Our film critic is charmed by Sundance
Sundance Film Festival a fun and funky experience for any movie aficionado
“Cheers, Ted!”
OK, so I didn’t shout that at Ted Danson, and he’s not exactly A-list anymore, but seeing the former sitcom star mobbed by a modest throng of autographseeking fans at the Salt Lake City airport on Jan. 18 was a fitting introduction to the Sundance Film Festival — and, more importantly, to the truth behind the observation that “everyone comes to Sundance.”
OK, not everyone — it’s not the Toronto International Film Festival — but an impressive array of filmmakers, actors and musicians have breezed through this year’s event, which continues through Sunday and is rightfully billed as the U.S.’s biggest independent film fest.
Co-founder Robert Redford reportedly set Sundance in Park City as a way to keep out the riff-raff. According to a friend, he imagined only diehard film fans would make the trek to this small mountain town of 8,000 people, a half-hour drive from Salt Lake City.
Add to that throngs of the Hollywood extended family and international auteurs, and you’ve got yourself a party.
I admit, I did wonder what the heck I had been thinking as I boarded my second connecting flight, in Calgary (after a stop in Toronto), last Thursday, nearing the midway point of an 11-hour odyssey that could have at least been taking me somewhere warm.
Alas, it was all snow in Sundance, eventually. The snowstorm arrived a day late, blanketing the festival Friday night into Saturday.
By then, I was getting used to the altitude. Nestled 7,000 feet above sea level, Park City is like the ultimate movie-marathon training ground.
At least five people must have warned me to drink lots of water over the first 24 hours, and watch my cocktail intake. (Alcohol apparently hits twice as hard at such heights.)
I was met at the airport by my old pal Bob Moore, producer at Montreal documentary company EyeSteelFilm, whose environmental doc Anote’s Ark premièred Friday night at the fest’s iconic venue, the Egyptian Theatre.
Moore rolls deep, pulling up in a Land Rover into which squeezed Anote’s Ark director Matthieu Rytz, his partner Juliana, myself and Anote Tong, former president of the Pacific island republic of Kiribati, who is the main subject of Rytz’s film.
After decompression beers at a hotel bar, we set out into the evening, hopping one of the many free buses that run through, around and in and out of town. That’s right, free — and not just during Sundance. Park City’s public transportation network is gratis year-round, to the delight and convenience of festivalgoers and ski tourists who come to partake in the multitude of runs that dot the area.
So, how do you host a major international film festival in a small ski resort town? You improvise. Aside from the Egyptian and aptly named Holiday Village cinemas, Sundance creates pop-up theatres in the local school, the library, hotels and other co-optable spaces, using the bus network as an inter-venue shuttle service. (One bus line is even called the Theatre Loop.)
To help guide riders through the maze, fluorescent-vested volunteers camp out at each stop to advise attendees on routes and schedules.
Daunting at first, the town soon starts to feel like one big playground, as you hop on and off buses and chat freely with other festival attendees doing the same.
Then, of course, there are the movies. Since everyone comes to Sundance, filmmakers, actors and other team members are in attendance for virtually every film.
A 9 a.m. Saturday screening of Gus Van Sant’s new feature Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, based on the life of the late Portland, Ore., cartoonist John Callahan — played with frenetic conviction by Joaquin Phoenix, and starring a delightful Jonah Hill as his New Age AA sponsor — was followed by a Q&A with the director and soundtrack composer Danny Elfman.
British dance-pop agitator M.I.A. was on hand for Sunday night’s world première of old friend Stephen Loveridge’s revealing documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., based on her life and art, which includes an impressive amount of footage of the artist pre-fame.
A couple of Canadian media personalities made the cut, including George Stroumboulopoulos and — shockingly — Jian Ghomeshi; perhaps someone should have advised Loveridge to do background checks for his clips.
In the post-screening discussion, an emotional M.I.A., who had just seen the film for the first time, gave her friend flak for disappearing on her while making the movie and emerging with such an intimate portrait.
“You were supposed to make a live tour documentary,” she teased, though it was unclear whether her tone was more amused or annoyed.
Jane Fonda and Joan Jett were also at the fest as subjects of biopics. Robert Pattinson, Keira Knightley, Chloë Sevigny and Paul Giamatti all attended with new projects. Rappers Common and Will.i.am were spotted, and Montreal darling Martha Wainwright breezed into town to perform a four-song set at a private party hosted by her friend Maggie Gyllenhaal, who joined her onstage for a closing duet.
And how about the Canadians? Sundance boasted four Canuck features this year, including three with Quebec connections — the above-mentioned Anote’s Ark, Roadkill Superstar’s Summer of ’84 and the Israeli-Canadian co-production The Oslo Diaries — plus a halfdozen shorts, including Jérémy Compte’s Fauve, which won the festival’s special jury prize on Tuesday.
Roaming around town, I bumped into the Phi Centre’s Myriam Achard, who was there to scout out new virtual reality works for the Old Montreal multimedia centre; Paul Raphaël, of hotshot virtual reality duo Felix & Paul; and Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana, who were a hit at last year’s Sundance with their riveting Indigenous music doc Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World.
All that left little time to check out Slamdance. But I did do a walk-through of the headquarters of the off-Sundance alternative and was impressed by the grassroots feel and friendly vibe of everyone I encountered. A return visit is in order.
By the time I boarded my flight home Tuesday morning, I was a) exhausted, and b) charmed by Sundance, a jet-set yet laid-back and funky fest that, despite all its layers of exclusivity and associated industry hoopla, turns out to be a whole lotta fun.