The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual
film festival organized by the
Sundance Institute. It is the largest
independent film
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...
festival in the United States, with more than 46,660 attending in 2016. It takes place each January in
Park City, Utah
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...
;
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
; and at the
Sundance Resort
Sundance Resort, also known as Sundance Mountain Resort, is a ski resort located northeast of Provo, Utah. It includes more than on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos in Utah's Wasatch Range. Alpine skiing began on the site in 1944. Actor Robert Re ...
(a ski resort near
Provo, Utah
Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU).
Provo lies between the ...
), and acts as a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival consists of competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, Midnight, Sundance Kids, From the Collection, Premieres, and Documentary Premieres.
History
1978: Utah/US Film Festival
Sundance began in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
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
Sterling Gray Van Wagenen (born July 2, 1947) is an American film and stage producer, writer, director, and convicted sex offender. He is a co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, and, in association with former brother-in-law Robert Redford, he ...
, head of
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
's company Wildwood, and John Earle of the
Utah Film Commission. The 1978 festival featured films such as ''
Deliverance
''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapted ...
'', ''
A Streetcar Named Desire
''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of person ...
'', ''
Midnight Cowboy
''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama (film and television), drama film, based on the 1965 Midnight Cowboy (novel), novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars ...
'', ''
Mean Streets
''Mean Streets'' is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973. De Niro won the National ...
'', and ''
Sweet Smell of Success''.
The goal of the festival was to showcase American-made films, highlight the potential of independent film, and increase visibility for filmmaking in Utah. 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 celebrate the
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...
Award. The festival also highlighted the work of regional filmmakers who worked outside the
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
system.
In 1979, Sterling Van Wagenen left to head up the first-year pilot program of what became the
Sundance Institute, and James W. Ure took over briefly as executive director, followed by Cirina Hampton Catania. More than 60 films were screened at the festival that year, and panels featured many well-known Hollywood filmmakers. Also that year, the first Frank Capra Award went to
Jimmy Stewart. The festival also made a profit for the first time. In 1980, Catania left to pursue a production career in Hollywood.
1981: US Film and Video Festival
![Egyptian Theater during Sundance 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Egyptian_Theater_during_Sundance_2018.jpg)
In 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah, and changed the dates from September to January. The move from late summer to midwinter was done by the executive director Susan Barrell with the cooperation of Hollywood director
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 movies or shows and produced over 44 films. For his film ''Out ...
, who suggested that running a film festival in a ski resort during winter would draw more attention from Hollywood. It was called the US Film and Video Festival.
1984: Sundance
In 1984, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival. Gary Beer and Van Wagenen spearheaded production of the inaugural US Film Festival presented by Sundance Institute (1985), which included Program Director Tony Safford and Administrative Director Jenny Walz Selby. The branding and marketing transition from the US Film Festival to the Sundance Film Festival was managed under the direction of Colleen Allen, Allen Advertising Inc., by appointment of Robert Redford. In 1991, the festival was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redford's character
the Sundance Kid from the film ''
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...
''.
The Sundance Film Festival experienced its extraordinary growth in the 1990s, under the leadership of Geoffrey Gilmore and John Cooper, who transformed the venue into the premier festival in the United States, on par of Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Toronto International Film Festival (also known as The Big Five). That crucial era is very well documented in Professor Emanuel Levy's book, Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Cinema (NYU Press, 1999, 2001, 2011), the most comprehensive chronicle of Sundance and the Indie movement over the past four decades.
Spin-offs in other locations
Sundance London (2012– )
UK-based publisher C21 Media first revealed in October 2010 that Robert Redford was planning to bring the Sundance Film Festival to London, and in March the following year, Redford officially announced that Sundance London would be held at
The O2, in London from April 26 to 29, 2012; the first time it has traveled outside the
US.
In a press statement, 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.
..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 festival's premieres, would be held within the
Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...
cinema at
The O2 entertainment district. The 2013 Sundance London Festival was held April 25–28, 2013, and sponsored by car-maker
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
.
Sundance London 2014 took place on April 25–27, 2014 at the O2 arena; however the 2015 Festival was cancelled in an announcement on January 16, 2015.
Sundance London returned to London from June 2–5, 2016, and again June 1–4, 2017, both at Picturehouse Central in London's West End. The 2018 and 2019 events continued at the same venue.
Films shown at the 2019 event included the controversial dark tale ''
The Nightingale
The common nightingale is a songbird found in Eurasia.
Nightingale may also refer to:
Birds
* Thrush nightingale, a songbird found in Eurasia
* Red-billed leiothrix, a songbird of the Indian Subcontinent
Literature
* "Nightingale" (short sto ...
'', US comedy ''
Corporate Animals
''Corporate Animals'' is a 2019 American comedy horror film directed by Patrick Brice and written by Sam Bain. The film stars Jessica Williams, Karan Soni, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Martha Kelly, Dan Bakkedahl, Calum Worthy, Jennifer Kim, Nasim Pedra ...
