The celebrity-backed love story “Come See Me in the Good Light” received a lot of love from Sundance Film Festival audiences, securing the Festival Favorite award.
The honor, voted on by audiences across all 88 feature films that played in Park City and Salt Lake City during the festival’s 11 days, was announced Sunday — the final day of the 2025 event.
Directed by Ryan White, “Come See Me in the Good Light” is a documentary that profiles married Colorado poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley, and chronicles how the couple responds to Gibson’s diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
“We saw audiences moved by Andrea Gibson’s and Megan Falley’s journeys,” Kim Yutani, the festival’s programming director, said in a statement released Sunday. “Festival goers embraced the humor and heartbreak of this intimate documentary…, as it speaks to art and love, and reminds us what it means to be alive as we face mortality.”
“Come See Me in the Good Light” has some famous names behind the camera. Comedian Tig Notaro is one of the producers, and the executive producers include soccer legend Abby Wambach, comedian Kevin Nealon, and singer-songwriters Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile.
Gibson, Bareilles and Carlile co-wrote a new song, “Salt then Sour then Sweet,” for the documentary. Bareilles performed the song for the first time live at the Sundance Institute’s gala on Jan. 24 at Deer Valley.
Runners-up for the Festival Favorite were the music-themed drama “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” and four documentaries: “Deaf President Now!,” about a 1988 protest at Gallaudet University; “The Alabama Solution,” an exposé of prison abuses; “André Is an Idiot,” following a San Francisco man’s irreverent battle with colon cancer; and “Prime Minister,” a profile of former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Festival organizers Sunday also announced the dates for the 2026 festival: Jan. 22-Feb. 1, 2026.
The 2026 event will be the last Sundance to be held primarily in Park City. The city’s contract with Sundance Institute expires after next year’s festival, and Sundance has announced its plans to move to a bigger, more accommodating city starting in 2027.
The three cities still in the running to host Sundance starting in 2027 are: Salt Lake City (in a combined bid that would include some events in Park City); Boulder, Colorado; and Cincinnati, Ohio. Institute officials have said a final decision has not been made yet; an announcement is expected in March or April.
