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One of the films at Sundance this year that feels like it’s daring people to either love it or walk out is BURN, the new feature from Makoto Nagahisa, who previously made We Are Little Zombies. It’s premiering in the festival’s NEXT section, which feels like exactly where it belongs.

The movie centers on Ju-Ju (played by Nana Mori), a runaway teen who ends up in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, falling in with a loose group of kids living on the edge. At first, it feels like she’s finally found somewhere to land. That doesn’t last. What starts as freedom slowly turns into something tighter, darker, and harder to escape.

Visually, BURN is doing a lot, neon colors, hyper-stylized shots, constant motion. It’s bright, almost playful on the surface, even when the story underneath is clearly heading somewhere painful. That contrast is the point. The movie looks fun right up until it very much isn’t, and it doesn’t really warn you when the switch happens.

Nagahisa has always been good at capturing youth culture in a way that feels chaotic instead of nostalgic, and BURN seems to push that even further. It’s not trying to explain its characters or soften their choices. It just drops you into their world and lets things unravel.

Director Bong Joon Ho has already weighed in on the film, calling it intense and even frightening, which tracks. This feels like one of those Sundance titles people will be arguing about afterward, not whether it’s good or bad, but whether they were ready for it at all.

BURN premieres January 25, with additional screenings throughout the festival.

The four-part documentary miniseries American Magick, directed by Johnny Royal (Illuminated), will hold its Los Angeles red-carpet premiere on October 23 at the Laemmle Royal Theatre ahead of its worldwide streaming debut on Prime Video October 30.

The series explores the life and legacy of Poke Runyon, renowned occultist, ceremonial magician, and author, and his organization Ordo Templi Astarte (O.T.A.) and Church of the Hermetic Sciences, America’s oldest continually operating ritual magick lodge, founded in 1970. Through contemporary interviews and immersive reconstructions, American Magick follows current members of the O.T.A. on a cinematic journey toward enlightenment, inspired by the ancient initiatory system known as Crata Repoa, tracing its roots back to Egyptian mystery schools.

“American Magick is an artform, combining poetry, drama, and mythology; empowering our most creative resource, the human imagination,” said Poke Runyon.

Director Johnny Royal described the project as “a journey into the hidden architecture of belief, a cinematic exploration of how myth, ritual, and revelation shape the American soul.”