In Stanley Kubrick's 1968 classic "2001: A Space Odyssey," HAL 9000, the super computer with a mind of its own, is said to have had its genesis in January 1992.
Somehow, it seems fitting that the first Park City screening of the Sundance Film Festival - in January 1992 - was "2001," shown in the Egyptian Theater at 10 a.m. Friday.Fitting because this festival is always about beginnings; about young, new directors introducing their movies to audiences for the first time; about the birth of new films - and perhaps new directions in film.
"Independent film is really flourishing," says Alberto Garcia, who programs the competition films, "because it offers something different than what's on television or what you see in a studio-produced film. It's just something different, and there are times when people do want that `something different' experience."
There are 15 documentaries and 17 dramatic films in the competition this year, whittled down from 250 entries. "I find that really hard to believe, yet when I counted up the entry forms it was around that number. That's much more than we expected. On the last day we got this flood of films that poured in. Up until then we thought it was a light year, that we wouldn't get as many as last year."
There are 77 films in the festival this year, according to program director Geoffrey Gilmore, made up of competition films, special screenings, etc. And that number includes 27 world premieres and 13 U.S. premieres.
Highlights are expected to be Steven Soderbergh's "Kafka," starring Jeremy Irons; films by Zhang Yi-mou, including "Ju Dou" and his latest, "Raise the Red Lantern"; Denzel Washington in "Mississippi Masala"; and the usual assortment of unexpected pleasures provided by documentary and dramatic films in competition.
The festival continues through Sunday, Jan. 26, in Park City, with special screenings at the Tower The ater in Salt Lake City and the Sundance Screening Room at Sundance in Provo Canyon. For festival information phone 328-FILM (3456); for ticket information phone 322-1700.
- TIM ROTH, the British actor who starred in "Vincent & Theo" (as Vincent van Gogh), didn't make it to Park City last year when that film was a festival premiere.
But Roth will be here this year, with no less than two films in the dramatic competition - the character drama "Jumpin at the Boneyard" and the ensemble caper comedy "Reservoir Dogs."
They are his first and second American films, respectively, and required him to try on American accents for the first time. Two very different accents.
For "Jumpin at the Boneyard" he had to get down the specific sound of a native of the Bronx. "The first time it was very scary to do," Roth said in a telephone interview. "I wanted to be very specific with it - not just an American accent, but a particular block. When they showed it in the Bronx, the people on the street didn't know I was English. And that's a very tough audience."
Roth segued to his next film, "Reservoir Dogs," and found it required something completely different, but adds it was easier because it was more generic. "That was a California accent - and sometimes I hear New York coming through. I don't hear London at all."
Born in London, Roth first tried his hand at acting while he was studying sculpture at an art college. Auditions led to acting jobs in London's "fringe" theaters, and soon he was making British TV movies. "I never trained for it. I just jumped in at the right time. Learning on the job is really the best training."
His first theatrical film was "The Hit," in which he played an edgy accomplice to hitman John Hurt. He followed that with diverse roles in "A World Apart," "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover," "Vincent & Theo" and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead."
Roth now lives in California, lamenting the dearth of work in his native England. "That's why I'm here. And it's not just the film industry, it's working in general. It's very tough on people now, the recession. And the arts are one of the first things to get hit.
"The place I'd like to live is in New York, but even in New York the film industry is a tough time. But here in California - they're all here.
"That's one of the reasons I wanted to go to the Sundance Film Festival. It must be one of the most interesting in the world. It's a big deal, a big congregation of filmmakers."
Roth is excited about the two films he has in the festival, both by first-time directors. Of "Jumpin at the Boneyard," he said, "It's a street story about two brothers, one of whom is a crack addict who's been on the street for three years. And he comes back to rip off his brother's apartment. And his brother (Roth's role) takes him on a sort of journey around the neighborhood. It's a very rough film, but it's a very good story."
Of "Reservoir Dogs," he says, "It's a heist movie, a jewelry heist that goes wrong. It's incredible. It really doesn't look like a first film. Everybody is a character. It's incredibly violent and very funny. It's done very realistically, but it's extraordinarily funny."
Roth says he likes working for young, new directors. "These were two scripts that I really, really loved when I read them. I was in Australia making a film and they sent it (`Jumpin at the Boneyard') to me, and then I started to talk to the director on the phone. He offered it to me on the phone, without ever meeting me, which was very brave, to put an English actor in his first film."
"Reservoir Dogs" came through his agent, "but I didn't want to do the character they wanted me to do. So, I bullied them into letting me do the one I wanted to do.
"They're very brave because they're new, and I get the feeling that they wouldn't take that risk further down the line. After a few movies they're more wary. They're still taking risks because they haven't the pressure of high finance.
"Those are the people I'm always trying to seek out. I've been lucky in America. I've done two films where their heart was really in the right place. And I think that's what most actors are looking for."