Park City becomes the center of the cinema universe for 10 days every January. As the home of the Sundance Film Festival, the largest film festival in the United States, the small Utah resort town previously known for its fine winter sports, is taken over by 40,000 to 50,000 film industry people and movie fans for a virtual orgy of filmed entertainment.
The majority of the films shown at Sundance never get a distribution deal or even any public release following their screenings at the festival (fewer than 25% from 2009 were released). Every year the attention falls on a few films that win the festival awards, have some star power, or delight the audience and are bought for distribution. Examples include "Little Miss Sunshine," "Precious" and others who go on to public acclaim and sometimes Academy Awards. However, there are some amazing films that slip through the cracks unless they are seen at the festival.
The experience of attending the Sundance Film Festival is more than the sum of its parts. Experiencing films in an environment where the entire audience is film savvy and passionate is a revelation compared to the day-to-day viewing of films "back home." In addition, having such a wide range of films to see in a concentrated period could be habit forming, so beware.
Sundance programmers sift through thousands of submissions each year in several categories, and they are able to find some amazing work and bring it to the attention of the public, along with some just OK stuff as well. A few documentaries that were at the festival this year that had a powerful impact on me included; "Restrepo," a documentary about a US Military outpost in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, "Bhutto," a film about the Pakistan family who has given so much to their country, and the amazing documentary, "An Unfinished Film" which deconstructed a WWII Nazi propaganda film on the Warsaw Ghetto. Devastating.
In dramatic competition films that struck a chord included "Hesher" with a great performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "Happythankyoumoreplease," "Douchbag," "Howl" about the infamous Alan Ginsberg poem; "Obseldia," "Welcome to the Riley's" with James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart, and the fabulous "Winter's Bone" which won the grand jury prize this year.
But it was not all seriousness at the festival either, as there were some pretty good films that were comedy, horror or a little of both. "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" was a comedy/horror hybrid with hillbillies and co-eds in the woods having a BIG misunderstanding.
"Frozen" strands some skiing college kids on a chair lift against several challenges, and perhaps the most riveting of them all was "Buried" with Ryan Reynolds as a kidnapped civilian truck driver in Iraq who is buried alive as he is held for ransom. The entire film takes place inside his coffin-like box and has no other characters. With only a lighter, cell phone and pen - this film was riveting.
Other films of note included "Blue Valentine" with Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams about the start and end of a relationship in non-linear narrative; "Skateland," an 80's coming of age story tale with a killer soundtrack and "The Runaways," the tale of the all-girl band featuring Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning).
While several of these films were sold to distributors - "Blue Valentine," "Buried," "Hesher," "Restrepo" and "Winters Bone"- and will appear at some point locally, others will likely follow suit ("Howl," "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil"). Keep an eye out for "Bhutto," "An Unfinished Film" and "Welcome to the Riley's," as they are worth the wait.
Now the countdown to the Cannes, Telluride and Toronto film Festivals begins.
Herb Stratford attends several film festivals yearly. He is the founder of the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation who restored the Fox Tucson Theatre in downtown Tucson. He also owns a film-based website called Film Hunting.com which is a curated selection of the best films from the best film festivals including distribution and tracking information for festival selected films.
bstratford
