Sundance 2026: Lubna Azabal Shines in ‘Hot Water’ Road Trip Movie
by Alex Billington
January 23, 2026
On the road again! Heading across the dusty plains of the United States, stopping at cowboy diners, talking about life & all its woes. It ain’t the Sundance Film Festival without a charming road trip film in the line-up. There’s always one (or two or three) every year at this iconic Americana festival – and for good reason, they’re usually some if the most enchnating and feel-good films in the selection. Sundance 2026’s stand out road trip film is titled Hot Water, a reference to a quote mentioned in the film about how time spent in hot water is not wasted time. Because we all need to take a break and relax in hot water from time to time. Along the journey across the US this mother & son duo stop at a few hot springs that an acquaintance brings them to at one point in the story. Hot Water is also a film about the immigrant experience in the US, but unlike so many other films about immigrants, it’s less of a tale about their struggles with being an immigrant and just another story about a family trying to reconnect and figure out just where they’re going at this point in life.
Hot Water is written and directed by Syrian-American filmmaker Ramzi Bashour, making his first feature film. He certainly proves he’s one to watch with a film that deserves all the acclaim it’s going to receive – not just from critics, also from audiences. Clearly the crowd loved it – at the world premiere everyone there was cheering & clapping loudly at the end which at Sundance is often a sign we have a certified festival hit on our hands. The most inspired aspect of Hot Water is casting the wonderfully talented Moroccan-Spanish-Belgian actress Lubna Azabal (also seen in the terrific film The Blue Caftan) who plays the mom Layal. It’s really her story, she’s the center of the film, and she’s absolutely tremendous in this. A remarkably touching, layered, lived-in performance with multiple languages (French, Arabic, English) and multiple experiences as she scoops up her “troubled” son Daniel and drives him toward California to where his father lives. Daniel Zolghadri (of Funny Pages, Lurker, Y2K) co-stars as Daniel and while he’s very good his character remains ever-so-slightly annoying throughout, despite learning lessons about growing up while out on the road, too.
What I admire the most about the best new indie films premiering at Sundance is when they borrow familiar tropes and actually do something new, going against the trends of what we’ve seen, offering something that’s not only fresh but also refreshing. A story about family that isn’t the same story about family we’ve seen so many times before in other indie films. Not all road trip films work, sometimes they’re clunky or annoying or just boring, thankfully this film is none of those. It’s as funny as it is heartwarming, and it’s as honest as it is formulaic in its road trip storyelling. And at its core it’s a tale of figuring out your relationship with your family – even if that means picking up everything and moving to another place and starting a whole new life elsewhere. It’s not about coming together as it is the journey with each other. And as long as you learn to understand each other and grow through that understanding than the journey is entirely worthwhile. Most of all, I’m glad more viewers will get a chance to see Lubna Azabal and feel her warm, wholesome presence.
Alex’s Sundance 2026 Rating: 8 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
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