The Sundance Film Festival has been a Utah staple since August 1978 when it first started. It is among the biggest film festivals in the world along with Cannes, Toronto, Berlin and Venice. Out of these, Sundance is also the largest independent film festival. In addition to movies filmed in Utah, the Sundance film festival offers an opportunity for all small film creators to connect with the public. With such an impact on Utah culture, it is important to recall some of the events from the most recent festival as well as the past.
Before going over this film festival it is important to talk about the history of the festival. The first screening in 1978 had 86 films screened under the name Utah/U.S. film festival. This was held in Salt Lake City and received funding from private donors. After the first few festivals, Robert Redford took change and renamed it the Sundance film festival after his hit movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. He moved it to Park City at a ski resort and the festival is what we know and love today. As one of the most critically acclaimed film festivals of our time, although some have said it has been going downhill as of recent.
The main director of the festival this year was Eugene Hernandez. He has been involved in the indie movie and Sundance scene for his whole career. He headed the New York Film Festival before getting his dream job as the director of the Sundance Film Festival. Hernandez said that he was distraught with the California Wildfires at the time of the festival since he grew up there making it harder to manage. But the sundance team still put in lots of effort to make this year special. Despite their efforts, many thought this year was disappointing. According to Deadline, critics were saying “Slow pace on film sales, a paucity of buzzy titles compared to years when films from CODA to The Big Sick and Manchester By The Sea, Birth of a Nation and Palm Springs sold for huge amounts.” Despite their best efforts many are not satisfied with how it went and some critics wonder if sales for future years will plummet. Only time will tell how future Utah festivals will go with the current decline.
Even though some were not satisfied with how things went this year there were many important events that stood out. Quentin Tarantino was one of the highlighted directors screening his movie “Reservoir Dogs” for its 25 anniversary. Tarantino also shared that he wants to wait to finish his final film until his kids are grown up, and because he loves the art of film so much he needs to make sure it’s to the utmost quality. Another one of the most acclaimed movies this year is “Atropia”, according to the Sundance film festival website. In the film, an actress in the military role-playing facility falls in love with a soldier cast as an insurgent and their emotions detail the performance. This film by Hailey Gates won lots of awards such as Best of Fest and was acclaimed by many critics who viewed it. “Atopia” along with “Bunnylovr”, “By design”, “Jimpa”, and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” were some of the most popular films this year.
This year’s film festival wasn’t just black and white and had many different opinions about the outcome. Overall, it’s important to continue supporting small communities throughout Utah with film.
