Washington Life Magazine
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Special Feature

Sheila Johnson at the premiere of Kicking It
REFLECTIONS OF A SUNDANCE KID
BY SHEILAC JOHNSON
I recently began producing feature-length documentaries, and was fortunate enough to be an executive producer on Kicking It. It was my first-ever trip to the legendary festival, and it was unforgettable. The people I met in Park City were, without question, some of the most energetic, creative and lifeaffirming people that I had ever encountered. As I spoke with them, it became clear that as documentary filmmakers they are playing a critical role by focusing the world’s attention on small but vitally important stories that no one else is bothering to tell; stories that speak to larger truths. One of the highlights of the week for me was a breakfast hosted by Ken Brecher, executive director of the Sundance Institute. Ken, who I should note, is white – told us that, since this year Martin Luther King, Jr. Day fell during the festival, he wasn’t able to host his annual MLK Day breakfast, so he asked us if we would help him carry on his tradition of reading aloud from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. As an African American whose life has been deeply affected by the good that Dr. King once dreamed, I was reduced to tears. When it was my turn to read, I looked around the table and found myself shaking with emotion. That’s the spirit that I took away with me from Sundance; the spirit that emanated from the breakfast table – that of the free thinker; the independent filmmaker; the kind of storyteller who, if only given a camera and a few dollars, can move mountains.
Industry experts had projected that the numbers of films that would get picked up would increase this year because of the writers’ strike. The wisdom was grounded in simple supply and demand economics – with the Hollywood writers still on strike, studios had less content to work with, and the Sundance 2008 slate offered a full menu of ready-made product. In the end, the strike didn’t ignite additional buying beyond what was previously expected. It was a good year – not as strong as some of the festival’s more exceptional years. In stock market terms, the bulls weren’t running but there were gains to be made, especially in the bear market of the “quirky indie comedy.” The “Little Miss Sunshine effect” was in full force as three comedies landed the best deals: The Irish Homeless World Cup squad featured in Kicking It.

Hamlet 2 sold to Focus Features for $10 million (the same price as Little Miss Sunshine); Choke inked a $5 million dollar deal with Fox Searchlight for worldwide rights; and Henry Poole is Here somehow managed to coerce Overture into dishing out $3.5 million for its U.S. rights. I found both Choke and Henry Poole is Here (which I walked out of before it ended) to be subpar; but, again, all is subjective. Attempting to rate the overall success of the festival is political punditry for film. We won’t know the true success of the 2008 slate until “the election” is over. That means next year after box office receipts are in and the Oscars, Golden Globes and BAFTA, SAG, and WGA awards have been doled out. Using this formula, we could classify last year’s class as extremely successful. Fifteen 2007 Sundance selections were honored in some way by the 2008 Academy Awards, including War/Dance and No End in Sight (Documentary Feature); The Savages (Original Screenplay); Juno (Directing); Julie Christie in Away from Her and Laura Linney in The Savages (Lead
Actress); Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton(winner of Best Supporting Actress); and several documentary, animated and live action shorts (which are all film mediums that deserve much more coverage.) Interestingly, of this year’s best-picture nominees, only Juno took in more than $100 million in U.S. ticket sales, according to researcher Box Office Mojo LLC. This “Focus on Film” is what carries one past the Los-Angelization (read, commercialization) of the film festival and allows Sundance to maintain its street cred as the guardian saint of independent film. Sideways star Sandra Oh, who presided as a Dramatic Competition juror this year, said it best when asked if judges had a bias against mainstream films. Replied Oh, “We want to promote the best film possible. I think that’s a given here; but, I mean, come on; do we really need to support the next Mission Impossible 6? No.” Along those lines, what other festival would accept Johnny Depp being in a film where all he does is read excerpts from a book, which is exactly what he did for the documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. An interesting side note on the film: the feature was produced by Vanity Fair Editor in Chief Graydon Carter along with executive producers Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner (whose production company, Cruise/Wagner films, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder invested in 2006). In the end, the transformative nature of film, like the transformative nature of a soccer ball for homeless persons competing in the Homeless World Cup, is ultimately what draws audiences to independent features, documentaries, and shorts. Pretension and frosted sunglasses aside, you can’t help but meet incredible, like-minded artists at Sundance and be influenced by their work. These agents of change, as Redford calls them, retain the passion and belief that film means something more than profits.
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