'',
Lulu Wang's ''
The Farewell'' (which won the Audience Award) and
Sophie Hyde
Sophie Hyde is an Australian film director, writer and producer based in Adelaide, South Australia. She is co-founder of Closer Productions and known for her award-winning debut fiction film, '' 52 Tuesdays'' (2013) and the comedy drama ''Anima ...
's film based on
Emma Jane Unsworth
Emma Jane Unsworth (born 1979) is a British writer from Bury, Greater Manchester. She writes short stories and has had three novels published; ''Hungry, the Stars and Everything'', ''Animals'' and ''Adults''.
Unsworth is also a screenwriter o ...
's novel about female friendship, ''
Animals''.
The 2020 event in London was postponed due to the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
As of 2022, the COVID‑19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV‑2). Its impact has been broad, affecting general society, the ...
.
It was not rescheduled until July 2021.
Sundance Hong Kong (2014–)
Inaugurated in 2014, Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong has taken place in 2016, 2017, 2018 and from September 19 to October 1, 2019. It is held at The Metroplex in Kowloon Bay each year.
The 2020 events in London and Hong Kong were postponed due to
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
As of 2022, the COVID‑19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV‑2). Its impact has been broad, affecting general society, the ...
and as of late 2021 has not been rescheduled.
Sundance at BAM
From 2006 through 2008, Sundance Institute collaborated with the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
(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.
Notability
Many notable independent filmmakers received their big break at Sundance, including
Kevin Smith,
Robert Rodriguez,
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
,
Todd Field
William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for directing three feature films: ''In the Bedroom'' (2001), '' Little Children'' (2006), and ''Tár'' (2022). He has received three Academy Award nomi ...
,
David O. Russell
David Owen Russell (born August 20, 1958) is an American filmmaker. His early directing career includes the comedy films ''Spanking the Monkey'' (1994), '' Flirting with Disaster'' (1996), ''Three Kings'' (1999), and ''I Heart Huckabees'' (200 ...
,
Steve James,
Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. He made his feature-film debut with ''Hard Eight (film), Hard Eight'' (1996). He found critical and commercial success with ''Boogie Nights'' ( ...
,
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh (; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. A pioneer of modern independent cinema, Soderbergh is an acclaimed and prolific filmmaker.
Soderbergh's direc ...
,
Darren Aronofsky,
James Wan,
Edward Burns, and
Jim Jarmusch
James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...
. The festival is also responsible for bringing wider attention to such films as ''
Saw
A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mo ...
'', ''
Garden State'', ''
Super Troopers
''Super Troopers'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and written by and starring the Broken Lizard comedy group (Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske). Marisa Coughlan, Daniel ...
'', ''
The Blair Witch Project'', ''
Spanking the Monkey'', ''
Reservoir Dogs'', ''
Primer
Primer may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth
* ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour
Literature
* Primer (textbook), a t ...
'', ''
In the Bedroom
''In the Bedroom'' is a 2001 American independent drama film directed by Todd Field from a screenplay written by Field and Robert Festinger, based on the 1979 short story " Killings" by Andre Dubus. It stars Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl ...
'', ''
Better Luck Tomorrow
''Better Luck Tomorrow'' is a 2002 American crime film, crime-Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Justin Lin. The film is about Asian American overachievers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and ma ...
'', ''
Little Miss Sunshine
''Little Miss Sunshine'' is a 2006 American tragicomedy road film and the feature film directorial debut of the husband–wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer Michael Arndt. The film sta ...
'', ''
Donnie Darko'', ''
El Mariachi'', ''
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
'', ''
Clerks'', ''
Thank You for Smoking'', ''
Sex, Lies, and Videotape'', ''
The Brothers McMullen'', ''
500 Days of Summer
''500 Days of Summer'' (stylized as ''(500) Days of Summer'') is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars ...
'', ''
Napoleon Dynamite'', ''
Whiplash'', ''
CODA
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
'', and ''
Boyhood''.
''
Three Seasons
''Three Seasons'' (Vietnamese title: ''Ba Mùa'') is a 1999 American film shot in Vietnam about the past, present, and future of Ho Chi Minh City in the early days of Doi Moi. It is a poetic film that tries to paint a picture of the urban cult ...
'' was the first in festival history to ever receive both the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award, in 1999. Later films that won both awards are: ''
God Grew Tired of Us
''God Grew Tired of Us'' is a 2006 American documentary film about three of the "Lost Boys of Sudan", a group of some 25,000 young men who have fled the wars in Sudan since the 1980s, and their experiences as they move to the United States. The fil ...
'' in 2006 (documentary category), ''
Quinceañera
A (also , , , and ) is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday. It has pre-Columbian roots in Mexico (Aztecs) and is widely celebrated by girls throughout Latin America. The girl celebrating her 15th birthday is a (; gender (linguistics), ...
'' in 2006 (dramatic category), ''
Precious'' in 2009, ''Fruitvale'' (later retitled ''
Fruitvale Station
''Fruitvale Station'' is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by Bay ...
