By Jessica Herndon
There’s nothing like turning on the soundtrack to a film you love and being transported back to your favorite scenes. If Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy in New York” plays, you picture Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, and Peter Sarsgaard standing in the rain in Garden State, screaming into a quarry. When “Jelly, Jelly Blues” by Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra comes on, Nia Long making Larenz Tate sleep on the couch in Love Jones comes to mind. The Sundance Film Festival has long been a launchpad for movies — and unforgettable soundtracks — that stick with you.
Take Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, where the dreamy Air track “Ce Matin Là” mirrors the movie’s hazy tone, or Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which produced a soundtrack packed with legendary live performances of R&B, soul, and gospel that bring the iconic 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival to life. And you can always catch a vibe from the alt-rock in Reality Bites and the evocative jazz in An Education.
Below, we celebrate 12 soundtracks from films with ties to Sundance Institute that we can’t get enough of. From throwback collections to compilations filled with popular hits, the music in these movies has helped define characters and enrich the films’ emotional depth. So, check out our list and press play on the sounds that have elevated these Sundance favorites.
House Party
1990 Sundance Film Festival
This mix, which lays the foundation for Reginald Hudlin’s classic about a high schooler who throws a wild house party when his parents are out of town, is all about late 1980s R&B and hip-hop. The film’s stars and hip-hop duo Kid ’n Play (Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin), contributed tracks like “Fun House” and “Kid Vs. Play (The Battle),” as did Flavor Flav and LL Cool J. Unfortunately, Full Force’s “Ain’t My Type of Hype,” the track that laid the foundation for the dance battle that put the “Kid ’n Play dance” on the map, did not make it onto the official soundtrack for the film, which won the Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic as well as the Filmmaker Trophy Dramatic award. Still, the sweet nostalgia — and urge to do the running man — is real when this album is played.
Check viewing options here.
New Jack City
1991 Sundance Film Festival
Mario Van Peebles’ film New Jack City, about a drug kingpin (Wesley Snipes) in New York City and the cops (Ice-T and Judd Nelson) who work to take him down, had it all. The film focused on power, survival, love, and betrayal — and had an incredible soundtrack featuring hip-hop and R&B. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, new jack swing, a fusion of hip-hop, dance-pop, and R&B spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis, became all the rage. The New Jack City soundtrack features hits from the genre like Guy’s “New Jack City” and helped cement the genre’s popularity when it reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and stayed there for eight weeks.
Check viewing options here.
Reality Bites
1994 Sundance Film Festival
The mix of ’90s rock, punk, grunge, and pop on this soundtrack perfectly captures the angst, rebellion, and lovesick mood of the lives of the post-college Gen X crew (played by Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, and Steve Zahn) in Ben Stiller’s classic. Full of iconic jams, the compilation features “My Sharona” by The Knack, which conjures that classic gas station scene; Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories’ “Stay (I Missed You),” which rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; and U2’s “All I Want Is You.”
Check viewing options here.
Before Sunrise
1995 Sundance Film Festival
Richard Linklater’s 1995 film Before Sunrise is a beautiful story of young love. There was never a soundtrack released for this film, but in 2004 a compilation that included songs from both Before Sunrise and the 2004 follow-up Before Sunset was released. Remember the moment in Before Sunrise when Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) dropped the needle on Kath Bloom’s “Come Here” while hanging in a record store? Yep, that track makes the cut.
Check viewing options here.
Love Jones
1997 Sundance Film Festival
Not only does the soundtrack to Theodore Witcher’s film, which won the Audience Award: Dramatic, feature the utterly romantic, sexy, soul-bearing poems that Tate and Long — who play young lovers in Chicago — recite in film, it also has songs from Maxwell, Groove Theory, and Xscape. The compilation is a lush blend of R&B, jazz, and neo-soul that is smooth, passionate, and deep. If you ever wanted to hit play on a collection featuring both the Refugee Camp All-Stars and Lauryn Hill’s “The Sweetest Thing” and Duke Ellington and John Coltrane’s “In a Sentimental Mood,” this is it!
