Sundance Film Festival
For other uses of Sundance see Sundance (disambiguation).The
Sundance Film Festival is a
film festival in the
United States, and ranks amongst the top five events of its type in the world. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the U.S. [
1] Held annually in
Park City,
Salt Lake City, and
Ogden,
Utah as well as at the
Sundance Resort, the festival is the premiere showcase for new work from
American and international
independent filmmakers. The festival comprises competitive sections for American and independent dramatic and
documentary films, and a group of non-competitive showcase sections, including the
Sundance Online Film Festival. Controversially so, the festival has also become the premiere showcase for sponsors and "
swag giveaways".
Sundance was started in 1978 as the
Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah. At the time, the main focus of the event was to present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions; however it also included a small program of films made outside the
Hollywood system, commonly known as
independent films.
Over the next several years factors helped propel the growth of Utah/US Film Festival. First was the involvement of actor
Robert Redford. Redford, a
Utah resident, became the festival's inaugural chairman and having his name associated with Sundance gave the festival great attention.
Second, the festival moved from September to January. The move from late summer to mid-winter was reportedly done on the advice of Hollywood director
Sydney Pollack, who suggested that running a film festival in a ski resort during winter would draw more attention from Hollywood.
Management of the festival was taken over by the
Sundance Institute, a
non-profit organization, in 1985, and in 1991 the festival was officially renamed the
Sundance Film Festival. Many famous independent filmmakers, including
Kevin Smith,
Robert Rodriguez,
Quentin Tarantino,
Steven Soderbergh,
James Wan and
Jim Jarmusch had their big break at Sundance. It is also responsible for bringing wider attention to films such as
Saw,
The Blair Witch Project,
El Mariachi,
Clerks,
Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and
Napoleon Dynamite.
Within the last ten years, corporate America has also taken notice of the festival by setting up independent marketing operations during the festival. This has not pleased the Sundance Film Festival, who have tried various ways to encourage brands to officially sponsor the festival, instead of creating their own marketing event. The festival has also (controversially, in some circles) become a press event for celebrities, with stars like
Ashton Kutcher,
Demi Moore, and
Britney Spears attending the festival.
In contrast to the "brand dance," the first non-profit space created independently and dedicated to promoting the gay and lesbian films and gay and lesbian filmmakers at the festival made an appearance at the festival in 2003. The
Queer Lounge was a huge success that was created on a shoestring budget with a few corporate sponsors. The Queer Lounge is open to everyone - gay, straight, bisexual or otherwise - who stop by during the day to learn about films in the festival with gay-themed content, attend panel discussions or just warm up at the hospitality suite. The space is also used for the press to interview celebrities with films in the festival.
The Festival is named after
The Sundance Kid,
Redford's character in
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
*
2006 Sundance Film Festival*
List of Sundance Film Festival award winners*
List of Sundance Film Festival selections*
The Sundance Institute*
Sundance â€" A Festival Virgin's Guide - resources and information for festival attendees.
*
UKHotMovies.com Sundance Film Festival: A Lowdown - history and background to the festival referred to as 'Cannes in the snow'
*
The Queer Lounge - provides information on the films with gay and lesbian content at the Sundance Film Festival as well as a hospitality area during the festival
*[
2] - GreenCine report on Sundance 2005
