Comments on: Sundance Roadshow

By: Patrick Gabridge

Patrick Gabridge — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:15:33 +0000

Thanks for posting this. I’m in Brookline and the Coolidge is a great resource for film lovers, so it’ll be fun to have a Sundance event here (especially for those of us who can’t make the trip out to Utah).

By: Garth

Garth — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:57:48 +0000

I think saying people line up to see a movie at a film festival but refuse to drive to see the same movie when it is in wide release is because the film festival audience just wants to be ‘the first to see something’ is an over-generalization. I attend many film festivals, and sometimes get to see a movie’s first release at the festival and then again at my nearby theatre. The film festival audience is inherently different: We’re cinephiles, and we (probably arrogantly and somewhat conceitedly) talk about the mood, the writing, the directing. We want to see the movie with people of like mind. There is no guarantee we will get that when it comes to the nearby theatre. As you stated, I am often one of two or three people, and there is something about a critical mass that helps make the event enjoyable. Or worse yet, I am one of three hundred people all there just to see the latest ‘indie’ film because it is trendy. They cannot talk about other films by the same director, or writer, or producer, or even in the same genre because they just do not know about them.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:38:13 +0000

I’m in Nashville, and I LOVE this. Last year Moon, Tetro, and another Sundance movie that I don’t recall, ran for a brief time at the Belcourt and I didn’t get a chance to see them. I will definitely be at this.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:59:12 +0000

Good idea. Sundance over the years has become the embodiment of everything it was started as a rebellion against (big money, studio execs, flashy celeb premieres); spreading out the venues in a way that makes it possible for actual human beings to see the movies will go a long way toward returning it to its populist roots.

But yeah, why not the Arclight?

By: Ashley at Selling Your Screenplay

Ashley at Selling Your Screenplay — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:50:36 +0000

What a great idea. I totally agree that half the fun is seeing something before everyone else and actually being in on that bit of discovery. I bet most of these screenings will sell out.

I wonder if they could even expand it to 20 or 50 or even 100 cities and theaters and turn it into a form of distribution. Certainly the Sundance brand could fill theaters in lots of cities around the country.

By: Ryan Clausen

Ryan Clausen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:10:55 +0000

I would have liked to see Seattle get some Sundance love. The indie scene is growing pretty rapidly up here with Humpday, a Seattle film by a Seattle film maker, screening at the 09 Sundance and securing a nice distribution deal.

By: Jonathan K

Jonathan K — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:42:45 +0000

Hi Toby,

They're doing the Downtown Independent this year. You might have missed it because it accidentally appears on the same line as Chicago.

By: Toby

Toby — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:50:10 +0000

This is great news for indie film, if it works. I remember Salt Lake City screenings being less than packed last time I was up there. Maybe it's a case of not being far enough.

And the Arclight maybe... but perhaps a more likely future LA venue might be the Downtown Independent where Sundance held their shorts event this summer: downtownindependent.com. It's a great venue and has a real indie atmosphere that I think fits the Sundance vibe well.

By: Phil Nelson

Phil Nelson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:25:20 +0000

The fact that it’s coming to Michigan does my midwestern heart good.