The nonprofit Sundance Institute reveals the Legacy program for the 2027 Sundance Film Festival. The Legacy program, formerly known as From the Collection, features projects from the Sundance Film Festival’s long and proud history showcasing groundbreaking independent cinema, including archival and restoration screenings of fiction and nonfiction work. Letterboxd, the film discovery platform with over 30 million members globally, joins as co-presenter of the Legacy program, with additional details for onsite activations during the festival to come.
The 2027 Sundance Film Festival will take place Jan. 21 through 31, in Boulder. World premieres of new films will be held Jan. 21 through 26. Festivalgoers will be part of the first audiences ever to see soon-to-be-announced films, episodic projects and more. Throughout the entire run of the festival, additional showings of the program will continue along with talks and additional programming. From Jan. 28 through 31, audiences anywhere in the U.S. can enjoy a selection of the festival lineup online. Find more details at festival.sundance.org.
Legacy screenings will include director appearances and select cast members in attendance, inviting audiences to start new conversations about old favorites as well as discovering previously missed gems. Screenings include brand-new restorations of every film: the 2002 Sundance Film Festival version of “Better Luck Tomorrow” (Justin Lin); a digital 4K restoration of “Dogtown and Z-Boys” (Stacy Peralta); a 35th anniversary screening of “Fool’s Fire” (Julie Taymor); “Nitrate Kisses” (Barbara Hammer), which premiered in the U.S. at the festival 35 years ago and whose director is at the center of Brydie O’Connor’s 2026 Sundance Film Festival documentary “Barbara Forever;” a 25th anniversary screening of “Real Women Have Curves” (Patricia Cardoso); a 35th anniversary screening of “Swoon” (Tom Kalin); and a 25th anniversary screening of a 4K restoration of “Y tu mamá también” (Alfonso Cuarón). The Legacy program will also include a two-part session on the final weekend of the festival called “Sundance Film Festival presents: Cinema Interruptus featuring Memento” (Christopher Nolan), featuring a 4K restoration and a communal discussion. Additional programming for the category will be announced in the coming weeks. The Legacy program will take place from Jan. 27 through 31, during the second half of the festival.
In 2027, Sundance Institute and UCLA Film & Television Archive will celebrate the 30th anniversary jointly establishing a vital film preservation initiative, the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA, to ensure the long-term preservation of independent film. The collection currently holds material from over 1,000 titles and has participated in restorations of “Hoop Dreams,” “River of Grass,” “Mysterious Skin,” “Doom Generation,” “Just Another Girl on the IRT,” “High Art,” “Go Fish,” “Three Seasons,” “Paris Is Burning,” “Superstar,” “Unzipped,” “The Hours and Times,” “SLAM,” and this year, “Better Luck Tomorrow” and “Swoon.”
“We’re excited to kick off the Festival season in earnest with this first 2027 Sundance Film Festival announcement, revealing some of our Legacy programming,” says Eugene Hernandez, director of the Sundance Film Festival and public programming. “Each year we honor the legacy of our founder Robert Redford and the history of the Sundance Film Festival by looking back at just a few of the films and filmmakers who have shaped our history. Our first festival in our new home in Boulder will bring change, but as we evolve, we’ll keep at our core what we celebrate: our rich history. Sundance will always uplift independent voices, and our Legacy slate is a beautiful example of that. We are also pleased to announce Letterboxd’s co-partnership for the Legacy category. It’s great to collaborate with organizations that build momentum and excitement for a culture of cinematic discovery, and we look forward to having them at the Festival with us in January.”
“Revisiting and becoming newly acquainted with films from our previous lineups in a theatrical setting, in community and with some of the talent behind the films is a rare treat—even more so when these projects have been restored,” says Kim Yutani, director of programming of the Sundance Film Festival. “We’re really looking forward to welcoming back these artists and know that audiences will enjoy the opportunity to complement the new films we will soon be announcing with these classics.”
“Our Legacy programming at the Sundance Film Festival grew out of a partnership with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and its continued growth is running in parallel to the incredible moment repertory cinema is having across the country right now,” says John Nein, Sundance Film Festival senior programmer and director of strategic initiatives. “This program offers a space for brand-new restorations of classic independent films to be discovered or rediscovered by audiences as the creative teams behind these films reunite. It’s an exciting way of celebrating what these artists have brought to independent storytelling.”
In-person ticket packages and passes and online ticket packages and passes are currently on sale at festival.sundance.org/tickets. Single Film Tickets will go on sale starting Jan. 8, 2027.
The Sundance Film Festival is an artist program of Sundance Institute, a nonprofit that has supported thousands of artists every year plus thousands more through its public programming. Proceeds earned through festival ticket sales go to supporting and developing emerging artists on a year-round basis through focused labs, direct grants, fellowships, residencies and more.
