It's SUNDANCE time again!

January 18, 2006 10:37 AM

If you can't be there in person, at least you can read the blogs of those lucky attendees. Share your preferred Sundance news sources here and/or by del.icio.us tag. If you are attending for the first time, you'll want to read the Virgin's Guide. Some think "Sundance shows too many "indie" films that are loaded with well-established talent in front of and behind the camera and ample budgets. It's not the place to go for new opportunities much anymore". (comment on page) See also: This year's titles sorted for your convenience.
posted by spock (12 comments total)

Local moviemaking is where it's at now.
posted by boo_radley at 10:57 AM on January 18, 2006

A couple of years ago, a short film my girlfriend wrote played at Sundance, so off we went. It was a fairly pricey vacation, but an interesting experience...entirely worth it, for me, to see her face when a few complete strangers came up to her in lines (for other movies) and told her how much they enjoyed her film.

We didn't go looking for and didn't see many celebrities, but we saw a few great flicks, most notably Seducing Doctor Lewis, which I can't believe wasn't a hit outside of Quebec. Investigation Into The Invisible World, while kind of dull, inspired us to travel to Iceland last year, and The Saddest Music In The World was pretty good, too.

On the other hand, there was this piece of crap. It wasn't "controversial"...it was boring.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:07 AM on January 18, 2006

It's not the place to go for new opportunities much anymore

This would be a good theme for a "South Park" episode. Wait a minute...
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:26 AM on January 18, 2006

Eh. Been there a couple times. Wasn't that great. These days it's pretty much a celeb fest. Not my bag. I like the Seattle Film Festival better.
posted by tkchrist at 11:41 AM on January 18, 2006

I guess I haven't been for a few years, and Sundance does seem to matter less, as long-tail choices become more available as options, but I've always found it enjoyable as a local to pick a few films that look interesting and go. In that respect, I don't treat the festival as a whole as an event, just a highlighter and an opportunity to catch or learn about a few things that might never see mainstream distribution.
posted by weston at 11:59 AM on January 18, 2006

They shoul be honest and change the name to The Park City Film Festival
posted by HTuttle at 1:11 PM on January 18, 2006

A friend has the movie Wriscutters in the festival this year.
posted by Mo Nickels at 1:56 PM on January 18, 2006

I drove up to Sundance the other day. They sure do have a lot of snow...
posted by blue_beetle at 2:10 PM on January 18, 2006

Come on guys, it's just a bunch of movies about gay cowboys eatin' pudding.
posted by Zorro on Doughnuts at 2:12 PM on January 18, 2006

Or, you could go to Slamdance.
posted by jaronson at 6:17 PM on January 18, 2006

So my boyfriend (Metafilters own excellent punk-rock-lovin', non-carnivorous psychoticreaction) and his friends made a documentary, Small Town Gay Bar. It got into competition at this year's Sundance. Woohoo!

(There's an interwiew with the film's director, awesome human being Malcolm Ingram, here. Supposedly. My 'puter won't show it.)

I got to see a rough cut of it before they went down to Utah, and it completely fucking rocks. But then, I would say that, wouldn't I?
posted by Tomatillo at 8:56 PM on January 18, 2006

i hear small town gay bar is awesome.

[guzzles complimentary soy latte]
posted by psychoticreaction at 1:16 PM on January 25, 2006