Sundance
by Stephanie Kuenn

PARK CITY, UTAH — Nestled between several snow-capped mountains and rustic resorts, Park City is one of the most awe-inspiring places on earth in January.

It isn't the incredibly striking natural beauty, the biting chill that makes a hearty Midwesterner shiver or even the Burger King that closely resembles a ski lodge. And it definitely isn't the film festival.

It's scenes like this: A middle-aged couple, tanned from a few years in L.A. and bedecked in cell phones and diamonds, walks into Texas Red's Pit Barbecue and Chili Parlor. All hell breaks loose moments later when the woman discovers that this Texas-style rib shack doesn't serve steamed vegetables.

The server suggests the restaurant's veggie burger, to which she replies, shocked: "That simply won't do!"

This is the Sundance Film Festival in a nutshell.

Once known as the finest place to catch independent film — a true American art form — Sundance now is little more than a bidding war, comic antics from Hollywood types and corporate sponsorship.

It can be argued that "sex, lies and videotape" set the standard for Sundance back in 1989. The standard was actually set last year, when Miramax grabbed the disappointing "Happy, Texas" for an unheard-of $11 million and the Legend of the Blair Witch began with its $1 million purchase by Artisan.

So it came as a surprise this year when the bidding wars of yore were toned down. This could be attributed to Harvey Weinstein's mysterious "illness", but it could also be because of a lack of buzz.

Surprisingly, very few films developed any sort of cultish love this year, aside from co-Grand Jury Prize winner "Girlfight" and the ladies' man comedy "The Tao of Steve." But this could be indicative of the festival's dramatic entries.

"You Can Count on Me", which shared the Grand Jury Prize with "Girlfight," is a very smart, funny film about small-town sibling issues. Written and directed by Kenneth Logernan (co-screenwriter of "Analyze This"), it stars Laura Linney of "Congo and "The Truman Show," Matthew Broderick and a Culkin. While it is a terrific film, it isn't edgy by any means.

Maybe part of the reason Sundance seems to have lost its edge is the infiltration of Corporate America.

Before every screening, there would be a trailer informing viewers that they, indeed, were at the Sundance Film Festival, followed by a giant sign showing who sponsored the series, and then a listing of all sponsors. There were also knick-knacks and banners posted on damn near every kiosk in Park City. Also, every official festival-attendee, worker and entourage member received their very own Entertainment Weekly lanyard. (Score!)

Each major category had a corporate sponsor: Entertainment Weekly) took care of the Audience Award, Blockbuster (!) sponsored the premieres, Mercedes-Benz backed the documentary and dramatic competitions, AT&T sponsored World Cinema and the shorts were sponsored by American Express.

Basically, choose a company you hate. It's probably there. The Gap? Yep, got it. Starbucks? Of course. The corporate influx seems strangely out-of-place in Park City — it's almost at odds with the festival's mission: bringing film somewhere outside Hollywood, outside of the influence of money.

But as the corporate dollars continue to flood in and the amount of celebrities flocking to the festival in hopes of re-establishing themselves (Anne Heche's miserable short, "Reaching Normal" is at the nadir of this movement) continues to increase, Sundance will become little more than Hollywood taking a 10-day vacation on the slopes.

It might do Sundance's organizers well to re-evaluate themselves. Specifically, they should start by following the example set within the last few days of the festival.

The Versace-clad cell phone addicts leave for home and — we can only guess — steamed vegetables by Wednesday of the final week. Suddenly, the film festival becomes, well, just that. The audience is made up of locals, vacationing cinephiles and a few critics. It's the place where people stand 80-deep in line to see "Dark Days," a documentary about homeless living underground in New York City's train tunnels.

If the last few days of the festival doesn't provide enough fodder for Sundance's organizers, they may want to head across town and check out Slamdance, Sundance's biggest rival.

Started a few years back by two guys who didn't get into Sundance, Slamdance has grown out of its terrible threes and turned into something more than Sundance's bratty little brother. In fact, it's probably the closest a Park City film festival can come to actually being independent.

Full of low-budget, high-quality gems, Slamdance 2000 showed the world "The Target Shoots First," one of the best amateur documentaries to be seen in years. It details the life of a cog in the marketing wheel of Columbia Records, the direct-marketing music club giant, and how he tried to make his existence there as subversive as possible. It's a corporate drone doing all he can to make his life less corporate and more independent. Sound familiar?

Unfortunately for Sundance, the answer appears to be no.

Hotnight.

E-mail Stephanie Kuenn at smkuenn at gmail dot com.