I am not going to go to Sundance this year. I need a break. Consider it an experiment: what will I do if I skip that convention this year? It long ago stopped being a film festival for me. I only got to spend about 20% of my time seeing movies when I went. I ended up doing meetings after meetings.
But that was when I was addicted to producing films. Now that I have kicked that habit, maybe I could return and just be there to enjoy the bounty. But I don’t think so.
If I attended Sundance, I would feel too tempted to “develop opportunities” (aka take meetings) and catch up with old friends and cohorts. And as a result I would probably miss the films I would most love. As it is, that happens far too much at festivals now; I often get caught up with the buzz and see the popular films — and those aren’t what I personally love most. How do we make sure the undersung films get seen more?
One of the big failures I see in #IndieFilm these days is the lack of real peer review and support. There are some nice exceptions, like Paul Thomas Anderson’s support of BREAKFASTS WITH CURTIS. But more of us need to champion the work we love of others. We are in this all together and we have to reach beyond our personal boundaries. I want to help change that. So…
