Joe Swanberg Returns to Features With The Sun Never Sets

Joe Swanberg’s first feature in nearly a decade, “The Sun Never Sets,” dropped its first trailer on July 8 ahead of an August 28 Chicago opening and a September 4 wide release. The Alaska-set romantic drama, shot on 35mm on location in Alaska, reunites Swanberg with longtime collaborator Jake Johnson and puts Dakota Fanning at the center of a love triangle with Cory Michael Smith. Independent Film Company and Sapan Studio are releasing the film, which premiered at SXSW earlier this year.

Swanberg wrote and directed the picture from his own script, and IndieWire’s Christian Zilko gave it an A- out of Austin, calling Fanning’s work “career-best.”

A Trailer Lands for a Swanberg Film, Almost a Decade Late

The trailer for “The Sun Never Sets” landed on July 8, more than three months after the film first played at SXSW. IndieWire’s July 8 trailer writeup opens with the dates and the basic shape of the project, and it frames the picture as Swanberg’s return after years away from features.

• March 13, 2026 – World premiere at SXSW (Platinum Film & TV Screening, Zach Theater)
• May 2026 – U.S. distribution deal with Independent Film Company and Sapan Studio
• July 8, 2026 – First trailer released
• August 28, 2026 – Chicago exclusive opening
• September 4, 2026 – National wide release

Swanberg’s last feature was 2017’s “Win It All” for Netflix. “The Sun Never Sets” is his 10th collaboration with Independent Film Company and his first feature-length movie as a director in nine years, per the Austin Chronicle. The release plan keeps with how IFC often handles Swanberg titles, starting in Chicago before going wide.

Joe Swanberg’s Long Road Back to the Director’s Chair

Joe Swanberg once made as many as seven lo-fi features in a year. “The Sun Never Sets” is his first feature-length directorial effort in nine years, per the Austin Chronicle, and the road back runs through a divorce, a pandemic, a pivot to for-hire TV work, and a Chicago subscription video store he runs called Analog.

Between “Win It All” in 2017 and “The Sun Never Sets,” Swanberg directed all 25 episodes of his Netflix anthology “Easy” across three seasons from 2016 to 2019, self-distributed his 2020 short feature “Build the Wall,” continued acting in films like “Invader” and “Offseason,” co-wrote “The Rental” with Dave Franco, and produced films including “Sword of Trust,” “Depraved,” and “The Becomers.” “Swanberg’s retreat from feature directing happened around the time of the pandemic, and after his two-decade marriage to fellow filmmaker Kris Rey ended,” IndieWire’s trailer writeup notes. He filled the gap with TV directing jobs and his Analog store in Chicago, and he told the Austin Chronicle that he worried he had “lost my chops” while running “Easy” with such a strong team around him.

Swanberg’s own framing of the IFC partnership, from the Deadline distribution article:

Independent Film Company has done a masterful job releasing my films since the beginning of my career. They continue to innovate and effectively connect audiences with the best global cinema, and I’m honored to continue our nearly 20 year collaboration.

That near-20-year run is the through line of Swanberg’s feature career, and the new picture is the longest gap between IFC releases so far. Swanberg’s own account of the 35mm shoot and his hiatus in the Austin Chronicle traces how the gap closed.

Fanning at the Center, Johnson and Smith on Either Side

The premise, per the IFC synopsis, is straightforward: “Wendy (Dakota Fanning) believes she’s perfectly happy in her relationship, until her older boyfriend, Jack (Jake Johnson), who is divorced with children, insists they take a break to make sure she’s truly okay giving up on the idea of marriage and babies. During this time, Wendy unexpectedly runs into her ex, Chuck (Cory Michael Smith), who reignites her carefree, spontaneous side and suddenly seems to want a family.”

IndieWire’s review reads the triangle in sharper terms. Zilko writes that Jack is “an older hedge fund manager” who “has two children from a previous marriage” and that Chuck is “a small-time pilot who isn’t made any less attractive for the fact that his life is in shambles.” Wendy’s character, Zilko adds, has “no clear idea of what she wants until the very end.”

The supporting cast includes Debby Ryan, Anna Konkle, Lamorne Morris, and Karley Sciortino. SXSW’s official credits page for the film lists the full crew, including cinematographer Eon Mora and editor Joe Swanberg. For Fanning, the role arrives at the top of her current run: she drew her first Emmy nomination for Netflix’s “Ripley” and is now up for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series for Peacock’s “All Her Fault.” Johnson comes off the SXSW premiere of his directorial debut “Self Reliance” and upcoming turns in “The Dink” and the Apple series “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.” Smith is fresh from HBO’s “Mountainhead” and Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” with Joachim Trier’s Grand Prix winner “Sentimental Value” and Jeremy Saulnier’s A24 thriller “October” on deck.

How a 35mm Shoot in Alaska Actually Happens

“The Sun Never Sets” was shot on 35mm on location in Alaska. For Swanberg, it was his third celluloid feature: “Happy Christmas” went down on 16mm in Chicago, and “Digging for Fire” in 2015 was 3-perf 35mm in Los Angeles and Malibu. This one was harder.

“If anything happened to our camera we knew there was nowhere to get it serviced anywhere around there,” Swanberg told the Austin Chronicle. He kept a second 35mm body on set as a backup for exactly that reason.

