Film festival coverage tends to oversell. Every Sundance has 5 "must-see" films per the trade press; only 1 turns out to actually be a must-see. Most festival hype evaporates by the time films reach wide release.
But sometimes the hype is justified. Here are 5 recent festival films that genuinely deserved the reputations they earned.
1. Anora (Cannes 2024 — Palme d'Or)
Director: Sean Baker.
What it is: A young Brooklyn sex worker marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Things get complicated.
Why it earned the Palme: Mikey Madison's lead performance is one of the best in years. The film moves between comedy, romance, and tragedy with real control. Sean Baker has been making excellent low-budget films for years; this one finally got the recognition.
Verdict: Watch it. The Palme d'Or is sometimes wrong. This one was right.
2. Past Lives (Sundance 2023)
Director: Celine Song.
What it is: Two childhood friends separated by emigration, reconnected as adults. About immigration, identity, the lives we did not live.
Why it earned the hype: First-time director making a complete film. Restrained performances. Script that respects the audience. The 12-year structure works.
Verdict: Will likely be remembered as one of the great films of the decade.
3. The Worst Person in the World (Cannes 2021)
Director: Joachim Trier.
What it is: A Norwegian woman in her late 20s navigating life, relationships, and the question of who she wants to be.
Why it earned the hype: Renate Reinsve won Best Actress at Cannes for performance that completely deserved it. The script is unbelievably good. Trier had been building toward this for years.
Verdict: If you watch one film from this list, watch this one.
4. Drive My Car (Cannes 2021)
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
What it is: A widowed Japanese theater director rehearses Chekhov in Hiroshima with a young female driver. Three hours long.
Why it earned the hype: Won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes plus Best International Feature at the Oscars. Patient pacing that earns its length. Layered exploration of grief, art, and language.
Verdict: Long but worth it. Best film about how art helps people grieve in years.
5. Triangle of Sadness (Cannes 2022 — Palme d'Or)
Director: Ruben Östlund.
What it is: A satirical disaster film about wealth, hierarchy, and what happens when the social order breaks down. Set partly on a luxury cruise.
Why it earned the hype: Östlund's third Cannes win in five years. Brutal, funny, willing to commit to its conceits. The middle act is one of the most distinctive sequences in recent cinema.
Verdict: Polarizing. Either you respond to the bluntness or you do not. If you do, it is one of the great satires of the decade.
Festivals that are usually right
Track record of major festivals for predicting genuine quality:
Cannes: Pretty good. The Palme d'Or winners are usually significant films. Cannes also generates the most hype, so adjust expectations accordingly.
Sundance: Mixed. Half the hyped films deliver, half do not. The Grand Jury Prize is a more reliable signal than the audience favorites.
Berlin: Often picks more politically engaged or experimental work. Less hype overall but the films tend to be substantial.
Venice: Reasonably reliable. Tends to feature more conventional prestige films alongside arthouse.
Toronto: Audience awards skew toward accessible crowd-pleasers. The "pre-Oscar" buzz from TIFF is overrated.
Festival films that did NOT deserve their hype
To balance this list, some festival darlings that got more attention than they deserved:
- Tár (2022): Strong performance from Cate Blanchett, but the film itself was overhyped. The discourse around it was more interesting than the film.
- Babylon (2022): Critical darling that audiences correctly recognized as bloated.
- EO (2022): Festival critics loved it. Audiences understandably did not.
- Various recent Cannes second-tier prize winners that you have already forgotten about.
How to read festival hype
Some patterns I have learned:
Be skeptical of the first wave of trade press reactions. The first reviews from Sundance or Cannes are written in festival fever. Real assessment comes weeks later.
Trust audience reactions more than critical raves at festivals. If the festival crowd is genuinely excited (not just the critics), the film usually has wider appeal.
Watch for films that win multiple festival awards. A film that wins at Cannes AND another major festival is more reliable than one that wins at one.
Be cautious about films that "divide" audiences. "Divisive" often means "polarizing for legitimate reasons" but sometimes means "not actually that good."
Wait six months for the dust to settle. The films that genuinely matter are still being talked about six months after the festival.
Where to actually watch festival films
Festival films can be hard to access:
- Major releases (Anora, Past Lives, Drive My Car) eventually get wide theatrical release
- MUBI specifically curates festival circuit films
- Criterion Channel often picks up classic festival films after rights become available
- The Criterion Closet on YouTube is informative for what is currently available
- Local arthouse cinemas typically run festival films in their first wide window
The takeaway
Festival films are inconsistent in their delivery on hype. Most festival darlings are good but not great. Some are great. The 5 above are the ones that genuinely matter.
If you want to engage with serious cinema, follow festival coverage selectively. Wait for the dust to settle. Trust audience reactions over festival-fever critical reviews. The films that matter rise from the noise eventually.
