This article was supposed to be about my first Sundance Film Festival experience. I’ve been planning to attend this year’s festival since the summertime. That is how far in advance you need to reserve a hotel. Before I go on, I want to say that the volunteers at the festival were quite helpful, friendly, and understood my frustration as a first time Sundance moviegoer. You see, these volunteers were in my shoes at their first Sundance too. Your first day at the festival is overwhelming. I’m going to describe some of my experiences that made Sundance a bitter pill to swallow. Sundance was a nightmare. Some of you reading this may have had a completely different experience at this festival. My intention is not to criticize the festival; my intention is to warn those thinking about attending future Sundance Film Festivals what to be aware of before plopping down their hard earned cash at Park City, Utah.
I recently read an interview with Robert Redford, who is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, why he only stays at his own festival for 3 days. He said that staying any longer at the festival makes him feel like Dr. Frankenstein. Mr. Redford feels like Dr. Frankenstein because he literally feels like he has created a monster with this festival. I have nothing but respect for this legendary actor/director. I’ve talked to some film people that have had the pleasure of experiencing the festival in the early days. They said that they don’t attend any longer because Sundance has lost its magic. Now I understand what they are referring to.
I thought Sundance was going to be more of a cerebral experience. I thought it was going to be a place for serious film critics to huddle around and discuss why they didn’t like a particular director’s vision or why they didn’t like a particular actor’s style of method acting. I thought Sundance was going to be a center for dealmaking between major players like The Weinstein Company and indie artists. I thought I was going to be able to interview Rashida Jones at the premiere of her romantic drama, 'Celeste and Jesse Forever.' I thought this was going to be the experience of a lifetime... boy, I was sadly mistaken. Instead, my first impression, walking down Main Street, was more of a ‘Spring Break’ type atmosphere. There are a lot of affluent college students and ‘wannabe’ filmmakers strutting along Main Street thinking they are important. I got news for these pseudo-filmmakers. You are not the next 'Quentin Tarantino' so wake up from your delustional state of mind. It is a joke. Many of these ‘posers’ are not true cinephiles. They are at Sundance to party, not to appreciate quality filmmaking.
And that in a nutshell is my biggest turn-off of the festival. It is not a place for film lovers to go and see quality films. It is a tourist trap to see how much money Sundance can make during this two-week period. I’m not knocking Sundance for being greedy. Sundance, the institute, is a lot more than this two-week film festival. It is a non-profit organization that uses a lot of the money earned during the festival to help out indie filmmakers throughout the year. I need to talk about the Sundance institute because as a serious screenwriter (I’m currently entered into three separate professional contests). I hope one day to be involved with the institute side of Sundance.
The Sundance Institute is an amazing non-profit organization that is completely separate from the film festival zoo. The money Sundance earns during the film festival which runs from January 19-29th this year is why I respect Mr. Redford’s vision. His vision is to help the risk-taking indie filmmaker get his voice heard. The institute has artist programs throughout the year, including a series of Labs and Fellowships for screenwriters, directors, documentarians, etc. As a screenwriter (I’ve recently found my voice), I hope to one day to participate in Sundance’s Screenwriters Lab. Here is an excellent description of the Screenwriters Lab from Sundance’s website, ‘it is a 5-day writer’s workshop that gives independent screenwriters the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts.’ Mark my words; I’ll be participating in this lab one day.
Stay tuned for my next installment of ‘Sundance: Exposed.’ I’m not done talking about Sundance. Even though it was a horrible experience for me, It allowed me to do a great deal of self-reflection and the opportunity to reignite my ultimate goal: to be a professional screenwriter in Hollywood.
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