Indie Memphis, Sundance join forces
Indie Memphis will host a “satellite screen” of the Sundance Film Festival next month as the famous Robert Redford-founded movie showcase alters its traditional format to meet the demands of the age of COVID-19.
From Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, Indie Memphis will host an array of Sundance-selected new films at the Malco Summer Quartet Drive-in. The slate of films is expected to be announced later this month. The screenings will be augmented by what Sundance representatives call “customized local programming” – talks, Zoom questionand-answer sessions with filmmakers, and more.
Overall, 25 states will participate in Sundance's effort to “Meet Audiences Where They Are” (to borrow the title of a news release about the strategy from the Sundance Institute).
“This is a special opportunity for the city of Memphis to take part in the most significant filmmaker launching platform in the country,” said Indie Memphis executive director Ryan Watt, in a statement.
“Our audience loved the Summer Drive-in during our recent film festival,” Watt continued, “and we are so grateful to Malco for making it available again for this special occasion.”
The drive-in was the most popular of several outdoor venues that hosted movies during the 22nd annual Indie Memphis Film Festival, which ran Oct. 21-29, and which anticipated the Sundance strategy by programming a mix of online and outdoor events, to comply with the health and safety protocols that have been recommended to inhibit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
With the possible exception of Cannes, Sundance is likely the most familiar film festival event in the world to most Americans.
Tracing its origins to 1978, the festival – which takes its name from the outlaw character played by co-founder Redford in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” – is traditionally held in Park City, Utah, and has become one of the world's most influential showcases and marketplaces for so-called independent cinema.
Sundance, in fact, was crucial to the careers of Memphis filmmakers Craig Brewer and Ira Sachs, whose made-inMemphis movies dominated the 2005 festival, making Park City an unlikely satellite to the Bluff City.
Brewer's “Hustle & Flow” won the Audience Award in drama and sold to Paramount and MTV in a then-record $16 million package, while Sachs' “Forty Shades of Blue” won the Grand Jury Prize in drama.
Some other movies that made their debuts at Sundance include Steven Soderbergh's “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” Quentin Tarantino's “Reservoir Dogs,” and Jordan Peele's “Get Out.”
The satellite venue program is part of what the nonprofit Sundance Institute describes as a “custom-designed” response to the challenges of the pandemic.
While not every Sundance premiere will be made available on the satellite screens, all 70-plus features will debut at designated times online, at festival.sundance.org. Short films, edgy “New Frontier” works and other films also will be made available online.
“The Sundance team has consulted with artists, worked with incredible partners, and built a plan to welcome new audiences and capture a true Festival spirit,” said Sundance Institute executive director Keri Putnam.