TikTok Is Bringing 10 Creators to Sundance 2026, Will Host a Creator Happy Hour With Charli xcx | Exclusive

FilmTok is once again making the trek to Park City. TikTok is bringing 10 creators to the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and hosting three events, TheWrap has exclusively learned. The move is part of a concentrated effort from the company to strengthen its film strategy.

Several film and TV critics and commentators will be part of TikTok’s Sundance lineup. Those include film creator Daniela Manzano, aka dani_apples (174,000 TikTok followers); behind-the-scenes celebrity interviewer Shannon Burns, aka itsshannonburns (752,000 followers); pop culture creator and AwesomenessTV host Louis Levanti, aka louislevanti (2.4 million followers); pop culture and entertainment reporter Mandy Schendel, aka mandykayschendel (121,000 followers); movies and TV creator Kit Lazer, aka moviesaretherapy (854,000 followers); and culture critic, author and journalist Touré Neblett, aka toureshow (691,000 followers). Neblett has previously written for publications like Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and The New York Times.

TikTok will also be broadening its Sundance coverage by bringing some less expected creators. Horror expert Monse Gutierrez, aka @cvnela (2.6 million followers), will be in attendance, as will Lauren Ashley Beck (540,000 followers), a former “Survivor: Island of the Idols” contestant who was dubbed “The Queen of Stream.” Last, but certainly not least, comedy duo Alex Maystrik and Pablo Hernandez, also known as durafest2 (778,000 followers), will be returning to the festivities after chronicling Sundance last year. Creators will be covering red carpets, interviewing cast and attending world premieres for some of the biggest movies this season.

In recent years, the film side of TikTok — also known as #FilmTok or #MovieTok — has become a major hub for movie fans. In 2025 alone, those two hashtags were used in over 3 million posts combined, a 54% increase compared to the previous year. Even without the hashtags, movies are still massive on TikTok. Last year, posts about movies or TV shows accounted for 6.5 million posts every day. According to TikTok, 47% of U.S. users said they’ve learned about a new theatrical on the platform and 36% of users have taken an action, such as purchasing a ticket, after learning about a movie.

“We actually think about ways to engage our fans and users of the platform throughout the lifecycle of a movie,” Dawn Yang, the global head of Entertainment Partnerships at TikTok, told TheWrap. For events like Sundance, where critically-acclaimed films often premiere, that means taking TikTok creators behind-the-scenes of an event that used to be largely limited to the press.

“We learned it’s really important for the creators to really be a part of the conversation. A lot of them started off as a film lover or a fan of entertainment, but the access we gave allows them to understand the business better and better understand how they can become the voice of a fan to interview filmmakers and talent and reveal something new,” Yang explained. 

Yang will be leading two TikTok events at Sundance this year. “Storytelling for Fans: The Future of Audience Engagement” will be presented by Variety and Adobe and will take place on Jan. 23 at 12:30 p.m. Yang will be joined by executives from Focus Features and Adobe to discuss how platforms are redefining audience building and revolutionizing the traditional press tour.

That will be followed by TikTok’s welcome event with Charli xcx. Hosted on Jan. 23 at 3 p.m., the creator happy hour will celebrate Sundance’s final year in Park City. The event will also feature a special integration with A24’s “The Moment,” a movie being described as a “vaguely true satire about Charli xcx’s viral brat summer.” 

Finally, TikTok’s Yang will lead “Storytellers Rising: A TikTok x Sundance Conversation” on Jan. 24 at 2 p.m. During that conversation, During the conversation, Yang will dive into film on TikTok, exploring how creators and fans are redefining film culture. Other panelists will include TikTok creators Monse Gutierrez (@cvnela) and Kit Lazer (@moviesaretherapy) as well as Erica Elson from the Sundance Institute.

Maystrik and Hernandez are great examples of the newer voices TikTok has been adding to Sundance. If you love movies, chances are high you’ve seen one of their videos even if you don’t recognize the name durafest2. The two are known for their recurring bit where someone asks them if they’ve seen a show or a movie while they’re playing a video game. After pretending like they haven’t seen it, they then launch into a perfectly synchronized monologue from the project. The duo have playfully ribbed everything from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” to “The Social Network.” 

The pair have parodied several famous monologues and have even used popular TikTok clips to determine which specific monologues they should parody. But it’s the engagement they’ve seen around more niche movies and shows that really speaks to the power of FilmTok. 

“Sometimes you realize that not a lot of people are on that side of [a fandom], but then there are tons of comments,” Hernandez said. “People will either be like, ‘Where’s this from?’ Or like, ‘I want to see the original video after you guys did this.’ That’s always great to hear.” 

@durafest2 Happy to announce the new trailer for NHISTWWTRB ! #filmtok #sundance #tiktokpartner @tiktok creators ♬ original sound – Alex and Pablo

Hernandez pointed to the “upper middle class” monologue Rachel Sennott delivers during a pivotal scene in 2022’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies.” When Maystrik and Hernandez first posted their take on the monologue in 2024, the video only got around 20,000 views in its first 24 hours. Months later, the video started to blow up. It now has over 1.4 million views, proof that TikTok’s algorithm and trends can help boost a movie’s cultural relevance years after its release. 

“The right people find [our videos]. But then, once they find it, everybody else is like, ‘Wait, I want to be a part of this,’” Hernandez said.

This marks a return to Sundance for Maystrik and Hernandez. Last year, they released a trailer for their fake show, “Never Have I Spent the Winter with the Romano Brothers,” at Sundance. “That documented everything we got to experience,” Maystrik said. “Maybe [our Sundance videos] are not about the specific movies yet, but we are documenting what’s happening at this festival. We’re showing followers and people online.”

“A few years ago, I think creators were seen as a marketing engine,” Yang said. “Now the studios are seeing the depth of understanding these creators have when it comes to talking about their movies, which is really inspiring … They encourage creators to bring the most authentic reviews of their movies.”

Yang pointed to creator reactions to “Moana 2” and “Sinners.” Reaction videos to these movies helped both of them dominate their respective media cycles and led to more people being exposed to them.

A big tool when it comes to these viral moments is TikTok Spotlight, an offering that gives popular projects their own dedicated landing pages. On those pages, official information — like cast list, synopsis and movie accounts — is posted alongside creator-made videos about those movies or shows. So if you saw a compelling video about, say, Casper Kelly’s “Buddy,” you could learn more about the upcoming movie and watch more takes on the horror movie all without leaving TikTok.

“Because our product is global-first, we have over 1 billion users on the platform. So it doesn’t really matter where the content comes from or where the video is produced on Tiktok,” Yang said. “As long as there’s a really interesting angle, it gets discovered, and it connects people who have seen the movie and want to talk about the movie together.” 

Spotlight isn’t the only tool TikTok will be showcasing during Sundance. Streaming Ads, a product designed to convert TikTok viewers into streaming subscribers, will also be highlighted at the festival. The offering delivers personalized ads from an advertisers’ catalog to users who have shown an interest in entertainment. For example, if a TikTok user likes reality content, they’re more likely to see ads for a streamer’s unscripted catalog. Users are 167% more likely to maintain a streaming subscription so they can participate in online conversations, a 2024 TikTok marketing survey conducted by AYTM (Ask Your Target Market) reported. 

The platform will also be highlighting New Title Launch Ads, a solution that lets streaming and theatrical advertisers more easily target high-intent users. The tool uses information like a users’ favorite movie genre to determine which major film or show releases would resonate with them most. 

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