75th Golden Globe Awards

Among this year’s first-time directors at Sundance was long-time DP Reed Morano who joined a lineup made up of an unprecedented 38% female directors. Her I Think We’re Alone now can best be defined as a post-apocalyptic character study which (for most of the film) features Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning as the apparent sole survivors of an unspecified mass extinction event.

On January 20, the HFPA hosted the Women Breaking Barriers panel at the Sundance Film Festival in association with the Sundance Institute. HFPA journalist Elisabeth Sereda moderated a spirited discussion among award-winning Tina Lifford (Queen Sugar), Golden Globe winner Octavia Spencer, Cathy Schulman, producer and president of Women in Film, Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) and Reed Morano, award-winning cinematographer, and director.

In an alternate universe, all filmmakers would happily dwell in a world like Sundance, removed from market pressures, a place where art precedes commerce. Visiting the Festival again after many years, I didn’t know what to expect.

Marc Turtletaub is a veteran producer who's no stranger to Sundance having been here with films like Sunshine Cleaning, Our Idiot Brother, Safety Not Guaranteed and of course Little Miss Sunshine. (Big Beach, the production company he heads, also has the animated version of Jack London’s White Fang and The Miseducation of Cameron Post showing in Park City this year).

“There are two kinds of pity,” said Babis Makridis the Greek director returning to Sundance for the second time. “The pity we feel towards someone else that makes us feel like we are good people, and the pity we receive, which also makes us feel good.

In 2012 British filmmaker Bart Layton presented his documentary The Imposter at Sundance. It ended up winning a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut later that year.

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Gus Van Sant, director of Golden Globe winning films Good Will Hunting (screenplay for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) and To Die For (best actress for Nicole Kidman) and Milk.

Festival goers packed the Sundance TV lounge on Main Street as the HFPA hosted the Women Breaking Barriers panel in association with Sundance Institute and Sundance TV Saturday. HFPA journalist Elisabeth Sereda moderated the discussion and opened the proceedings announcing a $50.

A couple of thousand noisy protesters braved the snow falling in Park City, Utah for the "Respect Rally", this year’s edition of the Women’s march, marking the 1st anniversary of the Trump presidency and last year’s march at Sundance. This year’s theme was registering voters and mobilizing turnout for the November mid-term elections.