It’s late January, which means that the intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. For the next week and a half, we’ll be gathering the best critics on the scene to talk about each day’s premieres on the Podcast.

To kick things off, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish gathered Maddie Whittle (programmer at Film at Lincoln Center; FC contributor), Ruun Nuur (co-founder of Evil Eye Cinema; features programmer at Cleveland International Film Festival), and Vadim Rizov (Filmmaker Magazine) to share their responses to the films premiering during the first few days of the fest. The group discusses SLY LIVES! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) (3:07), Pee-wee as Himself (20:48), All That’s Left of You (37:41), and The Perfect Neighbor (50:30).

Stay tuned for more of our Sundance 2025 coverage.