2026 Sundance Film Festival Unveils Beyond Film Talks and Events

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: 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)

Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah of indie production company SpectreVision will host a live taping of their podcast Visitations.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.