Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibilityRun Amok | 2026 Sundance Film Festival
Accessibility

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Run Amok

sd_star_fav_icon
United States2025103 minEnglish
Run Amok

A teenage girl stages an elaborate musical about the one day her high school wishes it could forget.

+ More

A teenage girl stages an elaborate musical about the one day her high school wishes it could forget.

In her striking debut feature, writer-director NB Mager boldly wades into the thorny aftermath of a school tragedy with thoughtfulness and a refreshing recentering of the young people most directly affected. Working tonal miracles in her script’s balance of dark humor and heartbreak, Mager brings us front and center into the absurdist reality many students in America know all too well — one where adults’ empty promises, reactivity, and platitudes obscure genuine emotional processing. At the heart of it all is a breakout performance from Alyssa Marvin, who embodies Meg in all her layered complexity and affecting persistence as she looks to heal from the impossible. A tender testament to the power of theater told with unconventional charm, Run Amok presents a singular vision that subverts catharsis and honors the lingering lack of answers. — AS

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1). 

U.S. Dramatic CompetitionAll FeaturesFirst-Time FeaturesWomen-Centered StoriesComedyDramaFictionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionU.S. Only- less

Credits

  • Director(s)

    NB Mager

  • Screenwriter

    NB Mager

  • Produced by

    Julie Christeas

    Frank Hall Green

  • Co-Producer

    Caitlin Zvoleff

  • Executive Producers

    Patrick Wilson

  • Director of Photography

    Shachar Langlev

  • Production Designer

    Danielle Webb

  • Editor

    Max Berger

  • Costume Designer

    Holly McClintock

  • Composer

    Mandy Hoffman

  • Music Supervisor

    Chris Mollere

  • Additional Cast

    Bill Camp

    Yul Vazquez

    Nuha Jes Izman

    Pilot Bunch

    Grace Reiter

    Jim Kaplan

    Allan Lopez

    Jesus Del Orden

    Kal Wilson

  • Principal Cast

    Alyssa Marvin

    Patrick Wilson

    Margaret Cho

    Sophia Torres

    Elizabeth Marvel

    Molly Ringwald

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

NB Mager

  • Instagram

NB Mager is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker whose recent works include the Oscar-qualifying short Run Amok and the web series Quarantine, I Love You (featured in Beyond Film at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival). Her work has received grants and awards from arts organizations and film festivals across the country.

You May Also Like

U.S. Dramatic Competition
sd_banner_img

Hot Water

FilmUnFillFavIcon

After he’s kicked out of his Indiana high school, an American kid and his Lebanese mom hit the road west.

(1hr 37mins)
U.S. Dramatic Competition
sd_banner_img

Carousel

FilmUnFillFavIcon

A divorced doctor’s carefully constructed life in Cleveland is upended when his daughter’s debate aspirations and the unexpected return of a past love force him to confront his own choices and embrace a second chance.

(1hr 43mins)
U.S. Dramatic Competition
sd_banner_img

The Friend’s House is Here

FilmUnFillFavIcon

US Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast

In Tehran’s underground art scene, two young women build a blissful world of freedom and sisterhood. But when their creative circle is exposed, they must fight to save each other.

(1hr 37mins)
U.S. Dramatic Competition
sd_banner_img

The Musical

FilmUnFillFavIcon

When a frustrated playwright and middle school theater teacher finds out his ex-girlfriend has started dating his nemesis, the school’s principal, he decides to ruin the principal’s chances of winning the Blue Ribbon of Academic Excellence.

(1hr 24mins)

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

Sponsor

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

FESTIVAL HOST STATE