Ten years ago, when the Sundance Institute took over what was then the United States Film Festival, only about 400 people showed up, according to Robert Redford during his annual press conference last weekend.
The punchline, of course, came as Redford added that the 1994 Sundance Film Festival had sold tickets to 6,000 patrons - and he was referring strictly to those from outside Utah, largely film industry folk and journalists.Precisely how many people from around the state have been attending festival screenings is harder to pinpoint, of course. But in all, some 65,000 seats have been filled during the 10-day event, up about 10 percent from last year.
Festival program director Geoffrey Gilmore has noted that the seating capacity for screenings is up from 70,000 last year to 93,000 this year, with expanded programming at some Park City venues, as well as supplementary showings in the Sundance Institute Screening Room at the Sundance Resort and at the Tower Theater in Salt Lake City.
Still, it's not enough.
With the festival's popularity continuing to grow, more and more people want to come every year - especially those from out of state. And since one of the main reasons for the festival is to help independent filmmakers find a distribution avenue for their movies, there's nothing wrong with that.
But every year it gets harder and harder for locals to get into the films they want to see, and quite a few regular festivalgoers have told me they are beginning to wonder if it's worth the trouble. Especially the effort of heading up to Park City for a film that is sold out, hoping to be high enough on the waiting list to get in.
Even the press had trouble getting into some movies this year, with tickets for the Coen brothers' "Hudsucker Proxy" and Ben Stiller's "Reality Bites" being especially hard-to-get items. I was approached a couple of times by people offering inflated prices for specific movie tickets. (And I wondered if they would have been scalped on the street for an even higher price!)
In a way, it's ironic that the festival's final day each year is Super Bowl Sunday. Here in Park City, tickets for some festival films have been as hot as tickets to the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, here are some observations and musings about Festival '94.
- Festival organizers learned something from last year's Redford press conference at Sundance. TV cameras, which blocked Redford from the view of all the other journalists in the room, were moved off to the side this year.
- Houston Chronicle critic Joe Leydon got a big laugh when he introduced himself during Redford's press conference by saying, "I'm the one who liked `Havana.' " He then added a wry twist: "It was in all the ads."
- It was surprising to see how many celebrities were at the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 23 and then showed up in Park City the next week - Matthew Modine, Joan Chen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Illeana Douglas and winner of the best supporting actress award (for "The Age of Innocence"), Winona Ryder.
- On the other hand, Robert Redford, recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, did not attend the Golden Globes. (And neither did Tommy Lee Jones, winner of the best supporting actor award for "The Fugitive." Jones was not a festival participant but couldn't accept the award because he was "filming in Utah.")
- Actor Matthew Modine, whose first solo directing effort premiered in the festival (a short called "Smoking," and for which he took the billing "Matthew Avery Modine"), was also on the dramatic competition jury this year. He said he was initially puzzled about being asked to be on the jury. "But people who know the Sundance Institute have told me, `They are recognizing you as a filmmaker now, and not just an actor.' And I'm quite flattered by that."
- During the Native American sidebar screenings, it was noted that there has never been a feature-length narrative film directed by an American Indian. The sidebar itself proved that the talent is out there, however.
- Do you suppose Ian Hart is getting typecast - as John Lennon? He played Lennon in the festival entry "Hours and Times" a couple of years ago and played Lennon again in this year's world premiere of "Backbeat."
- Interesting stats: Ten of the 18 premiere films marked first or second features by filmmakers. There were nine world premieres and six U.S. premieres among the movies shown each day. And of the more than 60 short films, 30 were directed by women.
- It was also quite an international year, with 33 features produced outside the United States and a much higher ratio of good European, Latin American and Asian films than usual.
- As Geofrey Gilmore himself observed in a Variety article, of the 375 films submitted for festival consideration, "There was a lot more unconventional work submitted to us this year, darker and definitely more nihilistic." And of the more than 90 features shown, there were quite a few that were disturbing and quite violent, including "Fun," "I Love a Man in Uniform" and "Killing Zoe." What was that about "family values"?
- Several favorites emerged during the week of the festival, among them some charming and uplifting independent competition efforts, including "blessing," "Colorado Cowboy: The Bruce Ford Story," "Martha & Ethel," "Clerks," "Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey" and "Nina Takes a Lover."
- "Hoop Dreams," an ambitious, nearly 3-hour documentary about two high school basketball stars and what happened to them over the course of five years, was also a favorite, and received an extra boost from the "Siskel & Ebert" TV program. Chicago critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert raved about the film on their show during the festival's first weekend, adding that the only place it could be seen was at Sundance.
- Am I the only one who finds it difficult to get from the Egyptian Theater to the Prospector Square Theater in time to catch shows that follow each other? Why is there only a 2-hour window between screenings in those theaters?
- Filmmaker Bethany Yarrow, whose documentary "Mama Awethu!" was in the competition (she's the daughter of Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul & Mary fame), took up residence in Deer Valley during the festival. So how come she didn't stay in that Park City hotel . . . the Yarrow?
- Screenwriter Richard Curtis, whose "Four Weddings and a Funeral" opened the festival, said Andie MacDowell's character was based on Katharine Hepburn's old movies. "The modern equivalent of Kate Hepburn would sleep around and swear, but as it was, she was just rude to her parents and wore pants."
- Director Alan Jacobs, whose "Nina Takes a Lover" was a late entry in the dramatic competition, introduced a 9:40 a.m. showing of his film this way: "Welcome to the `Red-Eye' screening of `Nina Takes a Lover.' "
- The most enjoyable background scores among the dramatic films were clearly for "Nina Takes a Lover" and "Where the Rivers Flow North." Quite a number of people were asking if soundtrack albums would be released for those features. (Some shorts had great music too, Rob Morrow's "Silent Alarm," Peter Weller's "Partners" and Matthew Modine's "Smoking.")
- "The Chase," with Robert Redford in one of his first film roles, was conspicuously absent from the Arthur Penn retrospective. If you rent it, you'll find out why.
- When festival tickets went on sale Jan. 8 in three Salt Lake locations, there were also Pocket Screening Schedule Guides on the counters for the Sundance Institute's Cinematheque series of classic films. Too bad the guides were for December!
- A flyer for something called "Alfred Packer: The Musical," shown at the Yarrow for one night only, carried this ad line: "In the tradition of `Friday the 13th, Part II,' and `Oklahoma!' " It was almost enough to make a blurry-eyed critic curious enough to drop by. Almost.
- On stage at a microphone, following the Thursday night premiere of "The Hudsucker Proxy," filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen said the film was influenced by Howard Hawks' classic "His Girl Friday," in particular for the fast-talking, hard-nosed reporter played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. The next comment came from someone in the first row who asked Leigh what she based her character on, since he felt it was so original. Perplexed by audience laugher, he added, "I've never seen anything like it!"
- A personal note of thanks to the unsung heroes of the press room - Saundra, Pam, Kathleen, Amy, Tracey, etc. - who put up with petulant journalists and filmmakers with amazing grace and aplomb. See you next year.