Festivals Previews

Sundance Film Festival is Virtual and Local

by Josh

Despite the best laid plans to leverage last year’s fully virtual experience and start 2022 with a hybrid in-person and online festival, this winter’s steep Omicron surge found the Sundance Film Festival again pivoting to a mostly virtual format. Once again, film lovers, journalists, and critics will be experience the annual kick-off of independent film festival season mostly from their couches.

Last year’s Sundance felt the most like “the real thing” of any of the many online festivals that I experienced. The organizers did a phenomenal job of capturing the festival energy with live premieres, Q&As, and virtual social events; so I’m hopeful that this year’s will be even better.

As I said last year, as much as this sucks for everyone who loves being in the company of other living humans, wandering the real world of quaint ski village main streets, and packing together into spaces that aren’t their own living rooms, it’s quietly a boon for the legions of film lovers who otherwise couldn’t have swung a mid-winter vacation to Park City, let alone navigating all the hoops of getting passes, tickets, or invites to events (not to mention the testing and constant vigilance required to make this work in while attempting to dodge a highly contagious respiratory pandemic). In what remains a tiny silver lining amidst all the pain and suffering, this dreadful coronavirus has democratized one of the biggest annual film events such that almost anyone in the US can relatively easily get themselves online, see what looks good, grab a ticket, and experience the bustling world of independent film.  

Opening night is Thursday January 20th, with about a dozen time-limited premiere screenings running through each day until the Monday the 24th.

Tickets and Other Practical Matters

  • The folks in Park City are doing their best to maintain the feeling of a living breathing film festival rather than a big online video library; so be aware that all of the screenings are limited in terms of both time and audience in some slightly quirky ways. 
  • In brief, each film at Sundance has two “screenings” — the first is a “premiere screening” in which the film is available during a three-hour window. These showings require you to be on time and include some bells and whistles like an interactive waiting room where you can hang out with other moviegoers and make small talk, almost as if you were huddled against the brisk chill of a high altitude winter waiting to get inside for the big show. Premieres also feature live post-screening Q&As with the filmmakers and talent so budget time to stick around to hear some awkward questions (or even ask one yourself). 
  • Alternatively, if you just want to watch some new indie movies and need some flexibility, you can grab a ticket for the film’s “second screening”. This gives you a 24 hour block to find time in your day to watch the movie and also has the advantage of allowing you to swoop in and catch movies that had buzzworthy premieres. These second screenings generally roll out 48 hours after the premiere.
  • Then, on January 29th and 30th, the fest’s award winners will each enjoy a further day of on-demand encore screenings. 
  • The “Festival Village” has a series of talks and events run parallel to the film program. There’s also a virtual main street, where sponsors that used to lure in guests with free snacks are opening their digital doors with satellite programs and incentives in place of swag. Make some time to browse around and be surprised by what’s going on. 
  • Tickets and Passes provide various levels of access to the program. The all-access festival package has sold out, but you can still buy a “day pass” for $100 that includes four tickets on a single day. Or, if you just want a weekend with the cream of the crop, a $300 pass grants access to all eight prize winners on the Awards Weekend 29th and 30th. Each of these passes also come with the benefits of the Explorer Pass, which provides entry to the New Frontier and Indie Episodic programs for the duration of the festival (this pass sells separately for $50).
  • Finally, individual tickets are still available for a lot of films (including some high profile premieres). They run $20 each and guarantee that you’ll have a “spot” at that film’s showing. 

Sundance Goes Virtually Local

Above, we said that Sundance was mostly virtual. This year Sundance has partnered with mission-driven arthouse cinemas and pop-ups to present in-person screenings. In Seattle, Northwest Film Forum will be presenting eight feature films and a Short Film Program in person only from Friday January 28th to Sunday January 30th:

They also have scheduled a series of free events, online and in person scheduled to coincide with the festival:

NWFF members can buy a pass for all of these screenings for $55. Non-members can purchase individual tickets for $13. All patrons will be required to double-mask and show proof of vaccination.

If you’re at a loss for where to start, I find that the Premieres section is always rich with potential buzzworthy launches. On the narrative side, this year’s includes Jesse Eisenberg’s directoral debut, When You Finish Saving the World; Lena Dunham’s return to Sundance with Sharp Stick, and Regina Hall and Sterling K Brown in a satire of for profit religion Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Documentary premieres include locally-relevant Downfall: the case against Boeing, as well as Amy Poehler’s profile of Lucy and Desi, W. Kamau Bell’s We Need to Talk About Cosby, the observational jeen-yuhs: a Kanye Documentary, and a new Diana documentary The Princess for The Crown and Spencer obsessives.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Dive into the full program and grab a ticket for some films that strike your fancy. It’s always a great program for documentaries and the lineup is well stocked with indie genre debuts. Several of us will be “attending” the festival in virtual capacity; so stay tuned for reviews and recaps of many of the festival films.