A sexy gay cruising thriller, an all-too-timely drama about post-wildfire recovery and a shocking doc about U.S. prisons are among our critics’ faves from the fest.

Train Dreams,” the film shot in Spokane and adapted from a novel set in the Idaho Panhandle, has been purchased by Netflix.

While Sundance hasn’t had a plethora of the late night bidding wars we used to see in the good old days of the festival, the ...