Image via Complex Original
Though the world of film distribution has changed drastically since the Sundance Film Festival's founding 30 years ago, hitting it big at Robert Redford's mountain movie fest is still the dream of many an indie filmmaker.
While the list of films (and filmmakers) "discovered" at the festival continues to grow (no doubt aided by this year's impressive lineup of films), Sundance's "classic" films still hold up. Don't believe us? Cook up some popcorn and settle in with The 25 Best Classic Sundance Film Festival Movies Streaming on Netflix Right Now.
Joe the King (1999)
Actor-turned-filmmaker Frank Whaley proved he was equally adept at the latter title with his 1999 directorial debut, which follows a misguided teen’s (Noah Fleiss) journey into the criminal underworld and the various people who are influencing his increasingly poor decisions. Whaley won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for the film (which was also nominated for a Grand Jury Prize).
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)
Several documentaries have been made about the life and times of Roman Polanski. But none quite as intriguing as Marina Zenovich’s 2008 film, winner of two Emmy Awards, which takes an investigative eye toward the events leading up to the director’s famous flee from the United States. The film continued to stir up controversy when one of its key subjects claimed he lied for the cameras.
Happy, Texas (1999)
A bidding war was the worst thing to happen to Mark Illsley’s Happy, Texas. In 1999, the comedy about two escaped convicts (Steve Zahn and Jeremy Northam) pretending to be gay beauty pageant consultants in a small Texas town set off a bidding war at Sundance, with Harvey Weinstein emerging victorious—and pissing a lot of people off in the process (read all about it here). The negative feelings seemed to carry over into the box office, when the film tanked, earning it the reputation as one of Sundance’s worst purchases. But with the popularity of Toddlers & Tiaras and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, maybe the time has come for Happy, Texas to finally find its well-deserved audience.
Fresh (1994)
Sean Nelson was just 14 years old when he won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance in 1995, following his impressive turn as a teenager who turns to drug running in order to help support his family (including an alcoholic father, played by Samuel L. Jackson). Fresh director Boaz Yakin shared 1994’s Filmmakers Trophy with Kevin Smith for Clerks.
Paris is Burning (1990)
Director Jennie Livingston won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1991 for this fascinating look at New York City’s tight-knit drag queen community that explores the issues of gender, race, class and sexuality in a tender and thought-provoking way.
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1992)
Director Leslie Harris won a Special Jury Recognition for her debut film, which shows how quickly even the best laid plans can crumble as a wise-beyond-her-years high schooler (Ariyan Johnson) dreams of escaping the poverty of Brooklyn for medical school.
Girls Town (1996)
Indie icon Lili Taylor shines in this story about three young women who band together—and reveal how tragedy can strike at any age—in the wake of the rape and subsequent suicide of their friend. Unlike other coming-of-age films, Girls Town stands out for its gritty realism.
Brother's Keeper (1992)
Throughout their two decades at the forefront of the documentary genre, directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky—the duo behind the Paradise Lost series of films on the West Memphis Three—have served as much as investigators as they have directors. And it all started with this 1992 documentary, which raises the question of legal competence as it details the murder trial of Delbert Ward.
The Deep End (2001)
Quiet and deeply moving, David Siegel and Scott McGehee’s The Deep End tells the story of a mother’s (Tilda Swinton) struggle to protect her son—at all costs—in the wake of an accidental murder. A Grand Jury Prize nominee at Sundance, the film later earned a Golden Globe nomination for Swinton as Best Actress.
Unzipped (1995)
At the height of Supermodel Mania, director Douglas Keeve documented the road to New York Fashion Week, as seen through the eyes and work of designer Isaac Mizrahi (Keeve’s boyfriend at the time). The film, which won the Audience Award for Documentary at Sundance in 1995, provided a deeply intimate look at life behind the glamour (and eventually caused the end of the director and designer’s relationship).
Enter the Void (2009)
Anyone who has ever seen Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible won’t be surprised that the director’s feature follow-up, Enter the Void, is unrated. As this French director is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. But it was the success of that earlier film that allowed Noé to make this one, an existential art film that traces the out-of-body experience of an American drug dealer following his death in Tokyo. Yes, it’s as trippy as it sounds—but in a good way (for moviegoers who don’t mind a bit of over-the-top violence).
Man on Wire (2008)
Director James Marsh documents what came to be known as “the artistic crime of the century,” Philippe Petit’s high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in 1974. Playing up the “crime” angle (Petit was arrested for his stunt), this 2008 documentary—which won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance before walking home with an Oscar—uses a heist film setup to tell Petit’s story.
