2026 Sundance Film Festival Unveils Beyond Film Talks and Events with Olivia Wilde, Richard Linklater, Ava DuVernay

Olivia Wilde, Richard Linklater, Ava DuVernay, and more are all confirmed to be featured in the 2026 Sundance Film Festival’s annual Beyond Film talks and events, a series featuring artist conversations and experts.

In addition, a first time event, Sundance Institute’s Story Forum: Exploring Art and Innovation presented by Adobe, will take place Monday, January 26, bringing creators, educators, and industry leaders together to discuss the latest ideas and technologies in storytelling.

The Festival will be held from January 22–February 1, 2026, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, with the at-home program available online from January 29–February 1, 2026, for audiences across the country.

This year’s Beyond Film lineup, taking place Friday, January 23–Friday, January 30, includes Cinema Café presented by Audible and The Big Conversation | From Fire to Flight: Humans, Technology and Time.

Beyond Film will feature conversations from various participants, such as Olivia Wilde (Director and Cast, The Invite and Cast, I Want Your Sex), Ava DuVernay, Salman Rushdie (Subject, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie), Richard Linklater (Director, Nouvelle Vague), Nicole Holofcener (Director, Worried), John Turturro (Cast, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York), Billie Jean King (Subject, Give Me the Ball!), Antoine Fuqua (Director, Troublemaker), Gregg Araki (Director, I Want Your Sex and Mysterious Skin), and Barbara Kopple (Director, American Dream). This year’s programming will include a live podcast recording of Visitations featuring James Wan (Writer-director, Saw) with hosts Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah.

Also part of the Beyond Film program, Power of Story: On Legacy will feature Ta-Nehisi Coates (Executive Producer and Subject, When A Witness Recants), Alex Gibney (Director, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie), John Turturro (Cast, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York), Olivia Wilde (Director and Cast, The Invite and Cast, I Want Your Sex), and moderator Jia Tolentino (Staff Writer, The New Yorker).

“We are excited to announce this year’s Beyond Film programming as it represents how incredibly special this year is for the Sundance Film Festival,” said Kim Yutani, Director of Programming. “We look forward to bringing bold and inspiring voices together to explore the themes in this year’s program of new films, as well as celebrating our shared history with Utah through our Park City Legacy program talks and our signature Power of Story conversation held at the iconic Egyptian Theatre.”

“Our 2026 Beyond Film program remains a space for expanding perspectives and celebrating the resilient creative spirit at the heart of the Festival,” said Ania Trzebiatowska, Beyond Film Program Curator. “As we gather in Park City, we recognize the privilege of sharing this space — of looking beyond the screens, honoring our legacy, and connecting with the artists and audiences who shape how we see the world.”

Beyond Film Lineup

POWER OF STORY

The Sundance Film Festival’s Power of Story conversation looks to deepen public engagement with the art of storytelling, delve into cinema culture, and celebrate artists whose work propels and reinvents the form.

Power of Story: On Legacy
Tuesday, January 27, 3–4:30 p.m.
Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main St., Park City, UT
Power of Story: On Legacy will bring together artists, thinkers, and culture makers for a deeper look at the idea of legacy — what it means, who defines it, and how it evolves over time. Speakers will reflect on legacy as a balancing act between intention and interpretation, control and serendipity, exploring how stories outlive their creators and take on new meaning through audiences. It’s a conversation about what lasts, what lingers, and what we hope to pass on.

Featuring: Ta-Nehisi Coates (Executive Producer and Subject, When A Witness Recants), Alex Gibney (Director, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie), John Turturro (Cast, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York), and Olivia Wilde (Director and Cast, The Invite and Cast, I Want Your Sex)
Moderated by Jia Tolentino (Staff Writer, The New Yorker)

CINEMA CAFÉ

Friday, January 23–Thursday, January 29, 2026
Filmmaker Lodge, 550 Main St., Park City, UT
The doors are open again at Cinema Café, where the culture of conversation is reinvigorated. Our series of informal chats brings together special guests for thought-provoking encounters and fascinating dialogue. Previous Cinema Café guests have included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Tessa Thompson, Jane Campion, Eugenio Derbez, Lena Dunham, Norman Lear, Kumail Nanjiani, Saoirse Ronan, Spike Lee, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Radha Blank, Ira Glass, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Charlie Kaufman, Ice-T, Winston Duke, Eva Victor, Mstyslav Chernov, Olivia Colman, Daniel Kaluuya, Marlee Matlin, Chlöe Sevigny, Celine Song, D. Smith, and many others.
Cinema Café is presented by Audible

