#stilllovedit

The year is 2020, the date is January 23rd and the fact that a deadly virus is spreading across the globe is still widely unknown or recognized. On this day the Sundance film festival opened its doors to thousands of people flocking from all parts of the world to watch its Independent films for the first time. Very few of these people, if any, suspected that next year’s Sundance film festival would be completely different. The years of 2020 and 2021 have brought an immeasurable cornucopia of hardships and never before seen challenges. People have done their best at adapting their lifestyles and livelihoods to be completely online. I believe that Sundance has done a good job of doing this. Converting the largest independent film festival in the US to an all online forum in less than a year is no easy feat. Unfortunately, while this new way of running the festival opens countless doors it also closes doors people have been used to opening. In the previous years of Sundance many things were open to the public.

One of the major changes of this year’s festival is the now very limited interactions with people. Before COVID Sundance attendees would come from all walks of life to meet new people and watch new films together. They could laugh, cry, cheer, boo, all in the same room. Feeding off each other’s energy and building up a bigger buzz of excitement and anticipation that the virtual way could never capture. That isn’t to say that there is no human interaction or buzz at this year’s festival, it just plays to a different tune. Sundance hosted numerous online events in the hopes to bring people together to connect and share their thought on so many films. There were multiple live talks and events that were offered such as artist meetups, where you could ask creators technical and philosophical questions. Live Q&As at the end of each premiere with the actors and directors/writes. There were virtual zoom meetings where even more people could voice their thoughts. In an effort to make things more “real” Sundance created their own New Frontier program. It’s a virtual meeting room where you are able to walk around and listen/talk in other people’s conversations. You can also watch screenings of films at certain times if you had access to a VR headset. The meeting areas had activities such as karaoke and short snippets of videos being played on floating theatre screens. The only downside to this is that because this was the first virtual year, a great deal of people had issues navigating the site to get to where they wanted to be. The meeting rooms had a limit to how many people could be there at once. This made virtual group talks difficult as the groups would be randomly broken up if too many people entered one room. Even still, New Frontier has the potential to bring people together virtually just as Sundance did in previous festivals.

Another major difference between the past festivals and the present one is the quality of memories and experiences being made. For instance, in last year’s festival it wasn’t just the films premieres that people were going to. There was snorkeling, parties, live music bands jamming out, restaurants, and many other available venues to go to for fun. None of that was able to be offered in this year’s festival. Free memorabilia such as socks and water bottles, that are usually distributed to spread the word and held as a souvenir from the festival were unable to meet the publics hands. It’s sad to think of the things we are missing out on because of COVID regulations.

It’s not all bad however, there were a good deal of pros at this year’s festival being held online. For example, not as much planning was needed on the film goers’ part, or money. Usually, people need to plan months in advance to buy plane tickets, book hotels, make the screening times, and most importantly save the money needed for it all. The cost of attending 2021s films festival is much lower than attending the 2020 film festival. Allowing more people to come and enjoy the festivities. This year people didn’t have to stand in line for hours to watch a single screening. Instead, they can stack and book multiple films to watch from the comfort of their home. Opening the door to watch more indie films than was possible at previous Sundance festivals.

There are many pros and cons to this latest way of running the festival but despite it all I really enjoyed my time at the festival. So did plenty of others. If the past history of technology is anything to go by, next year’s Sundance film festival holds a multitude of new opportunities to experience. I’m looking forward to seeing the new changes and opportunities offered next year. Who knows how it will differ from the previous years!

Signed,