Stock was the bigger problem. “I ordered about half of the stock I needed in advance and then we were in touch with Kodak all the time, but it was hairy sometimes,” Swanberg said. “If we were shooting more than we budgeted, we had to be a little bit nervous about film arriving in time. There were days that I was nervous that we were going to have to adjust our schedule because we literally would not get a shipment from FedEx in time [and] we would occasionally have people running to the airport at 9am, looking to get our film for that day.”

The geography also shaped the script. Producer Ashleigh Snead is based in Anchorage and helped establish what was and wasn’t available on the ground. Her husband is a pilot, which gave Swanberg the seed for Chuck being a bush pilot. Snead and Swanberg had originally conceived the story as set in the Pacific Northwest before the production logistics pulled it north.

The Indie Family Holding It Together Behind the Camera

The producing credits reflect the kind of cooperative indie network Swanberg has built over two decades. The producers are Jake Johnson, Ashleigh Snead, Joe Swanberg, Dakota Fanning, and Cory Michael Smith, with executive producers Kathy Gitibin Parsa, Ariana Parsa, and Dan Johnson. Cinematography is by Eon Mora, with Swanberg himself editing. Aaron Bailey handled production design, and Martin Hernandez handled sound.

The supporting cast rounds out the indie family: Debby Ryan from “Insatiable,” Anna Konkle from “PEN15,” Lamorne Morris from “New Girl,” and Karley Sciortino from “Slutever.” IMDb’s listing for the film flags one reunion worth noting: “Lamorne Morris and Cory Michael Smith previously starred in Saturday Night (2024) together.”

Scott Shooman, Head of IFC Entertainment Group, framed the release in the IFC and Sapan Studio distribution deal announcement:

Joe Swanberg’s longstanding relationship with Independent Film Company reflects our enduring commitment to championing distinctive storytellers who create meaningful, impactful work. Over the course of ten films together at IFC, he has consistently delivered work that feels deeply human, intimate, and emotionally authentic.

Josh Sapan of Sapan Studio added: “THE SUN NEVER SETS is Joe Swanberg at his finest. The deft script and brilliant cast yield true-to-life characters that are impossible to resist. There is no one better than IFC to bring this rare film to audiences and the world.” Ayo Kepher-Maat negotiated the deal for IFC, with UTA on the filmmakers’ side.

What Critics Caught at SXSW

“The Sun Never Sets” opened at SXSW in March and IndieWire’s Christian Zilko gave the film an A-. The review frames it as a quiet comeback for Swanberg and a high-water mark for Fanning.

“The real star is Fanning, who embodies a character that might otherwise come across as an annoying flip-flopper with so much intelligence and charisma that we have no choice but to empathize with her,” Zilko writes. He adds that “Wendy never has any clear idea of what she wants until the very end – theoretically ignoring a cardinal rule of storytelling – but Swanberg never blames it on her. Instead, the villain is the ridiculously complicated modern world we all have to navigate.”

The visual upgrade from previous Swanberg features gets called out: “The larger budget and Alaskan scenery allow him to elevate his visuals, and the script is tighter and more mature than some of his more meandering fare. But many of the auteur’s familiar touches are still there – the IPA-fueled bar conversations that have been a fixture of his work are strangely comforting in an era where everybody is drinking less and feeling more alone.” IndieWire’s A- review out of SXSW closes by arguing the picture “could also win over quite a few of his detractors.”

IFC’s 10th Swanberg Film and a Two-Stage Release

Independent Film Company has now released 10 Swanberg features, per Deadline, and the deal for “The Sun Never Sets” was negotiated by Ayo Kepher-Maat for IFC with UTA on the filmmaker side. Sapan Studio is co-releasing. The release strategy is a Chicago-first, then-national rollout: the film opens in Chicago on Friday, August 28 and goes wide on Friday, September 4. Shooman told Deadline that IFC is “especially proud to bring this beautiful story to the big screen, where this mature and layered experience may be best shared with audiences in a communal way.” Zilko’s review notes that the relationship drama must resolve “before the permanently dark Alaskan winter begins,” which gives the autumn release a thematic hook of its own.

1. Drinking Buddies (2013)
2. Digging for Fire (2015)
3. Win It All (2017, Netflix)
4. The Sun Never Sets (2026)

This is Swanberg and Johnson’s fourth collaboration as director and star, after the Deadline announcement confirmed “The Sun Never Sets” as the latest entry in a partnership that started with “Drinking Buddies.”

Frequently Asked Questions

When does The Sun Never Sets come out?

The Sun Never Sets opens in Chicago on Friday, August 28, 2026 and goes national on Friday, September 4, 2026, via Independent Film Company and Sapan Studio.

Where did The Sun Never Sets premiere?

The Sun Never Sets premiered at SXSW in March 2026 as a Platinum Film & TV Screening, with the first screening on Friday, March 13 at 9:30pm at the Zach Theater in Austin.

Who stars in The Sun Never Sets?

Dakota Fanning plays Wendy, Jake Johnson plays Jack, and Cory Michael Smith plays Chuck. The supporting cast includes Debby Ryan, Anna Konkle, Lamorne Morris, and Karley Sciortino.

Is The Sun Never Sets shot on film?

Yes. The Sun Never Sets was shot on 35mm on location in Alaska, Swanberg’s third celluloid feature after Happy Christmas on 16mm and Digging for Fire on 3-perf 35mm.