We’ve been attending the Sundance Stone Festival in Park City for – cough – over 20 years. It was the first major film festival we covered as a working journalist and it always held a special place in our heart. Yes, it’s almost always insanely cold. Horrifyingly cold. And, whether as an attendee, press, or industry, the fight for public tickets was often disheartening and discouraging. So much so that you might question your self-worth in the industry. But, at its height, there was almost nothing like the Sundance Film Festival in Park City. It was the center of the film universe for one glorious weekend. Year in and year out. You had to be there.
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Seriously, if you were trying to get into the entertainment business, make a movie, and find your tribe in the American movie industry, you had to be in Park City. Aspirational directors, actors, writers, producers – you name it – would “crash” Sundance. Half the people you ran into were sleeping on the floors of condos and hotel rooms, just to try to sneak into a party or a sponsored lounge on the chance they might meet someone to boost their career. The irony, of course, was that they were probably standing next to that same person in line at a coffee shop on Melrose the week prior, but still, it was a thing. All you would hear for weeks prior was “Are you going to Sundance?” That changed dramatically in the early 2010s, when the City of Park City started putting restrictions on the events that could occur on Main Street (and a sea change in film school graduates all of a sudden deciding their dream was to work in television). But for a minute, maybe a good 15 years, maybe even longer, Park City was the place to be in January.
The festival itself is where new auteurs and stars were born. Main Street is where you went to get attention. If you were a B or C-level celebrity, the paparazzi would follow you up and down that hill like you were a superstar. No matter the weather, no matter what was going on. It was a scene. And the one celebrity that defined what Park City was at its decadent height (and no doubt this will make the Sundance Institute shiver that anyone would dream of writing this or even speaking it out loud) was, yes, Paris Hilton.
Hilton was everywhere in this era. When she showed up at a party, it was a thing. She captured the zeitgeist of the Sundance party and gifting suite era (an era full of free refrigerators, designer ski jackets, or Schwinn bicycles for those famous enough). Perfect considering she never appeared in a film selected by the festival or Slamdance for that matter (although we do remember a promotional event for “The Hottie and the Nautie” in 2008). Outside the screenings, in Park City proper, Sundance was a marketer’s dream. And Hilton was all about that life.
For a good number of years, it all sort of worked out. Films got the exposure they needed. New stars who were bursting on the scene because of the film festival would go to these lounges and enter the sphere of more established stars. It was a unique ecosystem that gave birth to buzzworthy films and spotlighted new talent. And to an extent, after the locals threw down the hammer, SXSW took that batand, but Austin still hasn’t reached the height of peak Park City. Not yet, anyway.
The hope – a minor hope – for the festival is that going to Boulder, Colorado, a year from now, will help bolster what Sundance was. It’s been very obvious, for quite a long time, that the city of Park City did not want the festival there. No matter what they said publicly, no matter how integral it was to putting their town on the global map. But, as we prepare to head up to snowy Utah one last time, here are some memories we’ll absolutely never forget. That we had to document. Y’know, for the culture.
The Beastie Boys concert
It was 2006, and the trio was in Park City for the world premiere of their doc “Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!” They performed in a multipurpose two-story longe at a snow resort near or part of The Lodge at Mountain Village. It was the hottest non-screening ticket of the fest, there was barely any press allowed, and the head of the now-defunct TH!INKFilm snuck me in. The boys were already over the promotional marketing efforts surrounding the fest at the time.
When docs were hot
There was a moment when the documentaries were as hyped as the narrative premieres. Al Gore was a superstar walking around town for “An Inconvenient Truth.” If you didn’t see “Man on a Wire” or “March of the Penguins,” did you actually go to the fest? “Super Size Me” turned Morgan Spurlock into an indie darling overnight. Were you there for Edward Snowden’s video appearance after “Citizenfour”? Did you experience the euphoria of the “Twenty Feet From Stardom” premiere at Eccles?
Motorola sponsored the hottest club in Park City
We’re not sure how they were legally allowed to stay open and serve alcohol as late as they did, but no party space ever matched the pop-up Motorola sponsored next to the Library Theater. It had the biggest dance floor we’ve ever seen in Park City, the best light system, and the best vibes (although that wasn’t a term back then). After sitting through four movies in a day, it was an escape. We can’t remember when it disappared but it was gone by at least 2010. We do have fond memories, though, of watching a wasted [redacted] dancing his ass off after their movie became the hottest acquisition title in 2008.
The flyers
Even deep into the internet era, filmmakers, especially those of short films, would promote their screenings on posters that would be plastered or stapled up and down Main Street. Many would have friends hand out mini-posters or cards promoting their films. This was also a big thing for Slamdance filmmakers desperate for any attention they could get. Of course, many of the Sundance directors’ films were already at sold-out screenings, but it was good on-the-ground marketing you never see at the fest anymore.
When the Gays ruled Main Street
From 2003 to 2009, one of the hottest places to be was the Queer Lounge, which was co-sponsored by GLAAD for most of its run. Like most makeshift lounges, there would be events during the day (Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor held a hilarious press conference for “I Love You Phillip Morris”) and fun post-premiere parties, full of Salt Lake City gays who drove up for the night. You never knew who you’d see there. There were other LGBTQ+ centric lounges over the years, and the HRC Sunday brunch was always a thing (a bit of a bore considering how hard it was to get on the list), but the Queer Lounge was top tier. Never understood why it went away. Always felt like there was still a need for it in the 2010s.
