1. Wind River

Credit: Sundance 2017

Director: Taylor Sheridan

Section: Premieres

Nothing foretells a great new director like a history of successful endeavors in acting and screenwriting. Taylor Sheridan, once best-known for his performance in Sons Of Anarchy, recently impressed audiences and critics alike with his screenplays for Sicario and Hell or High Water, the latter of which is gaining serious awards traction. He's at Sundance with his directorial debut, Wind River, a neo-Western crime thriller about an FBI agent (Elisabeth Olsen) who teams up with a game tracker (Jeremy Renner) to solve a murder on a remote Indian Reservation. That strong cast, bolstered by the performances of many Native American actors and Sheridan's proven mastery over American frontier fare, will surely make for what Sundance calls "a stark look at life on the edge of an imposing wilderness, where the rule of law is eclipsed by the laws of nature." —Emily Buder

2. Berlin Syndrome

Credit: Sundance 2017

Director: Cate Shortland

Section: World Drama

Cate Shortland’s 2004 film Somersault, which premiered at Cannes, is a little-seen coming-of-age gem starring Abbie Cornish in her breakout role as Heidi, a teenager who escapes her abusive home. In keeping with what she learned growing up, Heidi uses her sex appeal to garner attention—and is quickly taken advantage of and disillusioned. With Somersault, Shortland demonstrated the ability to create extremely complex, nuanced characters dealing with emotionally sensitive material; the film was compelling and deeply moving.

Shortland is at Sundance with her third feature film, The Berlin Syndrome, a thriller about a tourist (Teresa Palmer) who travels to Berlin and, after an erotic fling with a local schoolteacher, finds herself imprisoned in his apartment. As her ordeal unfolds, the tourist cycles between reasoning with her captor, surrendering to his obsessions, and plotting her escape. Sundance describes the film as "psychologically acute and uncommonly observant to the shifting power dynamics between captor and prisoner." As Shortland excels in morally confounding territory (often involving the dark sides of sexuality), we're sure she's risen to this challenge. And the film is adapted from a Melanie Joosten novel by Shaun Grant (The Snowtown Murders), which means we're in for a character study of disturbing proportions. —Emily Buder

3. Menashe

Credit: Sundance 2017

Director: Joshua Z. Weinstein

Section: Next

We have a deep appreciation for cinematic risk takers, and the very act of making a feature in Yiddish—a language spoken only by the minority of a minority—certainly feels risky. Further, Menashe would seem to tread on that fine line between reality and fiction; it’s a narrative film about a man named Menashe from New York's ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, starring...a man named Menashe from New York's ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community. We implicitly trust the taste of Rooftop Films, which awarded the film its Brigade Marketing Festival Publicity grant. We're also impressed by the team, which includes co-writer Musa Syeed (A Stray) and DP Yoni Brook (Valley of Saints). Chris Columbus (The Witch, Tallulah) came on as an Executive Producer just this week. —Liz Nord

4. Kuso

Credit: Sundance 2017

Director: Steven Ellison (AKA Flying Lotus AKA Steve.)

Section: Midnight

Steven Ellison, perhaps better recognized by his stage name, Flying Lotus, is known for being a pretty out-there dude. The public was first treated to a glimpse of the DJ's taste for the absurd through various promo spots he scored for the boundary-pushing late night TV network Adult Swim. After a series of successful yet still heavily experimental albums (along with several mind-boggling music videos), Ellison has turned to the world of film. Or maybe it’s more of a re-turn, considering he once attended the Los Angeles Film School. His debut short, Royal, premiered at Sundance NEXT Fest in August 2016, where viewers were provided with their very own barf bags branded with the movie’s title. Kuso, premiering in the Midnight section at Sundance this year, is the feature-length expansion of this short. There isn't much information available regarding the plot itself— other than Ellison’s remark that “it’s about everything he’s ever been afraid of.” We'll admit it: We're a little afraid, too. —Jon Fusco

5. Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and Trials of a Free Press

'Nobody Speak'Credit: Sundance 2017

Director: Brian Knappenberger

Section: US Doc

This doc hits very close to home: it’s about the changing media landscape, the threat to free speech, and couple of billionaires who conspired to kill a beloved New York publication. Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and Trials of a Free Press reveals the forces that brought down the news portal through in-depth interviews with its founder, Nick Denton, and other journalists and media experts. But ultimately, the story is bigger than Gawker itself: it’s about the deepest underpinnings of our democracy, which come under threat whenever the freedom of press is curtailed. Director Brian Knappenberger is a Sundance alum; his documentary The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz premiered here in 2014. —Emily Buder

6. Untitled Buena Vista Social Club Documentary

'Untitled Buena Vista Social Club'Credit: Sundance 2017

Director: Lucy Walker

Section: Doc Premieres

It doesn’t even have a title yet and it’s premiering at Sundance—that tells you something about how good Lucy Walker’s latest offering may be. You might remember meeting some Cuban band members in the 1999 Wim Wenders documentary Buena Vista Social Club; the new film follows up with those original musicians in the exciting new climate of US-Cuba cultural exchange. While it may sound like a tough bet to follow the original film, which was a box office hit that garnered an Oscar nomination, the prowess of Lucy Walker (Garbage Dreams) is not to be underestimated. —Oakley Anderson-Moore

7. Brigsby Bear

For more, see our complete coverage of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.