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Distribution or Why I'm staying home next year By Lee Fearnside When I signed up to volunteer for the Sundance Film Festival in January, I expected to be amazed by the cinematic innovation and impressed by the institution that has supported independent cinema for 19 years. While there were some great films, I was more struck by the encroachment of the studio establishment than that independent spirit. It was as if L.A. had moved to Park City, Utah The Sundance Film Festival was founded in 1981 by Robert Redford in order to "enhance the artistic vitality of American film," to provide a place where "inspiration and discussion lead to action." It started as a celebration, as a way to show and see films that aren't usually distributed or supported by the Hollywood studio system. The Sundance Institute also sponsors Labs in the summer, intensive learning and collaborative sessions for screenwriters, film composers and producers. All very admirable, but from my lowly perspective the Film Festival has lost its celebratory quality and become all about getting distribution. I'm not trying to say that I think those who bring their film to Sundance hoping to get distribution are selling out. On the contrary, I believe that artists should get paid for their efforts. In an era where almost all public funding for the arts has been cut and slashed, and the studios are only interested in films that are predictably marketable, the only way for first-time filmmakers to make films are usually to finance it themselves; which virtually guarantees that filmmaking remains in the hands of the privileged. So in theory having Sundance as a venue for those non-traditional films to connect with interested distributors is great. But what Sundance calls independent is a little questionable. Can you really call a film with Martin Scorsese's name attached to it independent from the studio system? Or films starring Ethan Hawke or Ben Affleck? The films that get the most aggressive support, shown in the big theaters in the prime time slots, and placed in the front of the catalog, are the Premieres--movies that, for the most part, already have distribution or are guaranteed distribution with the big star names attached to them. It's enough to make all of us starving artists bitter. There is also concern that Sundance will outgrow itself. The festival has expanded enormously in the past few years. For example, last year there were 600 volunteers like myself, but this year they needed over 1,100. There are some beautiful theaters being used, scattered all over town. This could change in two years, as a Cineplex with 10 screens is being planned for a site just a few miles out of town. The potential crowds of 25,000 people all trying to see a film in one location is a nightmare. A Park City local, for all that they live in a tourist town that makes big bucks off the film festivals, hates those two weeks in January. Posters and pamphlets get plastered on any and every surface, irritating business owners and town management so much that they impose a $1,000 fine for unauthorized postering. One can only imagine the chaos when the Olympics are thrown into the mix. As much as I enjoyed volunteering and did see some wonderful quality independent films, I'll be staying far away from Park City in 2002. Lee Fearnside is a photographer in Boston, Mass. She is a graduate of Smith College.
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