest trends, challenges and opportunities in the current global market. This year the Talent USA delegation will also benefit from the Forum’s ambassadors Deborra-Lee Furness,...

The Hunting.

Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh will head the ensemble cast of Sbs’s four-part drama The Hunting, which goes into production tomorrow in Adelaide.

Joining the two actors in the Closer Productions series are Sam Reid (Bloom, Lambs of God), Jessica De Gouw (Arrow, Deadline Gallipoli), Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher (The Heights, Safe Harbour), Pamela Rabe (Wentworth), Leah Vandenberg (The Letdown), Rodney Afif (Ali’s Wedding), Sachin Joab (Lion) Elena Carapetis (Look Both Ways), Anni Lindner (Wolf Creek TV) and newcomers Kavitha Anandasivam and Alex Cusack.

Created by Closer’s Sophie Hyde and Matthew Cormack, The Hunting (previously titled The Hunt) follows four teenagers, their teachers and families throughout the lead up, revelation and aftermath of a nude teen photo scandal. When two high school teachers discover students are sharing explicit photos of their underage friends and peers online, the revelation has unbearable consequences for the students and their families.

‘The Hunt’

A thriller which centres on three generations of Vietnamese Australian families as they cope with the aftermath of war, a revival of the quiz Mastermind and documentaries which uncover family secrets and medical myths will screen on Sbs next year.

Among other shows unveiled at the broadcaster’s Upfronts are four “Slow Summer” documentaries in the vein of The Ghan, the third and final season of Matchbox Pictures’ The Family Law and a doc which posits that Christianity in Australia is in crisis.

Kurt Fearnley, Scott Cam, Casey Donovan and Rodger Corser are the first names confirmed for the 10th edition of Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia’s (Wbitpa) Who Do You Think You Are?

Sbs director of TV and online content Marshall Heald said: “At Sbs we tell stories and show people on screen that you don’t see anywhere else, giving a voice to communities that would otherwise go unheard.

Tilda Cobham-Hervey, one of the stars of 'F*cking Adelaide'.

Shooting has kicked off this week in on F*cking Adelaide, a six part comedy drama series for ABC iview.

The Closer Productions series will be headlined by Pamela Rabe (Wentworth, Cosi), Tilda Cobham-Hervey (52 Tuesdays, Barracuda, The Kettering Incident, Hotel Mumbai), Kate Box (Rake, The Little Death), and Brendan MacLean (The Great Gatsby, Tracks). Production will continue through to mid-January on location in Adelaide and South Australia..

F*cking Adelaide follows three siblings who discover their mother is selling their childhood home in Adelaide. Each 12-minute episode is told through the point of view of one of the characters.

All the show's key creatives and heads of department are South Australian. The series.is directed by Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays).and written by Matthew Cormack and Matt Vesely. Hyde will also produce alongside Rebecca Summerton..

.It.s a total delight for...

Sophie Hyde.

Screen Australia and ABC have announced the five successful projects to be funded through the $1.5 million Long Story Short initiative. Each project will be funded to create and produce a short-form, digital-first scripted series for 18-35 year olds, to screen on ABC iview. The five successful creative teams were chosen from more than 250 applications, and offer a mix of comedy and drama. Each will participate in a two-day workshop in July, led by ABC TV executives and multiplatform writer and script developer Mike Jones. .We were blown away by the standard of the applications, there were so many strong creative teams in the mix. We think these five projects really know their audience and will work so well as digital-first content,. said Screen Australia investment manager Mike Cowap. .We.re thrilled to team with Screen Australia on so many fantastic new scripted projects, building on ABC iview.s reputation for world class digital-first,...

After tying for best film with The Water Diviner at the Aacta Awards, Jennifer Kent.s The Babadook has won the major prizes at the Australian Film Critics Association annual film and writing awards.

The horror movie took the awards for best film, director, lead actress Essie Davis and supporting actor Noah Wiseman.

Emulating his Aacta Award, David Gulpilil was named best actor for Charlie.s Country. Sarah Snook (who was recognised as best actress for Predestination at the AACTAs) was the surprise winner for best supporting actress for These Final Hours.

