This weekend, the 2025 Sundance Film Festival kicked off in Park City and Salt Lake City and (as expected) there have been plenty of compelling dramas, buzzy premieres and thought-provoking documentaries to go around. This year, however, there have been several Criterion-worthy takes on modern dating. From grave-digging romances and Brooklynite love stories to trans dating comedies and funeral first dates, up-and-coming filmmakers are exploring issues of the heart with the same complexity and humour found in the confusing chaos that is dating culture today.
Ahead, we asked five of the most promising filmmakers for their romantic takeaways and Sundance-approved dating advice.
Love, Brooklyn follows three longtime Brooklynites, navigating careers, love, loss, and friendship against the rapidly changing landscape of their beloved city. Why do you think modern dating makes for a compelling starting point for a story?
Rachael Holder: Our film has no villain, and relationships are complicated regardless. Even if no one is lying, cheating, stealing or doing something hugely wrong, it can still be complex. I feel like people lean into what feels familiar. Although a lot of people are in relatively healthy relationships and are relatively good people, it’s still hard. There’s a natural conflict that comes from being in a relationship with another person, and great stories come from natural conflict.
Did you walk away from writing and shooting the film with any dating advice?
Rachael Holder: I’m married, so I’m no longer dating, but my advice is to be yourself. Make sure you like yourself first because you date anyone else. Being a first-time feature director, I think it was also incredibly important for me to like myself and my taste. Overall, I think the objective of a happy life and a happy production is to like yourself.
Sweet Talkin’ Guy is a trans dating comedy based on a number of Dylan’s own experiences. Why do you think modern dating makes for a compelling starting point for a story?
Dylan Wardwell: There are too many men this is based on. None of the characters are just one guy. It’s being interpreted as a trans film because the film does follow the dating experience of a trans woman, but it’s also actually just about straight men being weird. I think it’s relatable to all women because so many women are fetishised. Men want to know why they are attracted to what they’re attracted to. But it’s like, ‘Of course you’re attracted to a hot girl, so why are you telling me this?’
Spencer Wardwell: I think it’s compelling because it’s not only highly relatable, but the dating world is such a rapidly shifting hellscape that can feel surreal at times. So, I think it’s great to see that reflected in films to remind us we’re not alone when it comes to depressing and straight-up bizarre encounters.
The film showcases three straight men as boringly predictable dates. Did you walk away from writing and shooting the film with any dating advice?
Dylan Wardwell: The film’s advice is to have fun, don’t overthink it and don’t be so serious. Chill. If everyone is having a good time, then why overthink it?
Spencer Wardwell: I feel like in answering this, I might out myself as someone who would plan a boringly predictable date. But instead, I’ll give the most boringly predictable answer and say: be yourself! Just because it’s a cliché doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Dead Lover is an unlikely love story: a gravedigger meets her dream partner, but tragedy strikes. Why did you want to explore romance alongside grief?
Grace Glowicki: I wrote the film with four of my friends I talked to over two years. One of them is a therapist, and the other three are filmmakers. It’s an exploration of when you’re in a relationship and have the impulse to hold on at all costs, no matter what, and how this can actually kill the relationship. It’s a paradox. No relationship is forever – it will either end by breaking up, being betrayed or that person dying, even if you’re together your whole life. There will always be grief on the other side of every relationship because none of it is infinite. I think it’s beautiful that love and death are super closely intertwined.
How did facing the impermanence of love change your perspective on relationships?
Grace Glowicki: After making the film, meditating on the main character’s loneliness and hearing my girlfriends relate to it, it made me feel like there’s currently a loneliness epidemic. We’re so isolated from each other because of technology, which crosses over into romance. When you feel lonely, you don’t have the same social tools to find love, and there’s an impulse to hold on super tight because of scarcity. We all must learn that if you love it, let it go. It will come back if it’s meant to be.
An Almost Successful Dating App Love Story follows a young woman who attends the funeral of a man she matched with on a dating app. Where did the idea come from, and how does it relate to your own dating life?
Winter Coleman: It’s a dark but pretty simple story: I matched with a guy on a dating app four or five years ago. We never really dated, but we kept in touch through FaceTime and lots of random chats. By the time I was ready to explore it a little more, he told me he was diagnosed with stage-four colon cancer and dying. We kept in touch every day until he died, and then I found out he passed on Instagram. I went to his funeral because I wanted to meet him in person and was talking to the casket like a crazy person. I realised his life was so much bigger than I thought. He meant so much to so many people, and it felt bittersweet.
It sounds like this experience really stuck with you. Did it change your approach to dating at all?
Winter Coleman: One thing I took away from my relationship with Chad was that I used to try to define my feelings when it came to men. I realised that your relationships with people can be special, even if they are undefined. We never really dated, but we were so close. He never pushed me and always just wished me well. I learned that people can give kind and selfless love, and that’s actually all we should accept. It made me think of all the past bullshit and gaslighting. I had this guy who didn’t even know me and was available even when he was dying. I hope I’ve taken some of that selflessness as a lesson.
