While the growing number of ski-bunnies and corporate sponsors at Sundance probably causes Robert Redford to tug wistfully on the reins as he trots his mare through the shady Utah valleys, there's no doubt that the festival remains, true to its roots, a hotbed of discovery.
Famed for birthing such luminaries of the silver screen as Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh and Jim Jarmusch, and films like The Blair Witch Project and Sex, Lies And Videotape, Sundance merits its unique status in the festival pantheon by virtue of the size and scope of its selections.
Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore and his team spend 10 months scouring the globe for new work and, by and large, eschew films from other festivals. They also try to keep the entries down to a manageable level (there'll be around 120 in the 2007 edition) to preclude little-known film-makers from getting lost in the mix. This is a fate that commonly befalls them at larger events like the Toronto International Film Festival, which has basically become a money-spinning platform for studios to launch their awards season contenders.
Yes, the star wattage at Sundance has risen in recent years. But that's because there are still some household names out there bold enough to cut their fees and roll the dice on a provocative non-studio film. In January, for example, we'll see Samuel Jackson square up to Christina Ricci in a sexually charged battle of wills, Black Snake Moan, while Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play dysfunctional siblings in The Savages. The 12-year-old Dakota Fanning stars as a rape victim, for crying out loud, in The Untitled Dakota Fanning Project, aka Hounddog.
The creeping tide of commercialism means the goody bags have swelled to preposterous levels and the VIP parties smack of LA snobbery, but away from all that crap there's still a real passion about the films and plenty of opportunities to find something special. In recent years Sundance has thrown up Napoleon Dynamite, Hustle & Flow, Open Water and Little Miss Sunshine. In two months' time what new gems will be added to the list?
