There is a dichotomy at Sundance between the first time director slinging his project to people in the street and the starlets who are just there for free press (and free swag). At first glance it is easy to think the festival is now focused only on the latter but there are still elements true to the festival’s foundation.
Sundance began in 1978 as the U.S. Film Festival. The fest’s mission was twofold, to bring the attention of filmmakers to Utah and showcase the potential of independent film. Some our most groundbreaking artists received their first big break at Sundance including Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith. What the internet does for bloggers today, Sundance did for filmmakers in its infancy, it allowed the consumer to become the producer. It is important to remember when this festival began independent movies didn’t exist in the mainstream at all. The success of independent film has changed the cinematic landscape and now films labeled as “independent” are often made by the major studios. The studios have had to broaden their horizons to include films that expand our minds and change our national conversation. This may be the most important role of film in our time, the ability to start or change the conversation in the media and in our living rooms.
In his famous essay, Hegemony, James Lull suggests, “Owners and managers of media industries can produce and reproduce the content, inflections, and tones of ideas favorable to them far more easily than other social groups because they manage key socializing institutions, thereby guaranteeing that their points of view are constantly and attractively cast into the public arena”.
If Lull is right and ultimately the media industries are thrusting what is in their best interest upon us, isn’t it imperative that institutions like Sundance, which allow a wide array of artists into the cinematic arena, continue even if it means these artists have to stand along side Paris Hilton on Main Street? The groundbreaking artists are still there ready to inspire us; we just have to look beyond the swarms of paparazzi to find them.
Though I am sure there are scores of independent filmmakers who will agree with my original criticism of Sundance which was that it is only about celebrity, in the spectrum of film history it is clear Sundance has done more to introduce new voices into film than any other institution in the U.S.
Film Can Change The World
-Christine, editor, OLV
