by Christine Westwood
Thursday noon in Park City as media from around the world gather at the iconic Egyptian theatre for the press conference opening the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The snow is uncharacteristically thin on the ground as filmgoers are celebrity spotting outside on Main Street while Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford is joined on stage by Executive Director Keri Putnam and Festival Director John Cooper.
Founded in 1981, the festival retains its reputation for showcasing cutting edge indie movies. Competition categories range from features, shorts and documentaries while extra fare is presented in panel discussions and themed screenings, while the New Frontier expo brings a fusion of art and digital technology.
Australian entries this year include Warwick Thornton’s feature, Sweet Country, Nash Edgerton’s TV series Mr Inbetween and a stunning VR production The Summation of Force by award winning Australian photographers Trent Parke and Narelle Autio.
After a brief introduction in which Redford talked about the festival being created in 1980 to offer diversity at a time when the studio system became dominant – “There were a lot of voices out there but on the margins. Sundance was created not to harm the industry but adding to it – discussion quickly shifted to the current #ItsTime debate.
“I’m encouraged it’s bringing forth more opportunities for women in film,” Redford states. “It’s going to be more even handed… a new conversation.”
“It’s not just about a few individual men, more about the underlying structures of power,” Putnam adds. “We’re not just talking about equity but also representation in media. How you see yourselves represented, highlighting issues of bias, harassment, violence are part of the long history of Sundance.”
Cooper spoke of a 24/7 hotline that has been created this year where any festival attendee can report issues of inappropriate conduct.
When asked about Harvey Weinstein’s attendance at the Festival in previous years, Redford was quick to comment. “We were sickened to hear about Harvey’s behaviour and especially that a couple of those incidents happened at Sundance. As a culture and industry, we are creating a new awareness that we’re not going to go backwards from.”
When asked if the loss of financial backing from people like Weinstein would hurt independent distribution, Redford explains, “He was a moment in time and we’ll move past that. People like Harvey were coming to the festival with an agenda, perhaps getting films cheap, meanwhile we grew culturally. Bringing films from other countries increased the value of the festival and let the audience see the common connections (from stories around the world). Harvey had no relevance to that, he came to see what he could pick for his own purpose.”
Fake news was another talking point.
“I’m a huge fan of journalism,” Redford says. “Journalism is our means of getting to the truth.”
Cooper spoke of how the Festival can support filmmakers in telling true stories. “Keep the faith, support them aggressively and let them know they really do count,” while Putnam added that building communities is also a key. “The strength of this is that you find you’re not alone, you have a common bond to get stories out into the world.”
Cooper went further in saying that he believes “you can only change the world through story,” because stories can bring awareness. He cited examples from this year’s Sundance slate, including Dark Money (on how US legislation allows money to flood election campaigns), The Devil We Know (environmental protest) and short film A Night at the Garden that documents a Nazi rally of 20000 Americans at Madison Square Garden just before Hitler went to war with Europe. “The way you deal with fake news is you don’t support it and you keep telling the truth,” Cooper adds.
Ever current and ever supportive diversity in storytelling, the Sundance Festival runs 18-28 January at venues in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.
