‘We Chose the Riskier Route’: How Sundance Leaders Reimagined a Virtual Film Festival

Ellise Shafer administratorThe 36th Santa Barbara International Film Festival is planning to screen its slate via two beachside drive-in theaters.The festival, taking place March 31 through April 10 at Santa Barbara City College, will include more than 80 film screenings.

Chase & Status and Skream lead the names that have been announced for the Tobacco Dock Virtual opening weekend.The project will see the London venue being recreated as a virtual space by electronic music promoters LWE and leading virtual live events platform Sansar.The opening weekend will take place over Easter weekend (April 2-3) and will see 50 artists playing across four arenas in the virtual venue.As well as Chase & Status and Skream, the likes of Adam Beyer, Wilkinson, Hot Since 82, Eats

coronavirus concerns.Though featuring a shortened list of 72 films, the festival garnered a viewership 2.7 times larger than the regular festival, which is held in Utah, according to the Sundance Institute.

The Sundance Film Festival saw its biggest-ever audience with a digitally focused 2021 edition. On Monday, the Sundance Institute reported that its pandemic-era event -- which took place both online and in-person in 20 cities across the country over seven days from Jan.

Jordan Moreau Despite taking place virtually and over a shorter duration, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival nabbed its largest audience ever this year, the Sundance Institute announced Monday.The 2021 festival took place from Jan. 28-Feb.

Park City, Utah may not have been flooded with out-of-towners this year for the Sundance Film Festival due to the pandemic, however, the annual prestige film event can celebrate that its online edition and 20 city theatrical extension drew a total audience that was 2.7 times larger than the typical 11-day Utah edition. This year’s Sundance ran from Thursday, Jan. 28 through Wednesday, Feb. 3.

I did), you will see genius (I did), but you generally won’t see the highly anticipated mega hits found in Toronto, where “Joker” and “Hustlers” premiered. At Sundance, you’re just as likely to encounter “Call Me by Your Name,” a rapturous love story, as you are “Swiss Army Man,” a little-known flick in which Daniel Radcliffe pals around with a farting corpse.

When the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, the city’s largest film festival, gets underway February 17, it will look a little different from previous seasons. It’s a virtual event, save for some drive-in screenings, but the LGBTQ content is still abundant.

For the first time in recent memory, the Sundance Film Festival recruited just three members each for its competition juries. Even in the context of a virtual festival, that might have been a mistake after one film dominated the Dramatic category winning four awards.

UPDATED with latest winner: The Palm Springs Film Festival continues revealing this year’s film-awards honors, on Monday saying that Leslie Odom Jr will receive the Spotlight Award, Actor for his work in Amazon’s One Night In Miami.

Alice Glass If the Sundance Film Festival loves a success story, the fest is likely to fall head over heels for director Kate Tsang.Her coming-of-age adventure “Marvelous and the Black Hole,” which premieres Jan.

EXCLUSIVE: In the first big deal of the 2021 virtual Sundance Film Festival, Apple has landed worldwide rights to CODA, for a number just north of $25 million. That sets a new a Sundance acquisitions record — above the $22.5 million that Palm Springs received last year from Hulu/Neon. But this time, all the premiere watching and all night auctioning was done far from the slopes of Park City. It came down to a pitched battle between Apple and Amazon.

The Santa Barbara Film Festival said Friday that Delroy Lindo will receive the American Riviera Award during the 36th annual festival, which is set to run March 31-April 10. Lindo, part of the ensemble cast of Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, will be feted April 8.

EXCLUSIVE: Organizers of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Central and Eastern Europe’s leading film event, have told us they don’t intend to move off their usual July dates despite the new overlap with Cannes.

Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson pointed to one unexpected advantage of going virtual with a reimagined 2021 edition during a surging coronavirus pandemic. "I can be a festival director and not wear pants," Jackson joked during an opening online press conference held via Zoom as Sundance kicked off on Thursday.

Sundance Film Festival as snow drifts and thin air. The mountaintop gathering highlights the best of indie film and shines a light on the next generation of Tarantinos and Soderberghs.

Jaime Ray Newman (Little Fires Everywhere), Andrea Frankle (Irresistible) and Will Chase (Nashville) are set for recurring roles in Dopesick, Hulu’s eight-episode limited series based on Beth Macy’s bestselling book. The project is from The Handmaid’s Tale executive producer Warren Littlefield and Touchstone Television.

Sacha Baron Cohen will receive the Outstanding Performer of the Year award at the 36th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.The 49-year-old actor is being honored with the award after starring in where he famously portrays Borat, and where he plays Abbie Hoffman.«In 2020, Mr. Cohen twice was able to capture our interest, our imagination as well as the zeitgeist.

announced Wednesday that the 2021 edition will move from its regular late-May spot to early July, when the seaside Côte d’Azur averages a balmy 86 degrees.The summery change-up comes days after the French government announced plans to vaccinate its entire population against the coronavirus by August. Cinemas there remain closed through at least the end of January.Last year’s festival was canceled outright due to the pandemic, though cases at the time had subsided in France.