Thirty Years of Helping Artists Sundance 2014
Since 1985, the Sundance Film Festival (SFF) has provided a venue for small, independent and artisan films both domestic and international. The Sundance Institute (SI) – which produces the SFF – has also supported thousands of independent film and theatre artists with its artist development programs.
DAY ONE
Mr. Redford began by addressing the Oscars snub of his film All Is Lost. He asked that is not detract from the reasons why everyone was gathered for the festival. To paraphrase: I loved the experience of making the movie… it gave me the chance as an actor to go back to my roots. In response to a question about the reason for its lack of nomination, [The film] suffered from little to no distribution and it lacked a campaign to help it reach mainstream audiences and Oscar voters. It would have been wonderful to be nominated, but I’m not disturbed or upset by it. Mr. Redford closed with, I am very happy about the film. The fact is that the film did not cross over into the more mainstream the more commercial parts of our industry. Hollywood is a business, it’s a good business, and it’s a very, very good one.
In response to a question regarding his reason for locating the festival in Utah, he responded, My decision to bring the film festival here… a lot of people wondered about that. It’s a great State and it’s a beautiful State, otherwise why did I come here? I came here because of the beauty. I came here because of the States’ particular history – the pioneer history – so I wanted to preserve that at Sundance, but also I wanted to add something that would create a new dimension.
It was a place to put this new concept of independent film into practice. I never saw it as an “other” or a “counter” to Hollywood. I saw it as an add-on. This place created opportunities for new artists to come and develop have a place show their work and share that with the State.
As to the mission of the Festival, We are a nonprofit. Our job/ role is to create a space and a platform, to bring voices and new ways of seeing the world using independent film – that’s it.
SI director Keri Putnam added, We have grown but our mission has not changed. We exist to support the voices of artists and help get their stories told and get their stories seen.[:pt]Since 1985, the Sundance Film Festival (SFF) has provided a venue for small, independent and artisan films both domestic and international. The Sundance Institute (SI) – which produces the SFF – has also supported thousands of independent film and theatre artists with its artist development programs.