2008 Woodie Awards
Sundance starts the New Year off with a bang
Katie Meyer
Issue date: 2/9/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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The Sundance Film Festival was originally founded to serve as an outlet for independent and art house cinema. However, in the past 20 years the festival has become less independent and noticeably more commercial. Nevertheless, the Sundance Film Festival has become a cultural phenomenon. It annually marks the new year in cinema, and promises, for the most part, a handful of unique and original motion pictures to an often times bland, formulaic industry.
The history of the Sundance Film Festival dates back to 1978 when it was known as The Utah Film Festival. It did not gain its current prestige, however, until 1981 when Robert Redford finally took over and renamed it The Sundance Film Festival-giving it enough celebrity power to skyrocket it to international fame. Since the 1980s it has been credited as being responsible for triggering the independent film movement by releasing cult films such as Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. One journalist even went as far as penning directors, Soderbergh, Tarantino, and Wes Anderson as the "Sundance Kids." The Sundance Film Festival is no longer just a forum for film expression, but a cultural movement in modern American cinema.
Each year the festival delivers films that shock audiences either by its disturbing realism and cynicism or by the filmmakers' innovative style and methods. Examples of this are fimls such as 2001's In the Bedroom or 1999's Memento. This year, the film that had audiences buzzing was David Slade's Hard Candy starring Patrick Wilson (Angels in America) and young newcomer, Ellen Page. Hard Candy is the shockingly honest story of one man's relations with a young girl he meets over the Internet and the consequences that follow. The media refuses to reveal detailed elements of the plot, but that did not stop them from addressing the controversy the film has sparked. Some audience members responded to the film as appalling and equally disturbing, while others considered it a film that should be watched by all. What film studios know is that controversy equals money, and therefore Lion Gates Films paid four million dollars to pick the film up for distribution.
At the end of the festival, the Grand Jury recognizes films that display excellence in a myriad of different categories. The most prestigious and competitive of these prizes is the Dramatic Category with previous winners such as Blood Simple, Girl Fight, and the magnificent, American Splendor. This year, Ira Sach's Forty Shades of Blue was recognized. Forty Shades of Blue is an emotional film about the relationship between a former rock music legend, his young Russian wife, and his estranged son. It was the surprising winner of the festival because of its minimal buzz and little publicity.
In the past twenty-six years the Sundance Film Festival has transformed itself from a semi successful operation to a multimillion-dollar franchise. The word Sundance is now synonymous with prestige and distinction within the film industry. It has successfully woven itself into the colorful quilt that is American culture.
The history of the Sundance Film Festival dates back to 1978 when it was known as The Utah Film Festival. It did not gain its current prestige, however, until 1981 when Robert Redford finally took over and renamed it The Sundance Film Festival-giving it enough celebrity power to skyrocket it to international fame. Since the 1980s it has been credited as being responsible for triggering the independent film movement by releasing cult films such as Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. One journalist even went as far as penning directors, Soderbergh, Tarantino, and Wes Anderson as the "Sundance Kids." The Sundance Film Festival is no longer just a forum for film expression, but a cultural movement in modern American cinema.
Each year the festival delivers films that shock audiences either by its disturbing realism and cynicism or by the filmmakers' innovative style and methods. Examples of this are fimls such as 2001's In the Bedroom or 1999's Memento. This year, the film that had audiences buzzing was David Slade's Hard Candy starring Patrick Wilson (Angels in America) and young newcomer, Ellen Page. Hard Candy is the shockingly honest story of one man's relations with a young girl he meets over the Internet and the consequences that follow. The media refuses to reveal detailed elements of the plot, but that did not stop them from addressing the controversy the film has sparked. Some audience members responded to the film as appalling and equally disturbing, while others considered it a film that should be watched by all. What film studios know is that controversy equals money, and therefore Lion Gates Films paid four million dollars to pick the film up for distribution.
At the end of the festival, the Grand Jury recognizes films that display excellence in a myriad of different categories. The most prestigious and competitive of these prizes is the Dramatic Category with previous winners such as Blood Simple, Girl Fight, and the magnificent, American Splendor. This year, Ira Sach's Forty Shades of Blue was recognized. Forty Shades of Blue is an emotional film about the relationship between a former rock music legend, his young Russian wife, and his estranged son. It was the surprising winner of the festival because of its minimal buzz and little publicity.
In the past twenty-six years the Sundance Film Festival has transformed itself from a semi successful operation to a multimillion-dollar franchise. The word Sundance is now synonymous with prestige and distinction within the film industry. It has successfully woven itself into the colorful quilt that is American culture.