Sundance Film Festival Brings a Wide Variety of Activities
Every year in January, a mass migration to Utah happens: Critics, filmmakers, and industry people head to Park City to participate in a 10-day marathon of screenings, panels, talks, events, parties, and more. Sundance is a lot of things: an exhibition for the most exciting independently produced films from the US and around the world; an early predictor of the year’s movie trends; a networking hub for filmmakers and other talent looking to break into the movie business; a forum for discussing issues and groundbreaking technologies that affect film and media; and a palate cleanser after the hectic fall movie season.
Sundance straddles two worlds: the big-name, award-winning movie world and the scrappy indie film world. Paying attention to the festival is a good way to catch the first inklings of Oscar buzz and to get a sense of the issues and topics that are motivating filmmakers and audiences.
On December 4th, it was announced that 118 feature-length films, representing 27 countries and 44 first-time feature filmmakers would be screened at the event. However, there are a ton of other events that take place at Sundance besides the screenings of film. One of those events includes a wide variety of panels. The “Power of Story: Just Art” panel sees artists Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ai Weiwei, Julie Taymor, and others discussing the nature of artwork as a catalytic cultural and sociopolitical force. “Where the Truth Lies” sees Bill Ross and Turner Ross (Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets), Kirsten Johnson (Dick Johnson Is Dead), and Carlos López Estrada (Summertime) exploring the very different ways in which they have deployed cinematic artifice and formal experimentation to reveal deep human truths. They will be in conversation with Vox film critic Alissa Wilkinson. These two panels are just two examples of the wide variety of panels available at Sundance. For a full list of the panels, visit this LINK.
The festival is also bringing several VR exhibits that are sure to provide an unforgettable experience. After the Fallout is “360-degree experience pushes past traditional documentary tropes to evoke the reality and emotional gravity of life in Fukushima, ten years after the 2011 nuclear disaster. After the Fallout is an immersive mosaic that takes us through surreal environments in the exclusion zone, relives the struggle of the heroes who worked to prevent the meltdown, and explores the lives of families as they navigate a new world which they have had to adapt to.” Another powerful exhibit is Anti-Gone. This exhibit is “Part theatre, part Twitch.tv, this groundbreaking play is a feature-length Livestream game telecast, whose central characters, Spyda and Lynxa, are avatars powered by the VR headset and mocap suit worn by stage actors who game the sprawling virtual world fresh with each performance. Set in a post–climate-change world raging with late-capitalist rebellion and excess.”
For a list of all of the exhibits, visit this LINK
For the vast majority of people who don’t spend the year breathlessly tracking trends in cinema, the idea of “Sundance” is a bit hazy. Is it just a giant list of film screenings or is there more to it? With its vast variety of panels, exhibits, live music, and of course screenings, Sundance has proven to be a massive attraction to not only locals but people from all parts of the world. Put simply, for people who love movies, Sundance is one of the most exciting events of the year.
For more information about Sundance Film Festival, visit HERE