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As John  Cooper and Robert Redford confirmed on opening day, diversity remains a founding principle here at Sundance. The festival is committed to showcasing the widest possible variety of voices.

In recent years Sundance has always opened with a documentary. This year was no different.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power opened the 33rd  Sundance Festival which , as detailed at the opening conference by Robert Redford and Artistic Director John Cooper, will devote special attention to the environment. That focus is expressed by the first New Climate section featuring 14 films and “VR experiences” dedicated to global warming.

PARK CITY - - The forecast in Park City calls for snow – that's for five straight days, making this edition of the Sundance Film Festival possibly one of the whitest on record. Meantime the forecast was also less than sunny inside the Egyptian theater as the traditional Day One press conference got things under way with a discussion which inevitably repeatedly evoked the figure of Donald Trump and a political climate which will surely turn inclement towards the arts.

The yearly cycle of festivals begins today in Park City, Utah, with the 2017 edition of Sundance. As usual, we can expect bidding wars, breakout stars and lots of parties and commotion at premiere screenings.

An amazing actress-singer with a formidable stage presence, Idina Menzel was the Tony-winning star of such hits as Rent and Wicked, before raising her profile on the popular musical series Glee – nominated 10 times for the Golden Globes, winner of 4. On the big screen, she voiced the Snow Queen in the Disney animated feature Frozen (winner of two Golden Globes, including Menzel's recording of the song 'Let It Go').

In the week following the 74th annual Golden Globe Awards, many winners and nominees filled in the top ranks of the domestic and global box office chart. Hidden Figures, for which Octavia Spencer enjoyed a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and Hans Zimmer, Benjamin Wallfisch and Pharell Williams shared the nom for Best Original Score, finished in first place on the domestic charts over MLK weekend.

Bajirao Mastani is an Indian film in the popular Bollywood genre of historical epic with a strong love story component. The lavishly staged picture was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali who is also credited with composing the score for the film.

Mirzya is a pretty typical Bollywood production (director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, screenplay by Gulzar) based on popular Punjab folktale “Mirza Sahiba,” which is the story of two young lovers who are not allowed to be together by their families. If you did notice an obvious resemblance between “Mirza Sahiba” and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet you are absolutely right.

“This film is real life. A rollercoaster of reality.