Cinema Café: Ava DuVernay and Barbara Kopple (American Dream)
Friday, January 23, 11 a.m.–noon

Cinema Café: TBA
Saturday, January 24, TBA

Cinema Café: Salman Rushdie (Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie)
Hosted by Justin Chang (Film Critic, The New Yorker)
Sunday, January 25, 11 a.m.–noon

Cinema Café: Billie Jean King (Give Me the Ball!) and Antoine Fuqua (Troublemaker)
Tuesday, January 27, 11 a.m.–noon

Cinema Café: The Indie ’90s
Featuring: Gregg Araki (I Want Your Sex and Mysterious Skin), Nicole Holofcener (Worried), Richard Linklater (Nouvelle Vague), and moderated by John Pierson (Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes)
Wednesday, January 28, 11 a.m.–noon

Cinema Café: Visitations Live Podcast with James Wan (Saw)
Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah of indie production company SpectreVision will host a live taping of their podcast Visitations.
Thursday, January 29, 11 a.m.–noon

THE BIG CONVERSATION

The Big Conversation tackles science, art, culture, and the movements that are fueling the imaginations of today’s independent artists.

The Big Conversation | From Fire to Flight: Humans, Technology and Time
Monday, January 26, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Filmmaker Lodge, 550 Main St., Park City, UT
Two leading scientists join filmmaker Andrew Stanton (WALL-E) and screenwriter Colby Day (Spaceman) who have explored themes of human connection to science and technology throughout their work, including the new film In The Blink of An Eye, which spans thousands of years of human history, from a Neanderthal family struggling to survive, to the work of an anthropologist (uncovering that past), to the mission of spacecraft — its sole human occupant and onboard sentient computer — bringing humanity to a distant planet.
Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Featuring: Andrew Stanton (Director, In The Blink of An Eye) and Colby Day (Executive Producer, In The Blink of An Eye), and moderated by Dr. Heather Berlin

NOUVELLE VAGUE LIVE COMMENTARY WITH RICHARD LINKLATER
Wednesday, January 28, 9:15 p.m.
The Yarrow Theatre, 1800 Park Ave., Park City, UT
Longtime Festival alumnus Richard Linklater will provide a live commentary track over a screening of Nouvelle Vague, taking the audience behind the scenes of Linklater’s film, Godard’s film, and the nature of independence in filmmaking itself.
Nouvelle Vague / France (Director: Richard Linklater, Screenwriters: Holly Gent, Vincent Palmo Jr., Michèle Halberstadt, Laetitia Masson, Producers: Laurent Pétin, Michèle Pétin) — A reimagining of the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless explores the youthful rebellion and creative chaos that shaped the French New Wave. Cast: Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin.

EVERYONE HAS A STORY: FOUR DECADES OF THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL IN UTAH EVENT
Friday, January 30, 3–4:15 p.m. (doors open at 2 p.m. for cocktail hour with cash bar)
The Marquis, 427 Main St., Unit 1, Park City, UT
This special culmination event brings together artists, alumni, industry, veteran attendees, staff and volunteers, and the local community for a program of stories, shared memories, archive treasures, and legendary moments. This is a free event, ticket reservation required. Must be 21 or older with a scannable ID to attend. Visit festival.sundance.org for more information.

PARTNER EVENTS

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE’S STORY FORUM: EXPLORING ART AND INNOVATION
Monday, January 26, 8:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m.
Silvermine, Sheraton Park City, 1895 Sidewinder Dr., Park City, UT
Sundance Institute’s Story Forum: Exploring Art and Innovation is being presented by Adobe bringing creators, educators, and industry leaders together to discuss the latest ideas and technologies in storytelling. Events are free to attend with registration and will take place at the Sheraton Park City on Monday, January 26, 2026 from 8:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m. MT. A free online program will also be held on Thursday, January 29, and Friday, January 30, 2026. Secure your free in-person and online registration at collab.sundance.org/catalog/Story-Forum.

Making of a Movement: Meet the Creators Coalition on AI
8:30–9:30 a.m.
Founding members of the Creators Coalition on AI (CCAI) share their groundbreaking initiative to develop standards and best practices for artificial intelligence use in entertainment. Gain candid insights into the organization’s mission to create ethical guidelines and artistic protections for creators. The session includes breakfast.
Featuring: Janet Yang (Co-Founder, CCAI)

Beyond the Hype: A Documentary Deep Dive into AI
10–11 a.m.
Filmmakers behind two 2026 Sundance Film Festival documentaries about artificial intelligence — Valerie Veatch (Ghost in the Machine), Daniel Roher, Charlie Tyrell, and Daniel Kwan (The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist) — examine the evolving technological landscape in this session that unpacks the intricate history and potential futures of AI in society.
Featuring: Valerie Veatch (Director, Ghost in the Machine), Daniel Kwan (Producer, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist), and Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell (Co-directors, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist)
Moderated by Alix Dunn (CEO, The Maybe)

