Slouching towards Park City, 1/12.

By David Hudson on 01/12/2009

"If festivals don't continually rethink how and what to showcase for the future, even without abandoning their traditional cultural purpose and aesthetic standards, then the festival world will go the way of the dinosaur," argues Sundance Film Festival director Geoff Gilmore.

Also at IndieWIRE, the latest round of interviews with filmmakers heading to Park City: Gene Rosow ("Dirt! The Movie"), Robert Siegel ("Big Fan"), RJ Cutler ("The September Issue"), Emily and Sarah Kunstler ("William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe") and Adam Salky and David Brind (Dare").

"With the world premiere of blaxploitation throwback film 'Black Dynamite' at the Sundance Film Festival right around the corner," writes Todd Brown at Twitch, "we figured now would be a good time to sit and chat with creator and star Michael Jai White about his creation, the films of the 70s and what lies in the future." For example: "[M]y sequel idea is really bananas. It's really bananas."

And Karina Longworth's latest exchange: Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"). Also at the SpoutBlog: a deal tracker and Christopher Campbell launches a series of anecdotes drawn from Sundance lore. Today: The premiere of Richard Linklater's "Slacker."

"One of the most interesting discussions this year will be the one hosted Thursday, January 22, by Wendy Levy, Bay Area Video Coalition's Director of Creative Programming," writes Susan Gerhard, leading into her interview at SF360. "She'll be introducing BAVC's Producers Institute for New Media Technologies to a no-doubt awestruck audience at the New Frontier on Main. While 'interactive' may be the buzzword behind an ambitious project like The Producers Institute - where directors experiment other communication platforms to give new kinds of depth, breadth and reach to their projects - it's also the clear descriptor for the whirlwind force leading it."

Online viewing tip #1. At Twitch, Todd Brown has "two minutes of gold," the trailer for Nicolas Winding Refn's "Bronson" (site).

Online viewing tip #2. Michael Jones has the trailer for The Yes Men Fix the World.

[Photo: "Unmade Beds," Film4, 2009]

Tags: Sundance 2009