Sundance Runs On Self-Congratulatory Hype
The Sundance Film Festival opens tonight, in Park City, Utah. Nick James, editor of Sight and Sound, has it about right when he says: ‘Sundance is an important focal flashpoint for a U.S. indie industry that is currently under real strain. You could argue that this makes the festival more important than ever. But there is also a sense that the good films are no longer getting through in the way they once were, and that the festival and the industry are locked together in a symbiotic relationship that runs on a kind of self-congratulatory hype. It’s a moot point that most of the small films [that play at the festival] will never actually find a platform.’