'') in 2013, ''
Whiplash'' in 2014, ''
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
''Me and Earl and the Dying Girl'' is a 2012 debut novel written by Jesse Andrews. The novel was released in hardcover by Amulet Books on March 1, 2012, and in paperback on May 7, 2013.
Plot
Greg Gaines is a senior at Benson High School in P ...
'' in 2015, ''
The Birth of a Nation
''The Birth of a Nation'', originally called ''The Clansman'', is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play ''The Cla ...
'' in 2016, ''
Minari'' in 2020, and ''
CODA
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
'' in 2021.
At the
2016 Sundance Film Festival
The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi Ew ...
, three films went on to garner eight
Oscar nominations.
''
Manchester by the Sea'' took the lead in Sundance-supported films with six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
The next year, about 40 films were acquired by distributors, among them including
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
,
Lionsgate, and
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a t ...
.
CODA
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
became the first Sundance film to win an
Oscar for
Best Picture at the
94th Academy Awards
The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after its u ...
.
Growth of the festival
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 not affiliated with Sundance. Festival organizers have tried curbing these activities in recent years, beginning in 2007 with their ongoing Focus On Film campaign.
The 2009 film ''Official Rejection'' documented the experience of small filmmakers trying to get into various festivals in the late 2000s, including Sundance. The film contained several arguments that Sundance had become dominated by large studios and sponsoring corporations. A contrast was made between the 1990s, in which non-famous filmmakers with tiny budget films could get distribution deals from studios like
Miramax Films
Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey Weinstein, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California.
It was ...
or
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after acq ...
, (like
Kevin Smith's ''Clerks''), and the 2000s, when major stars with multimillion-dollar films (like ''The Butterfly Effect'' with
Ashton Kutcher) dominated the festival. Kevin Smith doubted that ''Clerks'', if made in the late 2000s, would be accepted to Sundance.
Numerous small festivals sprung up around Sundance in the Park City area, including
Slamdance,
Nodance,
Slumdance, It-dance, X-Dance, Lapdance,
Tromadance, The
Park City Film Music Festival
The Park City Film Music Festival is a film festival with a special emphasis on film music, which takes place annually in Park City, Utah, United States, and showcases American and International films. It was founded in 2004 and awards films with ...
, etc., though all except Slamdance are no longer held.
Included in the Sundance changes made in 2010, a new programming category titled "NEXT" (often denoted simply by the characters "<=>", which mean "less is more") was introduced to showcase innovative films that are able to transcend the confines of an independent budget. Another recent addition was the Sundance Film Festival USA program, in which eight of the festival's films are shown in eight different theaters around the United States.
The total economic benefits Sundance brings to Utah is estimated to be $167 million in 2020.
The 44th went virtual for the first time in 2021.
Directors
*
Geoff Gilmore Geoffrey, Geoffroy, Geoff, etc., may refer to:
People
* Geoffrey (name), including a list of people with the name
* Geoffroy (surname), including a list of people with the name
* Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095–c. 1155), clergyman and one of the m ...
– 1991–2009
*
John Cooper – 2009–2020
*
Tabitha Jackson
Tabitha () is an English feminine given name, originating with (or made popular through) Saint Tabitha, mentioned in the New Testament.
In the Bible
Tabitha or Dorcas is a woman mentioned in the New Testament. The English name is derived from an ...
– 2020–2022
See also
*
List of Sundance Film Festival award winners
*
List of Sundance Film Festival selections
This is a partial list of films shown at the Sundance Film Festival (called the Utah/US Film Festival in its earliest years and then the U.S. Film and Video Festival before becoming Sundance).
1978
Dates: September 6 – September 12; Theme: ...
*
Sundance Channel
References
Further reading
* Anderson, John. ''Sundancing: Hanging Out And Listening In At America's Most Important Film Festival''. Harper Paperbacks, 2000.
* Biskind, Peter. ''Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film''. Simon & Schuster, 2004.
* Craig, Benjamin
Sundance – A Festival Virgin's Guide: Surviving and Thriving at America's Most Important Film Festival Cinemagine Media Publishing, 3rd ed., 2016, .
* Levy, Emanuel. Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Cinema. NYU Press, 1999, 1st ed, 2001, 2nd ed 2011,3 ed.
* Smith, Lory. ''Party in a Box: The Story of the Sundance Film Festival ''. Gibbs Smith Publishers, 1999.
*
*
*von Roon, Alexander. "Grass and dark Tunnels: Sundance is a Marketing-Tool for the US Film Industry", Berliner Zeitung 2000.
Sundance Film Festival 1985–1996
Sundance – A Festival Virgin's Guide– full history and how to attend the festival.
External links
*
{{Coord, 40, 38, 33, N, 111, 29, 42, W, display=title
Film festivals established in 1978
Film festivals in Utah
Tourist attractions in Summit County, Utah
Tourist attractions in Salt Lake City
Tourist attractions in Weber County, Utah
1978 establishments in Utah
Annual events in Utah