10 Most Anticipated Indie Movies from Sundance 2024, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes

Sundance, the main independent film festival, has been over for a few days now, and we recap the results and talk about the ten most anticipated premieres: Jesse Eisenberg's new directorial work, the ghosts of Steven Soderbergh, and Kristen Stewart 's return to the big screen.

10. Little Death

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 33%

The debut film from music video director Jack Begert, produced by Darren Aronofsky and starring David Schwimmer.

The movie will tell several stories – in the first one, a director experiencing a midlife crisis is one step away from a major creative breakthrough, but everything goes wrong. At the same time, a couple of taco vendors are looking for a backpack containing drugs. The fates of the characters are, of course, intertwined in a surreal montage and disturbing atmosphere.

9. Freaky Tales

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 71%

The creators of the cult classic Half Nelson, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, return to indie after an unsuccessful collaboration with Marvel – their Captain Marvel wasn’t a big success (to say the least), and the directors' fans decided to pretend that it never happened.

The filmmakers' new feature, Freaky Tales, is a four-part anthology set in 1987 Oakland and four interconnected stories about love, music, cinema, people and memories that transcend the boundaries of our world. And the man of the moment, Pedro Pascal, plays one of the main roles, a retired henchman.

8. Handling the Undead

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 81%

The power goes out in Oslo for a few minutes, apparently due to a magnetic storm. Soon the citizens are confronted with the most important consequence of what has happened – the dead return to their families. Silently, in various stages of decay, they are completely indifferent to their relatives. And each of the living must decide how to act in the new circumstances.

The plot of the movie is reminiscent of the French TV show The Returned, so if you have seen that undoubtedly outstanding project, then you should definitely wait for the release of Handling the Undead.

7. A Different Man

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 85%

A movie from A24 and Aaron Schimberg, an experimental director who made a name for himself with the drama Chained for Life. According to the plot of the new movie, aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to radically change his appearance and start getting roles in big projects.

But his new dream face turns from a beautiful mask into a cage – due to the change in appearance, Edward misses the opportunity to play his dream role. Now he is obsessed with regaining what he has lost.

6. The Outrun

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 86%

One of the most anticipated films of the festival was The Outrun, starring Saoirse Ronan, an adaptation of Amy Liptrot's memoir of the same name. The entire plot of the autobiographical work boils down to the woman's recovery after a nine-year period of self-destruction.

Rona stops drinking, gives up drugs and, most importantly, moves from London to the Orkney Islands in the far north of Scotland. There she gets a job caring for birds while writing a book.

5. Presence

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 88%

Presence is the new film by Steven Soderbergh, one of the main sensations of the festival program. Shot in 11 days in total secrecy, no one expected the movie to be a hit, but now the viewers are treated to one of the director's most experimental works.

In the story, a family moves into a new house and discovers that there is someone or something else living in their new home. It seems like a cliche horror plot, but the film was shot from the perspective of a ghost.

The movie was bought at Sundance by Neon, in a battle with other studios, which means that we can now only wait for the announcement of the release date in cinemas.

4. Love Lies Bleeding

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 91%

Rose Glass made her directorial debut in 2019 with Saint Maud. The psychological thriller, produced by A24, told the story of a deeply religious, traumatized nurse who tried to set her sinful patient on the right path.

Her new work promises a romantic tale of betrayal set in the Las Vegas bodybuilding community that certainly deserves attention. Kristen Stewart stars, with Jena Malone, Ed Harris and Dave Franco in supporting roles.

3. A Real Pain

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 93%

A Real Pain is Jesse Eisenberg's second feature film as a director. It stars Jesse himself and the star of the modern drama TV classic Succession, Kieran Culkin.

The road movie is about two men traveling through Poland after the death of their grandmother. In the 1940s, she survived the Holocaust, and 80 years later, her grandchildren visit Auschwitz and try to understand themselves, their relatives, and the world around them.

2. Between the Temples

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 95%

Nathan Silver, a mumblecore director known only in small movie buff circles, comes to Sundance for the first time, while Between the Temples is his ninth feature. Jason Schwartzman, the most popular actor of 2023 according to Letterboxd, who made his name starring in Wes Anderson's films, continues to star in both big-budget studio films like the Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and indies like Between the Temples.

The story of a middle-aged, insecure man overcoming an existential crisis may not sound very exciting, but Silver can take any story that has already been told a thousand times and turn it into a bright kaleidoscope, as his films Thirst Street and The Great Pretender prove.

1. I Saw the TV Glow

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Rating: 100%

Returning to the virtual Sundance Festival in 2021, Jane Schoenbrun endeared herself to indie film fans with the creepy Internet horror We're All Going to the World's Fair, a film perhaps better suited to an online premiere than any other project this year.

I Saw the TV Glow is another movie that explores how people consume media. This time, it tells the story of two friends who become obsessed with a mysterious late-night TV show that begins to influence their understanding of what is real and what is not.