| Sundance Film Festival | |
|---|---|
| Location | Park City, Utah, United States |
| Language | International |
| Official website | |
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States.[1] Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival comprises competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature-length films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, and Park City At Midnight.
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Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978 as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah. It was founded by Sterling Van Wagenen (then head of Wildwood, Robert Redford's company), John Earle and Cirina Hampton Catania (both serving on the Utah Film Commission at the time). The 1978 festival featured films such as Deliverance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Midnight Cowboy, Mean Streets, and The Sweet Smell of Success. [2] With Chairperson Robert Redford, and the help of Governor Scott Matheson of Utah, the goal of the festival was to showcase strictly American-made films, highlight what the potential of independent film could be and to increase visibility for filmmaking in Utah. At the time, the main focus of the event was to conduct a competition for independent American films, present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions and to celebrate the Frank Capra Award (given the first year to Jimmy Stewart); it highlighted the work of "regional" filmmakers who worked outside the Hollywood system.
The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison, and included Verna Fields, Linwood G. Dunn, Katharine Ross, Charles E. Sellier Jr., Mark Rydell, and Anthea Sylbert.
In 1979, Sterling Van Wagenen left to head up the first year "pilot" program of what was to become the Sundance Institute and Cirina Hampton Catania took over as Executive Director of the Festival. Over 60 films were screened at the Festival that year, the Frank Capra Award went to Jimmy Stewart and panels featured many well-known Hollywood filmmakers. The Festival made a profit for the first time. In 1980, Catania left the Festival to pursue a production career in Hollywood.
Several 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. Secondly, the country was hungry for a venue that would celebrate American-made films as the only other festival doing so at the time was the then fledgling Dallas Film Fest. Response in Hollywood was unprecedented as major studios did all they could to contribute their resources.
In 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah and changed 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.
In 1984–85, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival and changed the name to Sundance. Gary Beer and Sterling Van Wagenen spearheaded production of the inaugural Sundance Film Festival which included Program Director Tony Safford and Administrative Director Jenny Walz Selby. The branding and marketing transition from the U.S. Film Festival to the Sundance Film Festival was managed under the direction of Colleen Allen, Allen Advertising Inc. by appointment of Robert Redford.
For the first time it's history Robert Redford brings Sundance Film Festival outside the United States. From 26th - 29th April Sundance London will be held at the world's most popular music and entertainment venue, The O2.
Speaking to press at The O2, Robert Redford said, "We are excited to partner with AEG Europe to bring a particular slice of American culture to life in the inspired setting of The O2, and in this city of such rich cultural history." Redford continued, "It is our mutual goal to bring to the UK, the very best in current American independent cinema, to introduce the artists responsible for it, and in essence help build a picture of our country that is broadly reflective of the diversity of voices not always seen in our cultural exports."
The majority of the film screenings including the festivals premier's will be held within the Cineworld cinema located within The O2.
Management of the Festival was taken over by the Sundance Institute, a non-profit organization, in 1985. In 1991 the Festival was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redford's character The Sundance Kid from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.[3]
From 2006 through 2008, the Sundance Institute collaborated with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on a special series of film screenings, performances, panel discussions, and special events bringing the institute's activities and the festival's programming to New York City.[4]
Many famous independent filmmakers received their big break at Sundance, including Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Steve James, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky, James Wan, Edward Burns and Jim Jarmusch. It is also responsible for bringing wider attention to films such as Saw, Garden State, Super Troopers, The Blair Witch Project, Better Luck Tomorrow, Primer, Reservoir Dogs, Little Miss Sunshine, El Mariachi, Moon, Clerks, Thank You for Smoking, sex, lies, and videotape, The Brothers McMullen and Napoleon Dynamite.
Three Seasons was the first in Festival history to ever receive both the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award in 1999. Later films which also won both awards are: God Grew Tired of Us in 2006 (documentary category), Quinceañera in 2006 (dramatic category), and Precious in 2009.
At the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, 9 films went on to garner 15 Oscar nominations,[5] and 4 of the 5 Best Documentary nominees were Sundance films.[6] The next year, about 45 films were acquired by distributors (the most ever[7]) vs 14 in 2010, an increase of about 220%.[8] Tom Hall of indieWire said it marked "a return to the glory days of pure, unadulterated content speculation."[9]
The Festival has changed over the decades from a low-profile venue for small-budget, independent creators from outside the Hollywood system to a media extravaganza for Hollywood celebrity actors, paparazzi, and luxury lounges set up by companies that are not affiliated with Sundance, though the Festival itself has tried to curb these activities in recent years, beginning in 2007 with their ongoing "Focus On Film" campaign.
Some of the changes made in 2010 include: a new programming category called "NEXT" for extremely low-budget films, and the Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. program, in which eight of the festival's films will be shown in eight theaters around the country.[10]
In August 1998, the animated television series South Park episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" depicts the directors of the Sundance Festival moving it to a "different small mountain town", that of the show's main setting South Park, in order to "drain it and morph it into a new LA".
In the television series Entourage, one of the independent movies which Vincent Chase stars in (Queens Boulevard) premieres at the Sundance Film Festival, where it begins to gain in popularity.
In animated television series The Simpsons episode "Any Given Sundance", Lisa Simpson enters a documentary about her family into the Sundance Film Festival.
In Season 7, Episode 22 of One Tree Hill, Julian Baker takes his film 'Seven Days Till Tuesday' to the Festival.
2. Benjamin Craig, "Sundance-A Festival Virgin's Guide: History of the Sundance Film Festival," www.sundanceguide.net/basics/history
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