The Sundance Type
Many movies are submitted to Sundance Film festival every year, and every year a few are chosen to be screened at one of the most well known festivals in the country. Those lucky few films are placed in competition with each other and being judged by a jury and the audience. A movie made on a 1.2 million dollar budget could lose to a movie made on an 8 million dollar budget. So herein lies the question, what is the type of film that could be successful at Sundance. In past Sundance competitions, movies that are thought of as either gritty, controversial or in some cases, obscene tend to do well at Sundance. Though a lot of Sundance movies might not fit that particular mold the films may simply provide a new perspective on a hot topic (Waiting for Superman, 2010), or present a new and inventive way of filmmaking (The Blair Witch Project, 1998). Movies such as Clerks (1994) Sex,Lies and a Videotape (1989) and Resevoir Dogs (1992) , to name a few, have each won awards at Sundance and have been successful in the mainstream media propelling their directors into their new careers as filmmakers. These movies were unique and compelling enough to be premiered at a festival and find success after the initial screening at the festival, but what makes this a Sundance movie? This is a problematic question because there is such a broad spectrum of films to choose from, the festival cannot describe the movie; it is the broad variety of new ideas and films that make the festival itself. That is why a comedy like clerks may win one year and drama like Beasts of the Southern Wild will win another. The festival does not make the movie the movies make the festival. Other festivals tend to have a set genre or tone for the movies they show, with Sundance there is no constant other than the unique quality subject matter and new material they bring to the table. By:Joel Powe