With Sundance 2018, a festival reaches to meet the moment
Yes, there are still movies at the Sundance Film Festival.
But the 2018 edition of the preeminent indie film showcase, which kicks off Thursday night in Park City, Utah, also will be dealing with a moment of tumultuous upheaval and uncertainty in the culture. Multiple moments, to be more exact.
The mechanics of the entertainment industry are in a state of flux; traditional distributors continue to grapple with streaming services such as Netflix, which last year won the festival’s top prize, and they are all trying to figure out the best ways to deliver movies to audiences without going broke.
Last year, Sundance was concurrent with the presidential inauguration and unfolded within a politically charged atmosphere that included a highly publicized women’s march. This year will likely be marked by an air of continued defiance and resistance — including the Respect Rally Park City march scheduled for Saturday morning — as the world enters Trump Year Two.
But mostly, this festival will be tinged by the ongoing fallout of sexual harassment and abuse scandals that have rocked the world of entertainment and sent shock waves across other industries. Harvey Weinstein was at that Sundance women’s march last year.
Festival organizers remain upbeat that a single film festival in a small mountain town in Utah can nevertheless take in all that is coming its way.
“It’s the mood of change,” said festival director John Cooper. “It’s not frightening, it’s not down, it’s a little bit of chaos, but it’s sort of inspiring at the same time. Things are actually changing in the world around us — where the feeling before was that we know what’s wrong and nothing changes. It’s kind of nice that a lot of the movies we’re showing are fitting into that chaos.”
In a tangible response to concerns over sexual harassment and abuse, the festival has created a new code of conduct for attendees, available on the Sundance website and app, and, in partnership with the Utah attorney general’s office, established a 24-hour live hotline to report any violations.
“We have a responsibility to our community and we want our community to feel as comfortable as possible at the festival,” Cooper said. “We’re not taking safety for granted and we’re taking a real responsibility around it.”
Filmmakers feel it too, and many seem prepared for the complicated, perhaps conflicting moods of the festival.
Playing in the Documentary Premieres section of the festival is “RBG” directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen. The film looks at Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from her groundbreaking work in defining gender discrimination law through the recent surge in visibility that earned her the nickname “Notorious RBG.” (Ginsburg is scheduled to attend the festival.)
“I cannot imagine the stars aligning in any better way than this film about this woman by a team of women filmmakers playing this year,” Cohen said. “Having it emerge at a time when the country at large and the film industry in particular is giving serous and well deserved thought to the need for women to speak out and stand up for their rights, it’s pretty awesome.”
“This is a turning point moment for women in this country,” said West, “and I think her story provides a great context to all of this.”
Source:- http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-sundance-sexual-misconduct-trump-rbg-20180118-story.html
