Despite a lack of cinephiles able to attend the famous Eccles Theatre in person, the Sundance Film Festival begins its 44th edition this week, and the world’s premier independent film festival is as hotly anticipated as ever.
Euronews reports that this year Sundance is back online and armed with nine days of high-profile documentaries about everyone from Kanye West to Princess Diana.
The report adds that buzzy first films from knowns and unknowns, virtual gatherings and filmmaker Q&As will all take place as part of the festival’s 2022 programme.
Sundance had planned to return to the mountains this year, but two weeks before thousands were set to gather in Park City, Utah, organisers decided to pivot to virtual rather than cancelling or postponing, as many have done amid the omicron surge.
The experience of 2021 taught the programmers that not only could they run a successful festival online, but that films could still break through even when filmmakers, audiences, buyers, sellers and press weren’t all in the same physical place.
