Sundance is one of the parts of the year I look forward to the most. For eleven years now, I've been flying to Park City, Utah to dig into their slate of films, and I've been lucky enough to get early looks at everything from CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, to GET OUT, BOYHOOD, THE RAID: REDEMPTION and it's sequel THE RAID 2 and beyond. However, like many other fests, they're being forced to grapple with the on-going challenges of COVID-19, and while it's too early to say what things will be like in January 2021, new festival director Tabitha Jackson revealed an ambitious new program is being planned.
So far the program includes on-site screenings, an online presence, and most intriguingly of all, satellite screenings in theaters nationwide, while the festival's start date has been pushed to January 28th, largely due to how close it happens to the U.S Presidential Inauguration. As Jackson stated in an email sent to the media this morning,
"The 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be a grand partnership of communities. It will take place live in Utah and in at least 20 independent and community cinemas across the U.S. and beyond. Utah has been the home of the Festival for close to 40 years and always will be, but the 2021 Festival will extend beyond Utah and will be co-created by and for different communities in different locations, preserving what is magical about experiencing films on the big screen with others — even if at a smaller and socially distanced scale.
While the full program plays out in Utah, each of our partners will host a bespoke slate from the official selection alongside complementary programming of their own. Their communities acting as vibrant hubs of creativity, maker culture, and adventurous audiences. This plan acknowledges the vital role of the independent cinema network in our ecosystem. We are in exploratory discussions with cinemas from LA to Louisville, from New York to Nashville, from Austin to Atlanta, from Detroit to Denver, from Minneapolis to Mexico City — with many more to come.
At the center of all our planning, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival will have an online home, making the festival accessible in a way it never has been before. Audiences will have the opportunity to view the curated program and take part in discussions and special live events online via a brand-new platform. This will be the nucleus of the Festival, a showcase for a world of new work, and home to a global community of festivalgoers who will encounter the art, the artists, and each other. A one-stop point of access, designed to create a participatory experience which brings all the elements and locations of the Festival together. It will center our values of engagement, inclusion, and entertainment, and connect artists with the first audiences as their work meets the world. All this in a way that captures the energy and excitement that has long defined the Sundance Film Festival."
I'll say this, no matter what form it happens in, I'll be there to deliver reviews. Kudos to them for having the foresight to plan ahead. It's going to be a tough road ahead for festivals, and even movies themselves in general, but I'm glad Sundance, along with TIFF which just announced it's own revised format, are continuing on.