While film festivals, with a promising mix of prestige projects, indie hopefuls and surprise contenders all hoping to get on their feet, are always a thrilling time for cinephiles, the truth is, unless you’re a film critic or blogger, you’re usually relegated to watching it unfold from the sidelines.
Well, staring this January, festival organizers at the Sundance Film Festival will work at bringing the feel of the event closer to home for film lovers around the country. In a rather intriguing initiative, festival organizers have announced “Sundance Film Festival USA” that will bring films and events to eight cities on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 in the midst of the ongoing happenings in Park City. According to festival founder Robert Redford, the aim of the event is “to ignite dialogue as people across the country engage in a collective film experience.”
The cities (listed below) will take part in the one day event that will feature exclusive screenings of select festival films, the titles of which will be unveiled in December with the rest of the Sundance lineup. Meanwhile, in Park City that night, Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’ documentary, “The Shock Doctrine,” based on the critically acclaimed non-fiction book by Naomi Klein will be unveiled. The screening will be followed by what is sure to be a fascinating conversation with Winterbottom, Whitecross, Klein and Redford.
We applaud this project by the Sundance folk as, particularly in a critical time for independent film and theater going in general, this is a great way to give exposure to small films, strike up interest in original filmmaking, and bring the festival spirit to those who can’t make it the picturesque slopes of Utah.
Participating cities and theaters:
• Ann Arbor, Mich. — Michigan Theater
• Brookline, Mass. — Coolidge Corner Theatre
• Brooklyn, N.Y. — BAM
• Chicago — Music Box Theatre
• Los Angeles — Downtown Independent
• Madison, Wisc. — Sundance Cinemas Madison
• Nashville — The Belcourt Theatre
• San Francisco — Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
