Sundance Film Festival Archives - Celluloid Junkie

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(From left) Daniel Berger, President at Oscilloscope Pictures; Sarah Mosses, Founder & CEO of Together Films; John Nein, Senior Programmer & Director of Strategy, Sundance Film Festival; Sharon 'Rocky' Roggio, Founder & Creative Director, 1946 Studios; and moderator Iddo Patt, CEO & Co-Founder of Eventive (Photo: Eventive)

Can Direct-to-Audience Distribution Give Indie Films a New Path to Theatres?

For decades, the independent film industry has operated according to a familiar hierarchy. A filmmaker completes a project, premieres at a major festival, secures a distributor, launches a theatrical run, and hopes that audiences discover the film through cinemas, home entertainment releases or – mo…

2026 Sundance Film Festival

As Sundance Says Goodbye to Park City, Its Films Look Forward

There’s a particular rhythm to January in Park City that only Sundance people really understand. The crunch of snow under boots that aren’t meant for ice. The quiet panic of realizing you’ve misjudged travel time between venues by at least fifteen minutes. The oddly comforting sight of volunteers in…

2023 Sundance Film Festival Acquisitions

The Deal With Sundance 2023 Acquisitions

Each year the annual film sales and acquisitions cycle is kicked off in January by the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, followed swiftly by the Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) and its accompanying European Film Market in February. Sundance itself has long been used as a barometer for the…

2023 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Gets Personal Again In 2023

Attendees heading home from the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 were barely paying attention to the increasing number of notifications streaming in over the mobile phones about a strange virus spreading in Wuhan, China. Of course that news item, deemed a “China problem” at the time, turne…

2022 Sundance Film Festival Acquisitions

Sundance Acquisitions Suggest Austere Future for Specialty Theatrical Releases

If acquisitions activity at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival provides any insight into the current market for specialty and mid-tier movies, as tends to be the case with Sundance, then the near-future for cinema operators of all sizes is decidedly mixed. The festival wrapped up this year’s prog…

2022 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Cancels In-Person Festival for 2022

In the midst of a nationwide wave of COVID-19 infections the Sundance Film Festival announced today that its in-person programming had been called off. One of the most prominent film festivals in the United States, it was slated to commence on 20 January in Park City, Utah. The event will now be hel…

Cell Phones In Cinemas

Suggestions For Preventing Mobile Phone Distractions At Film Festivals

If reader reaction to Celluloid Junkie posts is any indication of broad public sentiment, then a majority of moviegoers are infuriated by fellow audience members using their mobile phones in the middle of screenings. Raising the topic in conversation or in posts like the ones we’ve published o…

Sundance Provides A Perfect Environment For Industrial Eavesdropping

One unique aspect of the Sundance Film Festival is the broad spectrum of industry professionals that attend each year’s event. Producers, directors, editors, screenwriters, craft people, acquisitions executives, journalists, distributor reps, sales agents, talent agents, and exhibitors are jus…

Art House Convergence

Daily Cinema Digest – Saturday 24 January 2015

Since 2008, just before the Sundance Film Festival begins in mid-January, art house cinema operators from around North America (and beyond) have been gathering for Art House Convergence. The conference is held over four days in Midway, Utah, not far from Park City where Sundance takes place. A recor…

Happy Christmas

Celluloid Has Become A Rarity At The Sundance Film Festival

Few annual events have chronicled the movie industry’s transition from 35mm film to digital cinema quite like the Sundance Film Festival. There were times during this year’s festival, which concluded over the weekend, where it was hard not to be reminded of the art form’s long jour…