Sundance 2003 Wrap-Up | Hollywood.com

By Lisa Collins , Hollywood.com Staff | Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Once again, the Sundance Film Festival has left an indelible mark on the filmmaking world, bringing together talents and films spanning from coast to coast, country to country, low budget to fully funded, nonfiction to narrative, for 10 unforgettable days. As sporadic snowflakes descended upon Utah’s mountainous Park City reminding visitors of their splendorous surroundings, so too did beauty arrive at the fest’s door in the form of raw, passionate filmmaking. Reaching a receptive audience was the goal--as was getting press, creating buzz, and locking down distribution deals, of course. This year, the festival featured a record 2,000-plus films from both brand-new indie directors and such noted filmmakers as Oliver Stone, Jim Sheridan, Thomas Vinterberg, Neil Labute, Lisa Cholodenko, Keith Gordon, Alan Rudolph, Michael Polish, and Campbell Scott, to name a few. Sundance 2003 also boasted the directorial debut of two actors: Matt Dillon (Drugstore Cowboy, To Die For) with his film City of Ghosts, and 2003 Golden Globe nominee Salma Hayek with The Maldonado Miracle. Both pictures were included in the American Spectrum category. In that same category was Sam Neve's Cry Funny Happy, in which Amy Redford--the daughter of Sundance Fest co-founder Robert Redford--made her acting debut. The big winners were the Grand Jury prize winning films American Splendor, directed by Shari Springer-Berman and Bob Pulcini, and Capturing the Friedmans, directed by Andrew Jarecki. Both films address family dysfunction and emotional bifurcation as they explore the psychological terrain of home life for two families. American Splendor sketches the life of misfit comic book writer Harvey Pekar with stars Paul Giamatti (Planet of the Apes, Big Fat Liar) and Hope Davis (About Schmidt). Friedmans is a documentary about a family rocked by the shocking arrest of a father and son. Winner of the coveted audience award for dramatic feature was The Station Agent, directed by Tom McCarthy, which follows the humorous, touching story of an unlikely trio who discover that sometimes solitude is better spent together. Miramax scooped up that film, which won the coveted audience award for dramatic feature, mid-fest, with plans to release it in English-speaking territories and Italy. Other crowd pleasers included Peter Hedges’ Pieces of April, starring Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher) and Katie Holmes, which United Artists beat out every other major buyer to pick up for $3.5 million--the festival’s biggest sale. Also a hit was directing award winner Catherine Hardwicke’s Thirteen, starring Holly Hunter as a single mom whose teenage daughter spins out of control in her goal to become popular. Thirteen was picked up by Fox Searchlight. Multi-tasking veteran actress Patricia Clarkson (High Art) turned out to be the hardest working belle of the ball. She was recognized with three special jury prizes for outstanding performance in three dramas: The Station Agent, Pieces of April and David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls. Sundance also offered an illustrious documentary lineup that included a festival favorite co-helmed by Richard LaGravenese and the notable, late Ted Demme titled A Decade Under the Influence. A love letter to 1970s filmmaking, the doc won over the audience from its first jam-packed screening. Director Stanley Nelson accepted a jury prize for his nonfiction piece, The Murder of Emmet Till. Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s Party Monster brought to life the ice-cold murder story surrounding infamous Disco 2000 club kid Michael Alig and his victim Angel Melendez. The Macaulay Culkin/Seth Green starrer is based on the book Party Monster written by club-kid-turned-author James St. James, and it certainly became a monster of a hit. Word spread like wildfire across the festival when it was discovered that outrageously high-priced tickets to the screening were selling on eBay, prompting anxious ticket holders to stand in line hours before the show. Met with a standing ovation on its first screening, audiences and fans warmly reinforced the notion that the “party” was where it’s at, and that proved true for the rest of the fest.

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