Six award-winning short films from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival arrive at the Farmington Civic Theater starting Friday, Aug. 7, giving downtown Farmington audiences a rare look at independent storytelling selected from nearly 11,500 submissions worldwide.
The Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour runs 96 minutes and features fiction, nonfiction and animated shorts, three of which took home jury awards at the January festival in Park City, Utah. The program screens five times between Aug. 7 and Thursday, Aug. 13, at the three-screen theater on Grand River Avenue.
All six films screen in one sitting.
Among the award winners: Crisis Actor, directed by Lily Platt, won the Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction and follows an impulsive actress who, fired from her day job, crashes a support group and spirals into a chaotic night. The Boys and the Bees, directed by Arielle C. Knight, won for Nonfiction and chronicles Black beekeeping parents sharing lessons of life and nature with their young sons on a Georgia farm. Living with a Visionary, directed by Stephen P. Neary and starring James Cromwell, won for Animation and depicts a man caring for his wife through her vivid hallucinations after 50 years of marriage.
The lineup also includes Pankaja (directed by Anooya Swamy), Marga en el DF (directed by Gabriela Ortega) and Sauna Sickness (directed by Malin Barr).
The booking fits the vision of FCT manager Clare Cooney, who took over the city-owned theater in early 2026 after longtime manager Scott Freeman retired. When the City of Farmington announced her hiring in December 2025, Cooney said she aimed to expand the theater's programming to include more independent and art house films alongside special events showcasing Michigan's filmmaking community.
The Civic Theater rounds out the week with two additional features. Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (PG-13), starring Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Kenneth Branagh, screens six times between Aug. 7 and Aug. 13. The family classic Babe (G) also begins screenings Aug. 7.
Showtimes for the Sundance Shorts Tour:
- Friday, Aug. 7: 5:20 p.m.
- Sunday, Aug. 9: 7:20 p.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 11: 5:20 p.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 12: 7:30 p.m.
- Thursday, Aug. 13: 4:45 p.m.
The Farmington Civic Theater is at 33332 Grand River Ave. in downtown Farmington. Tickets and full schedules for all three films are available at thefct.com.
