SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2013
Redford: Diversity reigns at Sundance Festival
D
iversity is king at the Sundance Film Festival - and queen, too. For the first time, half of the films featured at the festival were made by women. Festival founder Robert Redford opened the event Thursday and said “diversity is the point” of the independent film showcase, further evidenced by contributions from 32 countries and 51 first-time filmmakers this year. The chorus of voices represented at Sundance “reflects the times we’re in,” he said. “What Sundance stands for is giving new voices and new filmmakers an opportunity to be seen and heard,” Redford said in an interview. “We show what’s there, and what comes up will usually give you an indication of changing times.” Redford, along with festival director John Cooper and Sundance Institute director Keri Putnam, opened the 11-day festival with a news conference at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah, Sundance’s home since 1981. The films featured at the festival, like all art, reflect and inspire change, Redford told reporters. “The festival, being as diverse as it is, shows all kinds of content, and that gives the audience a chance to choose,” he said. “That’s not quite so available in the main marketplace.” One of the most significant changes he’s noticed over his years in filmmaking is the role sex plays on screen. Several of the festival films deal with sex: “Lovelace” looks at porn star Linda Lovelace, “Interior. Leather Bar.” examines the gay, S&M leather-bar scene in the early ‘80s, “Two Mothers” follows a pair of friends who have affairs with each other’s (adult) sons, and “Kink” is about the business of bondage and discipline pornography. “When I got into the film business in the early ‘60s, it was a romantic time. Sex and romance were pretty well tied together,” Redford said. “Now, 40, 50 years later, we see that sexual relations have moved to a place where it doesn’t feel like there’s so much romance involved. ... Relations have changed, and they’ve changed because of changing times and because of new technology. People are texting rather than dating and all that kind of stuff. “We just show what’s there. We don’t predict anything. We don’t shape anything. ... We might be agents for change, but we’re not shape-shifters. So there you have sexual relations and you look at how sex is treated today: It’s just simply a reflection of the times we’re living in and nothing more.” One conservative group isn’t pleased with the sexual content and suggested the state of Utah cease its financial support of the festival. But Redford isn’t
(From left) Sundance Institute founder and president Robert Redford, Sundance Institute executive director Keri Putnam and Sundance Festival director John Cooper take part in the opening news conference of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Thursday in Park City, Utah. —AP photos
Cherien Dabis, third from right, writer, director and star of “May in the Summer,” poses with cast members, from left, Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Bill Pullman, Nadine Malouf and Ritu Singh Pande at the premiere of the film on the opening night. worried. “We either ignore them or remind them that it’s a free country and they should maybe look at the Constitution,” he said. Meanwhile, with recent attention on gun violence and what role Hollywood might play, Redford said the conversation ought to continue, noting that President Ronald Reagan was shot at the same year the Sundance Festival began. “Now, 30 years later, it’s absolutely not only appropriate, but overdue to have a dialogue,” he said. He added that he has a question for
Director Sebastian Silva, left, actress Gaby Hoffmann, center, and actor Michael Cera, right, pose at the premiere of “Crystal Fairy”.
the film industry after seeing two movie billboards in Los Angeles that prominently feature guns: “Does my industry think that guns will help sell tickets?” One of the documentaries in competition this year, “Valentine Road,” deals with the 2008 school shooting of an eighthgrader in California by a fellow classmate. “It all the sudden has a new resonance,” said Cooper, noting that the film was selected before last month’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn. “We chose it because it’s an amazing movie.” The festi-
val begins in earnest Thursday night with screenings of four films. Screenings, workshops, parties and schmoozing will continue through Jan 27. Cooper, whose staff culled the 119 festival offerings from thousands of submissions, said he can’t wait for audiences to see the selections. “I just want to get this thing started,” he said. “I feel like I’m sitting on a powder keg of talent that needs to explode.” —AP
Opinions vary as Colorado movie theater reopens
T
he Colorado cinema where 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a shooting rampage nearly six months ago reopens Thursday with a remembrance ceremony and a private screening of the fantasy film “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” for survivors - but for some Aurora victims, the pain is still too much, the idea too horrific. Several families boycotted what they called a callous public relations ploy by the theater’s owner, Cinemark. They claimed the Texas-based company - which has been publicly silent since the July 20 shooting - didn’t ask them what should happen to the theater. They said Cinemark emailed them an invitation to Thursday’s reopening just two
days after they struggled through Christmas without their loved ones. “It was boilerplate Hollywood - ‘Come to our movie screening,’” said Anita Busch, whose cousin, 23-year-old college student Micayla Medek, died at the theater. Others, like Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, said the event was part of the healing process and that many residents wanted to see the theater back up and running. James Holmes, a former neuroscience Ph.D. student, is charged with 166 felony counts, mostly murder and attempted murder, in the July 20 shootings at the former Century 16 - now the Century Aurora. A judge ordered Holmes to stand trial, but he won’t enter a plea until March.
First responders to the massacre, Hogan, Gov. John Hickenlooper and religious leaders were to join survivors at the multiplex for Thursday’s event. In addition to the “Hobbit” screening, theater placards featured “Trouble With the Curve,” “Cloud Atlas,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and other films for the weekend. Victims have filed at least three federal lawsuits against Cinemark, alleging it should have provided security for the midnight “The Dark Knight Rises” showing, and that an exit door used by the gunman to get his weapons and reenter should have had an alarm. In court papers, Cinemark says the tragedy was “unforeseeable and random.” Hogan noted that the community grieves
and heals in different ways but insisted that most Aurora residents wanted to reopen the theater. “For those who don’t want to be there, who can’t be there, I understand and respect that,” Hogan said. “For us here, the larger community if you will, it is part of the healing process.” Vanessa Ayala is a cousin of Jonathan Blunk, a 26-year-old Navy veteran and father of two who was killed. Ayala said she believed the multiplex should have been torn down and, perhaps, turned into a park. At the very least, she said, the auditorium where the shooting occurred should be a memorial. —AP