Spring Break
Sundance Film Festival turns 30
Holley Grant
Issue date: 1/26/07 Section: NEWS
A slosh of ice and mud covers the streets and sidewalks of a small Utah city, once sleepy but now bustling with energy and passion.
Men and women are screeching on cell phones, hobnobbing with strangers or frantically searching their maps for their next destination. The only thing that can properly sum up the furor is a message on the marquee as you enter Park City: "This week: Sundance Film Festival."
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, started Jan. 18 and will end Jan. 28.
The event started in 1978 as the Utah/U.S. Film Festival and gained attention once actor and Oscar-winning director Robert Redford became chairman of the event. In 1991, the festival was renamed the Sundance Film Festival and is known for its focus on American independent cinema.
The festival has been credited with helping launch the careers of filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and the Coen brothers and has showcased movies such as "Clerks," "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Little Miss Sunshine."
"Sundance is the way we get seen," said Hal Hartley, director of the drama "Fay Grim," which was shown at the festival, during a panel discussion. "Some of these films are not seen outside the festival."
Thousands of people attend the 10-day event in Park City, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah. Screenings of the films take place in numerous theaters around the area, with one of the most famous being the Egyptian Theater in Park City.
The size of the theaters ranges from around 150 seats to more than 1,200 seats. Film fans sometimes arrive more than an hour before the movie starts, even if they have bought their tickets weeks in advance.
Filmmakers submitted more than 3,000 films to Sundance, which selected 122 to show at the festival in categories ranging from features to shorts, domestic to foreign. Eighty-two of these films will have their world premieres at the festival.
While many of the films star of unknowns, Antonio Banderas, Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds have films appearing at this year's festival.
Men and women are screeching on cell phones, hobnobbing with strangers or frantically searching their maps for their next destination. The only thing that can properly sum up the furor is a message on the marquee as you enter Park City: "This week: Sundance Film Festival."
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, started Jan. 18 and will end Jan. 28.
The event started in 1978 as the Utah/U.S. Film Festival and gained attention once actor and Oscar-winning director Robert Redford became chairman of the event. In 1991, the festival was renamed the Sundance Film Festival and is known for its focus on American independent cinema.
The festival has been credited with helping launch the careers of filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and the Coen brothers and has showcased movies such as "Clerks," "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Little Miss Sunshine."
"Sundance is the way we get seen," said Hal Hartley, director of the drama "Fay Grim," which was shown at the festival, during a panel discussion. "Some of these films are not seen outside the festival."
Thousands of people attend the 10-day event in Park City, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah. Screenings of the films take place in numerous theaters around the area, with one of the most famous being the Egyptian Theater in Park City.
The size of the theaters ranges from around 150 seats to more than 1,200 seats. Film fans sometimes arrive more than an hour before the movie starts, even if they have bought their tickets weeks in advance.
Filmmakers submitted more than 3,000 films to Sundance, which selected 122 to show at the festival in categories ranging from features to shorts, domestic to foreign. Eighty-two of these films will have their world premieres at the festival.
While many of the films star of unknowns, Antonio Banderas, Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds have films appearing at this year's festival.
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