The arrival of a new year means two things for film buffs: the beginning of the awards season and Sundance. The Sundance Film Festival started up in the late 1970s and today stands among the “big five” film fests. Its attraction is twofold. First, you’re quite likely to catch the premiere of a future Oscar winner, such as CODA, which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2022. Second, Sundance’s programming has a history of “breaking” new and presently unknown directors (its roster of debut talents includes Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh). Among the anticipated films this year are The Thing with Feathers, directed by Dylan Southern and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jimpa, which features Olivia Colman and John Lithgow. The expected hits are only part of the fun—those diamonds in the rough are the real moviegoer’s treat. —Jack Sullivan