Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Sundance Film Festival organizers are gathering in Park City amid concerns over Los Angeles fires affecting many in the industry.
- Festival director Eugene Hernandez and CEO Amanda Kelso emphasize resilience and community.
- Programmers received nearly 16,000 submissions, with a significant international presence, showcasing films addressing global issues.
PARK CITY — Finishing touches were being made along Park City's Main Street ahead of the Sundance Film Festival in the balmy 12 degree weather Wednesday night. Banners were still being hung from chains along the sidewalks, lights drooped across the road, the area soon to be occupied by pedestrians shuffling from one screening to another.
Early arrivals for the festival, mostly press, public relations representatives from Los Angeles and New York, along with Sundance organizers, crowded into the Tanner Trading building, 550 Main, also known as the "Filmmaker's Lodge," to discuss the overwhelming number of movies that will be playing over the next week in town and in Salt Lake City.
The festival runs from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2, with around 150 films showing.
On the minds of many at the cozy reception were the fires in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, a new blaze, the Hughes Fire, began northwest of the city. There were a number who had been displaced already from the previous destruction.
"This has really been a hard couple of weeks for many of us," said festival director Eugene Hernandez. "As a resident of Santa Monica and a native Californian, I want you to know how personal these fires are. We have filmmakers in our own festival alumni, members of the industry, community and our Sundance staff, who have lost homes (or) were displaced in the past weeks."
"We stand with all of our friends and colleagues in this tragic moment, and at the same time, we come together tonight and in these coming days to continue looking ahead," he said.
Amanda Kelso, Sundance Institute CEO, said the fires were a "really devastating reminder of how fragile everything can be."
Kelso is no stranger to crisis at Sundance, though this is her first festival as CEO, just 10 months into her new role. She was brought on board as a trustee in 2017 as an adviser for social media and technology strategy and then joined the Sundance Institute board in January 2020. With her background working at Google, Instagram and others, she helped pivot the festival to an online-only format during the pandemic in 2021.
"This is almost a moment of healing for us," Kelso said. "It's an opportunity for us to remind ourselves of why it is important for us to be together."
Global films on display
According to Hernandez, programmers received almost 16,000 submissions this year, seeing the greatest increase in submissions from outside the U.S., a segment that sets the festival apart from others on the crowded circuit.
"Sundance is a festival of global discovery," he said.
John Nein, a senior programmer at the festival, says the international films comprise a third of screenings. "They're personal, they are artful, they're emotional, they're layered, and they give us a really different way of thinking about what's happening in the world, all the world around us," Nein said.
He believes one reason the festival continues to see an increase in international submissions is the shifting landscape of major global sales companies looking to pick up films and the visibility a festival like Sundance provides.
Nein hopes festivalgoers "pay some attention to" a number of international films playing this week. There is the short film "The Ugly Stepsister" from Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt, "a twisted retelling of Cinderella." There is "DJ Ahmed," which Nein calls an "impossibly charming, smart, brilliant first-time feature," from Georgi Unkovski.
Newly named artistic director of London's Young Vic theater, Nadia Fall, has a feature playing called "Brides," about two teenage girls in search of freedom forming a plan to travel to Syria.
Notable documentaries, which "are really asking questions about what's happening in the world," according to Nein, include "How to Build a Library" from Kenya, "Mr. Nobody against Putin" from Denmark and the Czech Republic, and "Cutting Through Rocks" set in Iran.
Journalist Mstyslav Chernov, who won the Academy Award for best documentary last year for "20 Days in Mariupol" returns to Sundance with "2000 Meters to Andriivka," following Ukrainian solders during the 2023 counteroffensive.
'Showoffs'
Kim Yutani, director of programming for the festival, gave a special shout out to a number of artists who wrote, directed and acted in their films. These include James Sweeney in "Twinless," Katarina Zhu in "Bunnylovr," Eva Victor in "Sorry, Baby," Pasqual Gutierrez in "Serious People," Grace Glowicki in "Dead Lover" and Cherien Dabis in "All That's Left of You."
"These people are clearly showoffs," Yutani said. "They're incredibly talented people. We want you to know their names now and to keep an eye on them."
No word on new home
Hernandez told the crowd the institute is not ready to announce the next home of the festival.
"Our work continues, and we still have two more years anchored here in Park City, but later this winter or early in the spring, once we complete our work on this (request for proposal), we'll announce the new home of the Sundance Film Festival," he said. "Before that, we'll announce the dates for next year's festival. So for now, let's dig in."