Check viewing options here.
SLC Punk!
1999 Sundance Film Festival
The soundtrack to James Merendino’s film is fast-paced, raw, and energetic — just like the film’s rebellious punk protagonists, Stevo (Matthew Lillard) and Heroin Bob (Michael A. Goorjian). Set in the early 1980s in Salt Lake City, the film’s antiestablishment vibe is complemented by the Adolescents’ “Amoeba” and “Kill the Poor” by Dead Kennedys. The soundtrack also features bands like The Stooges and the Ramones, whose fast tempos embody the essence of punk. Adding a touch of danceability, a few ska tracks also appear, like The Specials’ “Too Hot.”
Check viewing options here.
The Virgin Suicides
2000 Sundance Film Festival
A haunting, ethereal, and rockin’ mix, the soundtrack to Coppola’s cult classic starring Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett complements the film’s tragic tone and 1970s suburban atmosphere. From the classic rock of Heart’s “Crazy on You” to the sultry, ambient synths on Air’s “Playground Love” and Al Green’s sweet “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” the tunes perfectly encapsulate the intensity of young love and the neighborhood boys’ voyeuristic fascination with the Lisbon sisters. Coppola and Brian Reitzell, the film’s music supervisor, shot to the top of the cool list with this one.
Check viewing options here.
Garden State
2004 Sundance Film Festival
The Grammy-winning compilation from Braff’s Garden State is a quintessential collection of indie rock and folk-pop tracks he hand-picked. The man has great taste! The album, which was certified as platinum, features Coldplay, Iron & Wine, Nick Drake, and Frou Frou. The Shins also appear. Their song “New Slang” became one of the film soundtrack’s standout tracks — after all, Portman’s character, Sam, did say the song “will change your life.”
Check viewing options here.
Adventureland
2009 Sundance Film Festival
Hello, ’80s rock, new wave, and punk! This soundtrack, featuring Lou Reed, The Replacements, and The Cure, is a rich tapestry encapsulating the bittersweet, coming-of-age nostalgia at the heart of Greg Mottola’s film. The comedy set in 1987 captures the restlessness and awkward romance of recent college grad James (Jesse Eisenberg), who finds himself working a dead-end job at an amusement park while navigating an awkward romance with Em (Kristen Stewart). Oh, and David Bowie’s “Modern Love” appears, too. It’s impossible not to dance to that one!
Check viewing options here.
An Education
2009 Sundance Film Festival
This album is full of elegant jazz, French pop, and classic ’60s music. The coming-of-age story, directed by Lone Scherfig and starring Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard, is set in 1960s London and the tunes on the soundtrack are the perfect backdrop for the delicious glamour and culture Jenny (Mulligan) finds herself among as she connects with an older man. Songs like Juliette Gréco’s “Sur les quais du vieux Paris” embody the seductive charm of the movie, which won the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic and the World Cinema Cinematography Award Dramatic. And jazzy jam “On the Rebound” by Floyd Cramer pairs perfectly with sophisticated nights out.
Check viewing options here.
Boyhood
2014 Sundance Film Festival
Linklater’s groundbreaking feature Boyhood, which chronicles the life of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) from childhood to young adulthood, was filmed over 12 years. The contemporary rock and indie music on the film’s soundtrack capture the essence of American pop culture over the past two decades. The soundtrack features Coldplay’s “Yellow” and moves through hits like “Hate to Say I Told You So” by The Hives and “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye. Other featured artists include Arcade Fire, Wilco, Gnarls Barkley, and Cat Power. The compilation is a ridiculously sick time capsule.
Check viewing options here.
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
2021 Sundance Film Festival
This soundtrack, curated by Thompson, who directed this Academy Award–winning documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, features live performances from Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and The 5th Dimension. The music, like Sly & the Family Stone’s “Everyday People,” passionately reflects the time’s social and cultural tensions and desire for peace — including the energy of the era’s civil rights movements — while also celebrating Black joy, artistry, and resilience.
Check viewing options here.
