Sundance Film Festival, adapted
Denver’s “satellite” Sie Film Center to screen titles in-person
Cinephiles, take note, the Sundance Film Festival is having its Denver premiere this week.
Last year’s version of the independent film whirlwind in Park City, Utah, ran Jan. 23 through Feb. 2 — just before the new coronavirus arrived. And maybe not even then, according to attendees who reported serious illnesses after returning. That prompted The Hollywood Reporter and others to dub it a “petri dish” for early COVID-19 infection.
This year’s event, which runs Thursday, Jan. 28, through Wednesday, Feb. 3, is mostly (and necessarily) virtual, which means the public can safely get in on more of the screenings than ever before. But titles won’t just stream online, Sundance officials said last year when announcing an expansion.
For the first time in the festival’s 43-year history, Sundance will produce satellite screenings of titles in festival competition at 20 partner locations throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico. That includes Denver Film’s Sie Film Center, which has been closed to the public for most of the last 12 months, but also indie exhibitors in Columbus, Ohio; Key West, Fla.; and
Tulsa, Okla. They’ll be showing the films in-person at the same time they premiere globally online.
The 12 films that will screen at the Sie FilmCenter have been curated specifically for the Denver market from the festival’s roughly 80 offerings, said Matthew Campbell, artistic director of Denver Film.
So what does a Denver-specific slate of films look like? There’s “Jockey,” a narrative feature that promises a new look at that profession, as well as “The Pink Cloud,” a hazy Brazilian sci-fi thriller. There’s “Sabaya,” a documentary about Yazidi women and girls being held as sex slaves by ISIS (a.k.a. Sabaya) and the attempts to liberate them.
There is not, unfortunately, an in-person screening for Colorado animator Joe Cappa’s “Ghost Dogs.” It’s one of 50 shorts selected from 9,933 short-film submissions from 27 countries, Cappa said in a press statement, and will launch his homegrown animation studio, Great Question. (Cappa’s still very excited about the Sie partnership, he added. We’ll let you know how his film does.)
Other Sie titles — “Bring Your Own Brigade,” “Cusp,” “All
Light, Everywhere” — connect to current events, such as the California wildfires and policing, but also perennial festival fare like bittersweet adolescence and familial drama.
Screenings will be available only as private bookings, modeling the Sie’s recent use as a private, indoor rental space.
Screenings can include up to 10 people and cost $600 each — or $60 per person in a full group, Campbell said. As of press time, Jan. 29’s “How It Ends” and Jan. 30’s “El Planeta” had sold out.
“It would be nice if we could have single tickets, and not have it as price-prohibitive as it can seem, but in this reality it’s just not the way we’re able to operate,” said Campbell, who helped produce a nearly all-virtual Denver International Film Fest in 2020. “Being able to have the flexibility to do this keeps us from becoming stagnant. Even as exhibitors, it’s a way to be reactive to the circumstances.”
Other exhibitors that have opened this month under Colorado’s amended Level Orange guidelines include Landmark’s Mayan Theatre and select locations of Harkins, Cinemark, AMC and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
Spending money on an in-person film experience should be special, said Keith Garcia, artistic director of the Sie FilmCenter. That’s part of why costs are what they are — about twice a normal rental rate — but they include the prestige of being one of a handful of people in the world to see that particular film premiere on the big screen, he said.
“Sundance is where films begin, with the festival always having led the film year under normal circumstances,” Garcia said. “But it’s always had that destination element. When they decided they couldn’t invite people out to Park City en masse, we were lucky to be on their radar as a partner organization. This is meant to be a special, VIP experience, because Sundance isn’t your typical film festival.”
Holding in-person screenings at the national level is meant to keep Sundance relevant in an otherwise off year. But the satellite program also will benefit
nearly two dozen independent U.S. exhibitors during a painful time. Sundance, which relies on a savvy, arthouse-invested audience as much as the industry that feeds it, sees a mutual win.
The cost is high, but there may be perks for those who can afford it: a private, professional movie screen for people in your quarantine pod (popcorn and drinks included); bragging rights; and the experience of being in a the
ater with other people, which is central to Denver Film’s mission.
“These last few months of purgatory have been tough, because if we (reopened fully) we might not be able to control the environment to make people feel comfortable enough to come back,” Campbell said. “With this Sundance partnership, we’ve found some middle ground.”