Gulpilil and Rolf de Heer collected the original screenplay award and Charlie.s Country.s Ian Jones was feted as best DoP. Gulpilil received his best actor statue on Friday evening from Aaron Pedersen (last year's Afca best actor winner for Mystery Road) during the BlakNite event at Treasury Gardens. He dedicated the award to .the spirit of the country and his family.

Russell Crowe's The Water Diviner is in the running for nine awards from the Film Critics Circle of Australia.

The Babadook and Predestination each scored eight nominations for the awards which will be presented on Tuesday 10 March in Sydney.

There are five nominations apiece for Charlie.s Country, Felony, The Rover and Tracks. Some 12 films released in calendar 2014 got nods.

Up for best film are The Babadook (producers Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere), Charlie.s Country (Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr and Nils Erik Nielsen), Predestination (Paddy McDonald, Tim McGahan and Michael Spierig), Tracks (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman) and The Water Diviner ( Troy Lum, Andrew Mason and Keith Rodger).

Unlike the Aacta Awards, Crowe was nominated for best director alongside John Curran, de Heer, Jennifer Kent and the Spierig brothers.

Fcca president and ABC Radio host Rod Quinn said, .This year.s nominees show the diversity of the Australian...

Director Russell Crowe Movie up for Best Film: Australian Academy Awards 2015 nominations (photo: Actor-director Russell Crowe in 'The Water Diviner') Aacta Awards: Feature Film Categories Best Film The Babadook Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere Charlie's Country Nils Erik Nielsen, Peter Djigirr and Rolf de Heer Predestination Paddy McDonald, Tim McGahan, Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig The Railway Man Chris Brown, Andy Paterson and Bill Curbishley Tracks Emile Sherman and Iain Canning The Water Diviner Andrew Mason, Keith Rodger and Troy Lum Best Director The Babadook Jennifer Kent Charlie's Country Rolf de Heer Predestination Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig The Rover David Michôd Best Actress Kate Box The Little Death Essie Davis The Babadook Sarah Snook Predestination Mia Wasikowska Tracks Best Actor Russell Crowe The Water Diviner David Gulpilil Charlie's Country Damon Herriman The Little Death Guy Pearce The Rover Best Supporting Actor Patrick Brammall The Little Death Yilmaz Erdogan...

Leviathan leads contenders; 36 films from 21 countries in the running.

Films in the running for the 2014 Apsa for Best Feature Film include Winter Sleep (Turkey, France, Germany), Leviathan (Russia), I’m Not Angry (Iran), The Owners (Kazakhstan), and Memories on Stone (Iraqi Kurdistan, Germany).

Leviathan, also nominated for Achievement in Cinematography for Mikhail Krichman, has received three nominations in total, the most for any film.

In total, 36 films from 21 countries are in the running for awards.

Nominees vying for the award in the Achievement in Directing category are: Rolf de Heer (Charlie’s Country, Australia), Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, Russia), Im Kwon-taek (Revivre, South Korea), Rakhshan Banietemad (Tales, Iran) and Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Winter Sleep, Turkey, France, Germany).

For the first time, a film from Syria has received a nomination, with Silvered Water, Syria Self-portrait (Syria, France) nominated for the Apsa for Best Feature Documentary.

Films from the China and Russia lead the nominations with six each, closely followed...

Political thriller The Code took the major Awgie award as well as the trophy for best original miniseries at the Australian Writers. Guild awards on Friday night.

The six-hour series, which premieres on ABC on September 21, is written by Blake Ayshford, Shelley Birse and Justin Monjo and produced by Playmaker Media. The major Awgie recognises the best of the night's winners across stage, screen, new media and radio.

The feature film award went to Adelaide writer Matthew Cormack for his first debut feature 52 Tuesdays, the gender-bending drama hailed as .bold and structurally adventurous..

Winner of the best documentary prize was Sally McKenzie for A Woman.s Journey Into Sex.

Andrew Knight was rewarded for his script for Essential Media and Entertainment.s telemovie The Broken Shore, adapted from the Peter Temple novel. Writer/director Peter Duncan won best TV series script for Essential.s Rake.

Niki Aken and Felicity Packard...