THR Critics Pick the 15 Best Films of Sundance 2025
Directors Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe’s doc about Jacinda Ardern is a timely and bracingly intimate portrait of a woman in power, examining the left-wing prime minister’s work and life choices during her five-year term as New Zealand’s galvanizing head of government.
Sundance 2025: The Dating Game, Prime Minister, How to Build a Library
Directors Michelle Walshe & Lindsay Utz’s film “Prime Minister” takes a fairly straightforward approach with a gentle touch. It’s a traditional kind of documentary, following Ardern’s journey into politics and her term as prime minister in mostly a chronological timeline.
This Week In Documentary
As we (finally) close out the first month of 2025, this year’s Sundance Film Festival is also winding down. We’ve covered some of the programmed documentaries…
Best Documentaries of Sundance 2025
We can't see all of this year's Sundance documentaries, but of those we've seen, this is our ranking.
2025 Sundance Film Festival announces award winners
The U.S. documentary audience award went to “André is an Idiot,” a life-affirming film about dying of colon cancer. Other audience picks were “Prime Minister,” about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and “DJ Ahmet,” a coming-of-age film about a 15-year-old boy in North Macedonia.
'Atropia' and 'Twinless' win top prizes at Sundance Film Festival
The U.S. documentary audience award went to “André is an Idiot,” a life-affirming film about dying of colon cancer. Other audience picks were “Prime Minister,” about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and “DJ Ahmet,” a coming-of-age film about a 15-year-old boy in North Macedonia.
Sundance: ‘Atropia,’ ‘Seeds’ Win Top Festival Jury Prizes
Among the audience awards, Twinless won in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and André Is an Idiot topped the U.S. Documentary Competition. DJ Ahmet collected the audience award for World Cinema Dramatic Competition, with Prime Minister prevailing for the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
As always, the Sundance Film Festival allowed many to discover new filmmakers, performers, and films from well-established artists worldwide, both in-person and online, for their 41st edition.
Atropia Wins Grand Jury Prize at 2025 Sundance Film Festival
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival has two more days of in-person and online screenings, but the world premieres have been over since Tuesday. This morning, the festival revealed its juried and audience awards. The big winners were “Atropia,” “Seeds,” “Twinless,” “East of Wall,” and “André is an Idiot.”
2025 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners Announced
Grand Jury Prizes went to Atropia (U.S. Dramatic Competition), Seeds (U.S. Documentary Competition), Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) (World Cinema Dramatic Competition), and Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) (World Cinema Documentary Competition). The NEXT Innovator Award presented by Adobe was given to Zodiac Killer Project.
Sundance 2025 Awards: ‘Atropia’ and ‘Seeds’ Take Jury Prizes, Dylan O’Brien-Led ‘Twinless’ Wins Audience Award
Awards for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival were handed out on Friday morning, with the Dylan O’Brien-fronted dark comedy “Twinless” taking home the audience award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category.
Top Sundance 2025 Awards
“Storytelling is important, part of human continuity,” Sundance interim CEO Amanda Kelso said at the top of the ceremony, quoting its founder Robert Redford.
‘Prime Minister’ Review: New Zealand Leader Jacinda Ardern Works Through Crisis in an Intimate but Simplistic Documentary
Few films offer as much access as Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz’s political doc, which follows Ardern fielding an unprecedented mass shooting and the COVID pandemic.
“Prime Minister”: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Leader Who Champions Kindness
The intimate onscreen moments extend to vulnerable scenes in the office, such as the 2022 Wellington protest, when anti-mandate and anti-lockdown protesters occupied — and trashed — the grounds of Parliament House.
‘You shouldn’t have to trade off’: Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern on navigating motherhood and a career
“Prime Minister” puts a spotlight not just on the former prime minister, but also the love and care of Ardern’s husband, TV broadcaster Clarke Gayford, who carried their daughter, Neve, around the office so that Ardern could breastfeed before and after meetings, and in the backseat of cars (following the film’s premiere, Gayford received a lot of applause from the Sundance audience for his continual support of Ardern).
Sundance 2025: Prime Minister Shoots Straight From the Hip
Ardern’s hope, humanity and love for mankind is a magnificent example of how every leader should lead including the ones currently in charge of handling what our Star Spangled Banner anthem calls the so-called land of the free.