A year ago alone, the Sundance film festival pumped more than $83 million into Utah’s economy. I remember my very first year at Sundance I met and interviewed the man behind of one of my favorite movies – Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element (you can still read that interview). “I’m not into Oscars”, Redford said.
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Hubley said as Sundance Kids enters its third year, there continues to be a “tremendous audience response”. And this year, it’s all about virtual reality, said festival director John Cooper.
Starring Ezri Walker, “Kings Of Summer” star Moises Arias, Rafi Gavron, Erykah Badu, Machine Gun Kelly and Michael K. Williams, and featuring a soundtrack produced by Nas, the film follows a quartet of teenage skateboard pals, who fall into slinging drugs in Cleveland. Hubley encourages parents to consult the age recommendations as they decide whether a particular film would be suitable for their child.
Perhaps it wasn’t the topic, but the way the reporter framed the question – would Redford care to compare Sundance’s exemplary diversity record to the Academy’s? – that rubbed him the wrong way.
The film is based on a 1984 Canadian film, titled “La Guerre des Tuques” or “The Dog Who Stopped the War”, about a group of kids who engage in a massive snowball fight over their holiday break from school. It took three days of begging the press office to get a press badge (we’d only been up and running for 7 months at that point), but I luckily had tickets to see films. “It’s not just for a kid audience – it’s a family”. Thank you for supporting this festival year after year, thank you for believing in independent films, thank you for making Sundance what it is and never letting it become anything else, thank you for creating the Sundance Institute and nurturing artists, thank you for encouraging the “Focus on Film”, thank you for still being a prominent part of this festival year after year.
Sutton said he “wanted the film to be a kind of document of the time” he said.
“We’re still looking for new voices, we’re looking for original ways to tell stories”, Cooper said of his team’s selection process. The program opens specific screenings to students at no cost, allowing them to be exposed to independent and foreign films in what Cody refers to as “a cinematic field trip”.
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“Anybody now can watch a movie on their iPad or iPhone or mobile device, but to gather students in a community of their peers and let them have a dialogue is pretty special”, Cody said. You can argue there are few people better equipped to affect change in the movie industry than Redford. These films were selected from 12,793 submissions, including 4,081 feature-length films and 8,712 short films. The founder of People For The American Way also offered his take on the rise of Donald Trump to the front of the GOP Presidential contenders, “I think it is the American people saying screw you to leadership everywhere”, said Lear, echoing past statements he’s made of the poll topping Trump – again to great laughter from the Sundance crowd.
