Sundance Film Festival

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. Held annually in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah as well as at the [http://www.sundanceresort.com 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".

History

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 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 has become an interesting addition to the festival festivities, as it 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 nice 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.

External links

The Sundance Institute
Sundance – 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
^* - GreenCine report on Sundance 2005

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History

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External links