TOMORRO W’S HITS—TODAY
20 years after a landmark movie lineup, Sundance promises more potential game-changers
Two decades ago, the Sundance Film Festival was a relatively small event that catered to locals and cinephiles, along with anyone who happened to be skiing in Park City, Utah, in January.
But the Class of ’94 helped change all that, which is why it’s being celebrated with a 20thanniversary event at this year’s festival, kicking off Thursday.
Director Steven Soderbergh, 1989’s valedictorian, first put the festival on the map with “Sex, Sex Lies and Videotape.” eotap And 1992’s class clown, Quentin Tarantino, Tara brought more mor attention with his explosive e debut, “Reservoir “Re Dogs.”
But they both set the stage for Kevin Smith, Sm who arrived two years later with “Clerks.” “Cl Smith’s ana anarchic, black-andwhite comedy, made for $27,000, won the Filmmaker Fil Trophy at Sundance, raucously co expanded the th concept of independent pe filmmaking, in and went on to earn ea millions.
The 1994 fest also brought “Spanking the Monkey,” the irreverent debut of director David O. Russell (who went on to make “Silver Linings Playbook” and “American Hustle”). And Steve James unfurled his first film, “Hoop Dreams,” which became one of the highest-grossing — and most acclaimed — documentaries of all time.
Since the early ’90s, Sundance has launched countless cult hits (“Slacker,” “The Blair Witch Project”) and Oscar favorites (“Precious,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild”) alike.
This year’s festival, which runs through Jan. 26, is packed with promising titles we’re all likely to be talking about soon.
It’s no surprise that many of the most intriguing movies come from SFF alumni. “Hoop Dreams” director James, for example, is back with the sure-to-be-compelling “Life Itself,” a biography about the late film critic Roger Ebert.
Jim Jarmusch was at Sundance way back in 1985, with his breakthrough hit, “Stranger Than Paradise.” Now he’s returning with “Only Lovers Left Alive,” in which Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston play vampires who’ve been observing humanity for centuries.
David Wain and Michael Showalter premiered their still-beloved comedy “Wet Hot American Summer” at Sundance in 2001. Much to the delight of, well, everyone, they’re reuniting with that film’s stars — Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni — for the romantic spoof “They Came Together.”
Another SFF regular worth watching out for is Lynn Shelton (“Your Sister’s Sister”), making her fourth trip to the festival with the romantic dramedy “Laggies,” featuring Keira Knightley, Chloe Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell. And Zach Braff, who found directorial success at 2004’s fest with “Garden State,” brings his controversially Kickstarted “Wish I Was Here,” in which he also stars.
Among the first-timers, Justin Simien is already building buzz for his culturally charged collegiate satire “Dear White People,” while Peter Sattler was incredibly fortunate to get Kristen Stewart to star in his debut, the Guantanamo Bay-set “Camp X-Ray.”
All that said, the great beauty of Sundance is that the winners usually emerge unexpectedly, catching everyone by surprise. The truth is, we don’t yet know who the It-Kids will be. And that’s what makes this festival so exciting.
“Clerks,” “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Little Miss Sunshine” each arrived an underdog and left a superhero. Just four years ago, director Debra Granik won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for “Winter’s Bone,” setting her and her little-known star, Jennifer Lawrence, on the path to the Academy Awards.
So here’s hoping that 20 years from now, we’ll all be feting the game-changing members of the Class of ’14 — including the ones we haven’t even heard of yet.