By DANIEL FINNEGAN
When the Sundance Film Festival first began in 1978, the festival’s goal was to highlight and increase the visibility of American independent films. In its 35 year history, it has provided unknown films with the much needed exposure and press attention needed to garner distribution, as well as an experimental platform for new emerging directors. The festival currently contains competitive sections for dramatic and documentary films – feature-length films and short films – well as a category of non-competitive sections. Each year, the Festival selects around 200 films for exhibition from more than 9,000 submissions, with more than 50,000 people attending screenings throughout Utah. With all this exposure, numerous Sundance films are primed to surpass their often low budgets, becoming critical and box-office successes.
In 1989, then-newcomer Steven Sodebergh made an independent romantic comedy for less than one million dollars that would premiere at the still developing Sundance Film Festival. The film would continue on to win the Palm d’Or (top prize) at Cannes Film Festival, gross $25 million and spark the interest in American indie films that Sundance had been hoping for. This interest would only further develop in the 90’s with the emergence of fresh, young independent filmmakers, such as Quentin Tarantino, whose first film, Reservoir Dogs, premiered at Sundance. It would later gross nearly 15 times its budget, and Kevin Smith, whose Clerks also premiered at Sundance, was made on a shoestring budget of $27,000. The epitome of Sundance box-office successes came in 1999 when two filmmakers and three actors made an 80 minute film in eight days on a $35,000 budget in the woods of Maryland. The Blair Witch Project would eventually gross nearly $250 million, spawn countless other “found footage” horror films and virtually scare everyone in the world brave enough to watch. These films all attained their success because of distributors at the festival who were on the lookout for low-budget films.
This awards season, 13 films from Sundance collected Oscar nominations. Beasts of the Southern Wild lead the way with four nominations, including a nomination for Best Picture and Best Actress in a Leading Role, which is an astounding feat when one considers the film’s background. The film was shot with no professional actors. It utilized a small professional crew and numerous local residents for different tasks in the production process. A first time filmmaker and Best Director nominee Benh Zeitlin captured a post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans that no one had seen before with poverty and destruction in every frame of every shot, while maintaining an uplifting and traditional tone to it.
Discussing these qualities, Zeitlin said he, “wanted the film to sit above reality in way that a folktale does and be something that is very much about real issues that are happening in Louisiana, but also be able to travel and translate [issues] the way folktale can.” With Beasts reaping such critical praise and press attention, one can only look forward to the possibilities of the festival’s hits this year, which announced the numerous award winners last week.
From Ashton Kutcher to Dave Grohl, there have been numerous big name celebrities making splashes at Sundance this year. Whether it be Amanda Seyfried’s seductive Lovelace, Ashton’s apparently inaccurate turn as Steve Jobs in jOBS, or Daniel Radcliffe’s performance as Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings, this years’ festival has been nothing short of controversial. The controversies also include the winner of the Festival’s Grand Jury Prize, entitled Fruitvale, which tells the story of the last day of Oscar Grant’s life, a man who was shot to death by a police officer in Oakland, CA. This film, along with Richard Linklater’s film Before Midnight, starring Ethan Hawke in the third installment of the magnificent Before Sunrise trilogy, is primed to be big hits with critics following its full-distribution to audiences worldwide. Other high-profile films at this years festival include Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara, and Joseph Gordon Levitt’s directorial debut entitled Don Jon’s Addiction, in which he controversially plays the eponymous lead role of a sex addict struggling to find meaning in life.
High-profile celebrities and stars continue to draw attention to Sundance Film Festival, attracting large crowds to the packed theaters. While some consider these large crowds beneficial to the growth of independent film, Sundance chairperson Robert Redford does not agree. As he continues to work to protect the festival’s indie roots, Redford hopes that the Sundance will have nothing to do with “parties and celebrities and Paris Hilton.”