Behind the Shorts: Creative Explorations in GenAI Filmmaking | Presented by Adobe
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
A practical, behind-the-scenes look at how generative tools can support the artists making their films. Go inside the process as the filmmakers break down how they organized their workflows and tackled key challenges. This session highlights the steps and decisions that shaped the shorts, showing how AI can enhance an artist’s creativity and streamline the path to a finished film.
Featuring: Momo Wang (Creator, WINK) and Taryn O’Neill (Writer-director, MythOS)

Cinematic Authorship in an Era of AI and Virtual Production
1–2 p.m.
Virtual production and AI are often framed as tools — from LED stages and real-time engines to AI-driven workflows — but for independent filmmakers they signal a deeper shift in authorship and creative decision-making. This session explores how evolving production approaches influence cinematic language and creative possibility, and invites filmmakers to engage technology as part of storytelling shaped by intention, literacy, and creative ownership.
Featuring: Kathryn Brillhart (Cinematographer/Director/Virtual Production Supervisor)

The Trust Paradox: Creative Technology Trends Shaping Entertainment
2:30–3:30 p.m.
Dive into how generative AI is transforming our relationship to creativity and credibility and why trust is becoming the next great currency. Nick Borenstein, General Manager of The Webby Awards, will present the 2026 Webby Trend Report, a playbook for creative excellence in the Intelligence Era. Following the report, a panel will discuss how creative technologies are shaping the industry.
Featuring: Nick Borenstein (General Manager, The Webby Awards), Loren Hammonds (Head of Documentary, TIME Studios), William D. Caballero (Director/Co-Writer/Producer, TheyDream)

The Machine Is Not the Artist: The Evolution of Storytelling Across AI, VR, and AR
4–5 p.m.
Award-winning creatives Yelena Rachitsky (Head of Emerging Formats, Meta) and Eliza McNitt (Director, ANCESTRA, SPHERES) deconstruct their groundbreaking projects and examine how emerging technologies are reshaping cinematic language. Explore the evolution from VR to AI — and why human authorship remains at the center of storytelling.
Featuring: Eliza McNitt (Director, ANCESTRA, SPHERES), Yelena Rachitsky (Head of Emerging Formats, Meta)

Artificial Creativity: The Neuroscience of Imagination in the Intelligence Age
5:30–6:30 p.m.
AI can generate images, scripts, and music, but it doesn’t create the way humans do. This session with Rachel Joy Victor, a researcher and designer of computational narratives and emergent technologies, traces the evolution of artificial intelligence alongside human cognition to unpack what creativity actually is, where AI reaches its limits, and why embodied experience, intuition, and intention remain central to storytelling.
Featuring: Rachel Joy Victor (Strategist and Designer, Founder, Interphase)

Dear Upstairs Neighbors: Exploring Artist-Driven, AI-Assisted Expressionistic Animation
7–8 p.m.
Join the team behind Dear Upstairs Neighbors for a screening and deep dive into artist-centric, AI-assisted animation workflows. This short film blends traditional animation with abstract expressionism using innovative video-to-video techniques. Learn how animation veterans and researchers at Google DeepMind developed custom AI models to transform handcrafted art and music into “living paintings” while maintaining total creative control.
Featuring: Connie He (Director, Dear Upstairs Neighbors), Yung Spielburg (Composer, Dear Upstairs Neighbors), Cassidy Curtis (Supervising Animator, Dear Upstairs Neighbors), Sarah Rumbley (VFX Supervisor, Dear Upstairs Neighbors)
Moderated by Márcia Mayer (Producer, Dear Upstairs Neighbors)

Whispers: An Interactive Murder Mystery Experience
8:30–10:30 p.m.
Experience the SAG-AFTRA-approved, AI-driven interactive thriller Whispers. This social session includes a murder mystery experience, food and refreshments, and insights into the future of generative interactive narrative from Peabody- and three-time Primetime Emmy Award–winning creator and showrunner Bernie Su, Pickford AI CEO Stephen Piron, product manager Harrison Sanborn, and actor Stephen A. Chang.
Featuring: Bernie Su (Creator and Showrunner, Artificial, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries), Stephen Piron (CEO, Pickford AI), Harrison Sanborn (Producer, Product Manager, Pickford AI), Stephen A. Chang (Actor, The Last of Us Part II, Bosch: Legacy)