Smoke Signals (1998)
Writer Sherman Alexie adapted his own short story, "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," as the basis for this indie classic, which won director Chris Eyre both the Filmmakers Trophy and Audience Award at Sundance in 1998. Equally poignant and funny, the film adopts a traditional road movie formula as Victor (Adam Beach) and Thomas (Evan Adams)—two residents of an Idaho Indian reservation—travel to Phoenix to retrieve the ashes of Victor’s estranged father.
Restrepo (2010)
Writer Sebastian Junger and renowned photographer Tim Hetherington spent a year embedded with a platoon in Afghanistan to create this uniquely intimate look into a soldier’s life off (and on) the battlefield. The film, which won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance, was also nominated for an Oscar in 2011. Much was made of Junger and Hetherington’s willingness to put their own lives in danger for the sake of the film; Hetherington, tragically, was killed in April 2011 while on assignment in Libya.
Slacker (1991)
Richard Linklater has been one of Sundance’s favorite poster children for more than two decades. The headlines he’s making this very minute for the successful premiere of his latest film, Boyhood, at this year’s festival mimic the positive chatter that surrounded him when he brought Slacker—a somewhat plotless story of a day in the life of severaldo-nothing youngsters in Austin—to Park City in 1991. In 2012, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation.
Hustle & Flow (2005)
It’s not just any movie about the life of a pimp and aspiring rapper (Terrence Howard) that can catch the attention of both Sundance and the Academy Awards. But Hustle & Flow did just that in 2005 and 2006, when “It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp” won an Oscar for Best Original Song.
Style Wars (1983)
More than a decade before Banksy became a household name, director Tony Silver was documenting the ways in which graffiti artists were altering the art scene—and landscape—of New York City.
You and Me and Everyone We Know (2005)
Artist-turned-filmmaker Miranda July stormed the festival circuit with her directorial debut, Me and You and Everyone We Know. The quirky tale of a shoe salesman (John Hawkes) and a struggling artist (July) trying to make sense of the world won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance’s 2005 festival. And established July as one of the freshest new voices to emerge on the American indie scene in years (her follow up, The Future, is equally worthy of a watch).
Donnie Darko (2001)
Doomsday visions, a creepy six-foot-tall bunny and Jake Gyllenhaal in one of his earliest starring roles are just a few of the key elements that helped propel writer-director Richard Kelly’s directorial debut into cult classic territory in no time.
Pi (1998)
Before he was chasing washed-up wrestlers and mentally-fragile ballerinas around, Darren Aronofsky was making a name for himself with this low-budget ($60,000) black-and-white affair in which a mathematician (Sean Gullette) believes he has discovered a number that could unlock the secrets to the universe. (It plays much more interestingly than it sounds.)
Clerks (1994)
Love him or hate him, Kevin Smith represents the dream of any aspiring indie moviemaker. Inspired by Richard Linklater’s Slacker, the then-24-year-old gathered up a few of his friends and $25,000 to shoot this black-and-white comedy in the convenience store where he actually worked. Fast forward to Sundance, where the film tied with Fresh for the Filmmakers Trophy and became an instant comedy classic. When it was released theatrically by Miramax, it made more than $3 million at the box office and has spawned a series of sequels.
Big Night (1996)
Before there was Instagram food porn there was Big Night, Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott’s directorial period collaboration about an Italian restaurant on the verge of collapse that is given one last chance at life when Louis Prima is booked for a visit. But their special guest is only the lead-in; the bulk of the film’s 107 minutes is spent waxing cinematic—both in the dialogue and cinematography—on the art of food.
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Director Steve James spent five years crafting this near-three-hour documentary about the hopes and dreams of William Gates and Arthur Agee, two young NBA hopefuls. Originally intended as a 30-minute documentary for PBS, the film’s story—which transcended the typical “sports movie”—stood as a microcosm of the American Dream. After winning the Best Documentary Award at Sundance in 1994, it was nominated for an Oscar.
Memento (2000)
Two years after making his Park City debut at the Slamdance Film Festival with Following, Christopher Nolan trekked back up the mountain to premiere his neo-noir thriller Memento at Sundance. The film sparked a storytelling revolution with its backwards chronology, yet few directors have been able to master the art of mixed-up storytelling as well. After winning the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance, Nolan and his co-writer/brother Jonathan were nominated for an Oscar for their blink-and-you’ll-be-totally-lost script about a man (Guy Pearce) with amnesia investigating the rape and murder of his wife.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
If sex, lies, and videotape changed the definition of “a Sundance film” when it premiered in 1989, Reservoir Dogs hardened it three years later. Quentin Tarantino’s gritty gangster-heist film hybrid—about a group of color-coded criminals in the aftermath of a robbery gone wrong—marked a less kind and gentle sort of Sundance film. And paved the way for decades of imitators.
