Danielle Brooks and J. Alphonse Nicholson are set to headline If I Go Will They Miss Me, which will make its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The deeply intimate family drama marks writer-director Walter Thompson-Hernández’s feature debut, adapted from his acclaimed 2022 Sundance-winning short of the same name.
Set in the working-class community of Watts in South Los Angeles, the film centers on 12-year-old Lil Ant, who begins seeing surreal, almost ghostlike visions of boys drifting around his neighborhood. As these mysterious figures appear, they illuminate painful and poetic links between Lil Ant and his father, Big Ant—recently released from prison and struggling to rebuild his place in the family.
Brooks stars as Lozita, a mother balancing the weight of holding her home together while her husband wrestles with reconnection and redemption. Nicholson plays Big Ant, a man caught between the dreams he once had and the reality he’s returning to. Their son Lil Ant, a sensitive artist searching for grounding, becomes the emotional compass of the film.
Thompson-Hernández blends magical realism, social commentary, Greek mythology, and documentary-style detail to craft a story that floats between the earthly and the ethereal. While the film reaches for the skies—figuratively and literally, given its setting beneath the LAX flight path—it never loses sight of the everyday forces shaping a Black family navigating love, legacy, and place.
The feature is produced by Josh Peters, Saba Zerehi, and Ben Stillman, with a creative team including cinematographer Michael Fernandez, production designer Marina Perez, costume designer Maya Edmond, and editors Thompson-Hernández and Daysha Broadway. The score is composed by Malcolm Parson, with casting by Alan Luna.
If I Go Will They Miss Me is part of Sundance’s final run in Park City, Utah, before the festival relocates in 2027. Organizers are closing this chapter with a statement year: the 2026 program features 90 feature films, seven episodic projects, and creative voices from 28 countries and territories. Out of more than 16,000 submissions, this year’s lineup includes a powerful wave of Black and Brown filmmakers, storytellers, and leads pushing culture forward.
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival runs January 22–February 1, 2026, with in-person events in Park City and Salt Lake City and an online at-home program running January 29–February 1, 2026.