Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibilityJane Elliott Against the World | 2026 Sundance Film Festival
Accessibility

Premieres

Jane Elliott Against the World

sd_star_fav_icon
United States202690 minEnglish
Jane Elliott Against the World

A rural Iowa schoolteacher becomes a national voice against racism after leading a controversial 1968 lesson in discrimination with her all-white third-grade class. Now nearly 90, she refuses to hold back amid today’s fights about race, history, and power after a lifetime of speaking out.

+ More

A rural Iowa schoolteacher becomes a national voice against racism after leading a controversial 1968 lesson in discrimination with her all-white third-grade class. Now nearly 90, she refuses to hold back amid today’s fights about race, history, and power after a lifetime of speaking out.

For more than 50 years, educator Jane Elliott has made it her mission to dismantle racism, regardless of the personal cost. She introduced her contentious “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” social experiment in the immediate aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination; subsequent media exposure including the 1970 documentary The Eye of the Storm took her lesson across the country. Back home in Riceville, Iowa, however, Elliott and her family faced a backlash that has left a lasting impact. As Judd Ehrlich’s compelling portrait demonstrates, she remains an unapologetic and outspoken force of nature, determined to use her privilege to effect change, especially now, when her message is needed the most. Jane Elliott Against the World is an urgent film for this moment and Elliott isn't about to quiet down. — BT

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

PremieresAll FeaturesBiographyWomen-Centered StoriesNonfictionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionU.S. Only- less

Screenings

in persononline
  • Jan 27, 2:30 PM MST
    Premiere

    The Yarrow Theatre

    Park City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 28, 1:50 PM MST
    Screening

    Megaplex Redstone - 3

    Park City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 31, 8:30 AM MST
    Screening

    Library Center Theatre

    Park City

    Open CaptionOpen Caption

  • Feb 1, 6:00 PM MST
    Screening

    Broadway Centre Cinemas - 6

    Salt Lake City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 29, 3:00 PM GMT -
    Feb 2, 6:55 AM GMT
    Online Screening

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Judd Ehrlich

  • Producers

    Judd Ehrlich

    Max Powers

    Elena Gaby

  • Cinematographers

    Peter Eliot Buntaine

    Sean Hanley

  • Edited by

    Max Powers

    Leah Goudsmit

    Albin R. Pepe

  • Composer

    Khari Mateen

  • Participants

    Jane Elliott

    Killer Mike

    Ibram X. Kendi

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Judd Ehrlich

  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Judd Ehrlich is an Emmy-, Grand Clio-, and Cannes Lion-winning documentary director and producer. According to The New York Times, he "clearly knows his craft". His films, including The Price of Freedom, Keepers of the Game, and We Could Be King, premiered at the Tribeca Festival and have aired on ABC, CNN, ESPN, and HBO.

You May Also Like

Premieres
sd_banner_img

Give Me the Ball!

FilmUnFillFavIcon

World champion tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King has had a game-changing impact on culture and sports. Rare archive and candid interviews with Billie Jean and those closest to her reveal how one woman put changing the world ahead of saving herself.

(1hr 41mins)
Premieres
sd_banner_img

Time and Water

FilmUnFillFavIcon

Facing the death of his country’s glaciers and the loss of his beloved grandparents, Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason turns his archives into a time capsule to hold what is slipping away — family, memory, time, and water.

(1hr 30mins)
Premieres
sd_banner_img

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist

FilmUnFillFavIcon

A father-to-be tries to figure out what is happening with the AI insanity, exploring the existential dangers and stunning promise of this technology that humanity has created.

(1hr 44mins)
Premieres
sd_banner_img

Once Upon A Time In Harlem

FilmUnFillFavIcon

A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance.

(1hr 40mins)

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

Sponsor

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

FESTIVAL HOST STATE