Two Danish films are selected for World Cinema Competitions, and Norway’s The Ugly Stepsister opens the 2025 Sundance festival’s Midnight program.

The Sundance Institute has announced 87 feature films and six episodic projects selected for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, which will take place from January 23 to February 2 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Two Danish films are selected for the festival’s World Cinema competition sections.

Among the lineup for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition is Danish director Mathias Broe’s first feature Sauna, a drama set in Copenhagen’s queer community about a gay man falling in love with a transgender man. The film is written by Broe and William Lippert based on the novel of the same name by Mads Ananda Lodahl, and produced by Mads-August Hertz for Nordisk Film Production Denmark.

Set for the World Cinema Documentary Competition is writer and director David Borenstein's Mr. Nobody against Putin (Mr. Nobody mod Putin). The feature documentary depicts a Russian teacher who goes undercover to film what’s really happening at his school as primary schools across the country’s hinterlands are transformed into recruitment stages for the war in Ukraine. Mr. Nobody against Putin is produced by Denmark’s Helle Faber for Made in Copenhagen in co-production with the Czech Republic’s Pink, and co-directed by Pasha Talankin.

Norwegian writer and director Emilie Blichfeldt’s debut feature The Ugly Stepsister (Den stygge stesøsteren) is chosen as the opening film of the festival’s Midnight programme. This is a raw and surprising twist on the classic Cinderella story, with the stepsister as the protagonist – inspired by the Grimm Brothers' version of the fairy tale, where she cuts off her toes to fit the shoe. Being the first Norwegian film to open the edgy and entertaining Midnight section, The Ugly Stepsister is produced by Maria Ekerhovd for Norway’s Mer Film in co-production with Zentropa Sweden, Poland’s Lava Film and Danish production company Motor.

Both Mr. Nobody against Putin and The Ugly Stepsister have received funding from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

In addition, the festival programme includes three Norwegian minority co-productions.

Selected for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Vladimir de Fontenay’s psychological survival drama Sukkwan Island is an adaption of the novel by David Vann starring Swann Arlaud and Woody Norman. The French majority production is co-produced by Synnøve Hørsdal and Petter Onstad Løkke from Norway’s Maipo Film, in collaboration with the company's northern Norwegian partner Fjordic Film.

Violet Du Feng’s The Dating Game is selected for the World Documentary Competition. The feature doc is a co-production between the USA, UK and Norway, with Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas from the Norwegian company Ten Thousand Images among the film’s producers.

Screened in Sundance’s Premieres section, the US majority production Folktales is set at a traditional folk high school in Arctic Norway. The documentary is directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, with Gudmundur Gunnarsson and Kari Anne Moe from Fuglene as Norwegian co-producers.

Last, but not least, yet another Nordic contribution is to be found in the Premieres section. Olivia Colman and John Lithgow star in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande director Sophie Hyde’s Australian feature Jimpa, which is co-produced by the Netherlands and Finland.

All the Nordic films and co-productions will have their world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

To see all the announced feature films and episodic projects: CLICK HERE.