Sundance 2022: 20 Films You Need To Know About

The biggest and best films from Sundance 2022.

By Jack Pooley /

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival has just wrapped up, and much like last year's edition of the indie film fest, global circumstances dictated that it moved to an online-only format, despite original plans for a physical/virtual hybrid situation.

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And as much as the lack of in-person red carpet events might take some of the shine off film festivals, the quality of the work speaks for itself, as it certainly has amid this year's selection of ambitious dramas, wild genre films, and must-see documentaries.

As the smoke clears and distributors rush to acquire as many buzzed-about titles as possible, these are the 20 movies from the festival which proved the most entertaining and emotionally rewarding.

These are the boldest and most provocative films from Sundance 2022 which, with all the will in the world, will be on everybody's lips in the coming months, and in some cases even courting Oscars.

With some of these splashy projects already picked up for release - typically on streaming, per the nature of the current movie landscape - you hopefully won't have to wait too long to feast your eyes upon them...

20. Fresh

Easily one of the most buzzed-about films from this year's Sundance, Fresh is a black comedy about the toils of the dating scene, as a woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones) discovers that her seemingly perfectly new boyfriend (Sebastian Stan) comes with quite the catch.

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You're certainly better off going into Fresh as, well, fresh as possible, but know that this is a Sebastian Stan performance like he's never given before.

Unafraid to take her unhinged premise to some truly lurid and uncomfortable places, debuting director Mimi Cave wrings every ounce of suspense out of her twisted setup, aided by sharp production values and a strong central performance from lead Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Just campy enough without descending into outright farce, Fresh will have you wincing one minute and laughing out loud the next.

Fresh releases on Hulu on March 4.

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