It's about the films, stupid

While most of the world looks upon the Sundance Film Festival as some sort of luxurious fantasy world, a place that is simultaneously focused on the big business of independent film and the glitz and glamour of celebrity that seems to follow wherever the money trail leads, the reality of the festival is something else entirely. Sundance is a place where film professionals of all stripes mix with the throngs of curiosity seekers, where worlds literally (and often unhappily) collide. As a veteran of Sundance’s almost schizophrenic 10 days (this is my seventh trip to the festival), I’ve learned to side-step the hype and flash in order to focus on the films themselves. Films which, year after year, provide surprise and discovery for those who are interested in the state of American cinema.

And so, while it is easy for star-gazing dreamers to immerse themselves in the fantasy of Sundance as a party crashing, swag-soaked orgy of commercial gluttony, the reality on the ground in Park City is something else entirely; Sundance is work.

The task that I and the innumerable Press and Industry delegates to the festival face each year is unwavering — we crowd onto city buses (the best place to meet new friends and catch up with old ones), we trudge through piles of snow that tower over our heads, we wait in long lines together and we sneak a meal in the 15-minute window between the end of one film and the start of another. All for the sake of what is on the screen. It’s the movies that matter. And my goal, and that of my fellow Programmer Holly Herrick, is to find the best films possible so that we can bring them home to the Sarasota Film Festival.

Of course, loving a film is not enough. Like any business, the independent film world is built on relationships, and with the proliferation of film festivals nearly reaching 2,000 in this country, the competition is fierce for both the films and for industry recognition.

Braving the cold and the crowds to attend Sundance is an absolutely essential part of our year, one of the few events that allows us face-to-face access to our colleagues in the industry and a great place to promote the work we’re doing in Sarasota to the film distributors, publicists, sales agents, producers and directors who are the heart and soul of the independent film business.

It has been a very successful strategy for us. As the Sarasota Film Festival grows and we take a more ambitious approach to film programming, we have become more familiar to our colleagues in the industry who, because they know and trust us, have become more and more amenable to the idea of bringing their films to our festival. These relationships, the coffees and conversations, handshakes and hugs are crucial to the success of the festival. Even films that don’t play at Sundance come to us from the relationships that we work to strengthen in Park City.

And of course, it all comes down to the movies. Industry delegates all watch films together, discuss and debate them and, most importantly, take them very seriously as both works of art and the lifeblood of the industry. In order to stay relevant (you never know which company might buy which film), we work very hard to see as many films as possible. The good, the bad and the ugly. We see them all.

Each day, the team from Sarasota gathers at the Yarrow Hotel, a private screening facility for the Press and Industry, and break off in three different directions to cover as many films as possible. Today, Friday, is the first full day of screenings. Both both Holly and I have a full schedule of six films each. They begin at 8:30 a.m. and end sometime after 11 p.m. My day so far has included two excellent documentaries (both of which we’ll try to bring to Sarasota), and I am moments away from starting my third film, with three more to see after that. In between, I have already seen many colleagues. Programmers from other film festivals with whom I trade war stories, publicists with whom I hope to work in the future, sales agents smiling with the anticipation of selling their latest "hot" film, and all of it a big help in keeping Sarasota front and center in their minds.

It’s time to go back out into the snow and head to that screening. There are hands to shake, business cards to exchange and movies, movies, movies. Celebrities? Parties? Who needs them? The film is the thing. — Tom Hall