As consumers of media, we should ALL be rushing in to the theaters demanding to be thrilled, delighted, and informed by these incredible films.
Some people might think that this festival is for people who like "artsy-fartsy" stuff, or that the films submitted are "low-budget". Both of these statements are false. While Sundance may include many films that are more enjoyed by those with a taste for the "art of film", that is NOT what it is there for.
These filmmakers spend a lot of time and a lot of their own hard-earned money to express themselves and to make a film that can enjoyed the way it was meant to be. In other words, before some production company gets a hold of it and rips it to shreds and sands it down and removes any edge so that it fits a standard, boring template for the "mass consumer". Why do so many movies suck right now? It's partly because the directors have no vision. Well Sundance is the unequivocal solution to that.
I went last night and participated in something extraordinary. Joseph Gorgon-Leavitt himself hosted an event, the likes of which I have not seen before. It was a live event, a film showcase, and a social digital media extravaganza. This... was... insane... (I'll admit, the pictures aren't great... They were taken with my cell phone. From the balcony.)
"Regular Joe", as he calls himself, came out on stage and encouraged everyone to tweet their answers to various questions so he could read them live and invite the person up to explain themselves. The opening sequence of the presentation included the following: "We encourage everyone to please turn... ON your electronic and recording devices! He invited hoards of people up to sing karaoke, to read passages from short story books, and even just to chat. He was such a sharp, amiable guy and had so much energy! He even played his guitar and sang some songs (which were not technically public domain songs, but he said... well, he said he was going to play them anyway because he wanted to.)
Joe's .org, HitRecord, is a social filmmaking website where everyone submits content and everyone particiaptes in making a film. Someone in Bangladesh may have written the script, but you can write the soundtrack so that someone in Topeka can do the animation or acting. Then he played them all at this event and encouraged us to film them and film him and post it all back onto his website so that other could make something out of it!
This idea of social filmmaking is just so very cool. It's like Youtube meets the public domain meets twitter meets Sundance. Oh, and the whole time we were watching it live? Guess what was being broadcast for free on Sundance.org? The very broadcast of what we were participating in. Go, see for yourself! There's already stuff being posted! I may even be in it! Check out hitrecord.org. Trust me, It's cool.
Anyway, my point in all this is that you don't go to Sundance to watch a movie. We have theaters for that. you go to Sundance to have an experience. Sometimes even a life-changing one. I met directors, actors, students, sound people, and good old fashioned movie-lovers. It was well worth the fifteen dollars and the drive up and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
So, consider this my tirade/ invitation for those of you who have never been. My eyes were opened to the awesomeness that is the Sundance Film Festival. My only regret is that I didn't participate in it more this year. At least there's next January, right?
