By Ramona Flume

Summer is winding down, school is back in session, and the days are already getting shorter. But the release calendar for Sundance Institute–supported films continues to expand, with a stacked slate that swings from archival deep dives and family dramas to surprising documentaries and dark comedies. Whether you’re chasing some back-to-school nostalgia or just looking to play hooky at the theater, consider this sprawling, genre-hopping lineup of films a September syllabus to see you through the season’s turn.

Between Festival premieres, Institute-supported projects, and theatrical rereleases, this month’s selections cover a lot of ground. On the documentary side, we’ve got a synth-soaked look at Vietnamese American counterculture, intimate portraits of both Barbara Hammer and Salman Rushdie, a scrappy student newsroom exposé, a sobering excavation of AI’s troubled roots, and John Wilson’s meandering deep dive into, of all things, concrete. (A beloved ’90s fashion documentary also returns to theaters three decades after it first defined the genre.) New narrative premieres deliver a gold-smuggling trek through hostile wilderness, an island oddball comedy, a Tokyo ballroom dancer finding her rhythm again, a father-son bond tested by ghostly visions, a real-life sister duo anchoring a caregiving drama, and even a spite-fueled middle school musical meant to sabotage a principal’s success.