Sundance: What Happened?
In 1978 an offbeat film school graduate named Sterling Van Wagenen came up with a plan to help independent filmmakers reach wider audiences with their projects. The idea was to lure Hollywood's business elite to the mountains, where the Utah/US Film Festival would screen a retrospective of classic American cinema, hold panel discussions, and host a friendly competition.
Wagenen ran the festival haphazardly, and after the first year the board found itself $40,000 in debt. But sitting at its head was Lola Redford, Robert's wife and Wagenen's cousin. And over the next ten years helped grow the festival's name and move it from Salt Lake City to Park City, where Sundance still resides. And then, in 1988, a Park City bus driver named Steven Soderbergh screened his first film, sex, lies and videotape, sparking a studio bidding war and transformed an eccentric rural film festival into Hollywood's least-kept secret.
Nowadays, millions of dollars change hands over hot cocoa in ski lodges, all in the hopes that studios will release the next Little Miss Sunshine. This week marks the 30th anniversary of Sundance, and a lot has changed.
