Sundance 2018

Netflix has been an increasing presence on the world festival circuit, presenting films in Venice (Beasts of No Nation) and Cannes (Okja) and quickening the transition of streaming platforms to major players in world film production. It is a process that started in Sundance over ten years ago when Netflix was still a DVD rental service and debuted This Movie Not Yet Rated at the festival.

Rupert Everett joined a prestigious cohort of first time directors at Sundance 2018 (also making their debut here among others Paul Dano and Idris Elba). His first directorial effort, The Happy Prince recounts the lesser known latter days of English writer playwright and wit Oscar Wilde whom Everett also plays.

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.

After three stand up specials, millennial comedian Bo Burnham has gracefully transitioned from the stage to the screen with his directorial debut, Eighth Grade, which premiered at Sundance 2018. In the film, Burnham channels his thoughts about today’s Internet culture and his own personal anxieties through Kayla (Elsie Fisher), a teenager finishing her final days at middle school.

A champion of independent cinema, Golden Globe nominee Ethan Hawke is a regular at Sundance, but this year was special for him. He was in Park City with Juliet, Naked, Jesse Peretz's romantic comedy about a woman (Rose Byrne) who breaks up her long relationship with an obsessed fan of retired rocker Tucker Crowe, only to start a romance with the idol himself (played by Hawke).

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.

Week one of Sundance 2018 comes to a close with stars of all magnitudes filling the snow-covered streets of Park City. And there's always room for, say, a snowman, a fluffy dog and, who knows, maybe a mini-pony.

With his salt and pepper beard and some lines of time on his still handsome face, British actor Rupert Everett, 58, still possesses a matinee idol look.   He's one of the first Hollywood stars to come out as a gay man and enjoying a sizable and durable career.

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).