Sundance film festival: Wallets out for golden indie haul

Greta Gerwig, left, and Lola Kirke pose for a portrait to promote the film, "Mistress America", during the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday. Photo / AP

Flood of quality titles at Sundance reigniting distributors’ lust for independent films, says Jonathan Romney.

Think of the Sundance film festival and what comes to mind? Baseball caps, puffer jackets and Hollywood talent spotters waving chequebooks in the air.

You'll also think of the waves of innovative American directors who have made their reputations at the annual event in Park City, Utah - from Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino to newcomer Damien Chazelle, whose Whiplash won the grand jury prize for drama in 2014 and has gone on to be nominated for best picture in this year's Oscars.

If young auteurs sometimes rule Sundance, there have also been spells when the money made the most noise, with hefty sums paid for films that quickly passed into oblivion.

This year, however, Sundance has impressed moviegoers, critics and industry buyers alike with a 118-feature selection that has sent distributors buying titles with a bullishness that suggests a new surge of confidence in American independent cinema.

Last weekend, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon - previously a television director and former assistant to Martin Scorsese - sparked an auction that went as high as US$12 million ($16.5 million). In the end, a seven-figure deal was struck, and a great future predicted for this comedy with a tearjerking edge.

Other deals include US$7 million for another teen comedy, hip-hop-themed Dope; US$6.5 million for Noah Baumbach's Mistress America, starring and co-written by Greta Gerwig; and Fox Searchlight's US$9 million for John Crowley's Brooklyn.

This UK-made drama has one of the festival's classiest pedigrees: set in 1950s America, Brooklyn is a Nick Hornby adaptation of Colm Toibin's novel, with a cast including Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters, and a lead performance from Saoirse Ronan ("emotionally devastating", said Variety) that won the film standing ovations in Park City.

In recent years, the US independent sector has experienced a lull, with the bottom falling out of the DVD business and several major studios closing their arthouse divisions.

One factor in this year's resurgence of sales may be the magic glow shed on Sundance by the fact that two of its 2014 selections - Whiplash and Boyhood, by festival regular Richard Linklater - are among the best picture contenders at the Academy Awards. But the marketplace has changed, with distributors hungry to buy titles for video on demand services.

Jeremy Kay, US editor for online trade publication ScreenDaily, says: "Companies like IFC and Magnolia are in the volume business - they have to buy a lot of films to keep their monthly offerings fresh for subscribers." And new companies like Alchemy and A24 have very deep pockets and are prepared to do pretty edgy things. "This year, buyers are throwing $2.5 million to $3 million on films that aren't even the talk of the festival, but they've got the money and they're willing to do it."

However, points out Eric Kohn, chief film critic of website Indiewire, it's not easy to tell what all these sales mean in real terms, as it's harder to gauge revenues for video on demand than it is with traditional box office figures: "Now, because of the way people consume movies, it's hard to pinpoint what success means."

Success, he points out, is often best measured in exposure and prestige: "The narrative of the big deal, especially for new film-makers, is a false perception of success. The most successful movies are not necessarily making the most money, but getting attention in different ways."

Sundance, and US independent cinema, rose to prominence in the glory years of the 1990s, beginning with the excitement around Soderbergh's low-budget debut Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1989.

People who remember those days lament big business moving in on the festival's collegiate mood; last year, even festival founder Robert Redford announced that he missed Sundance's old intimacy.

Nevertheless, recent years have produced significant finds, such as Lee Daniels' controversial Precious (2009) and Debra Granik's Winter's Bone (2010), the drama that provided a career-making showcase for its star, Jennifer Lawrence.

Much excitement this year surrounds the festival's documentary selection. Prime exhibits include The Wolfpack, about an eccentric set of New York film-buff siblings; The Nightmare, Rodney Ascher's stylised and reportedly unnerving study of sleep paralysis; Alex Gibney's instantly controversial Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief; and Dreamcatcher by veteran British documentarist Kim Longinotto, about a social worker counselling Chicago sex workers.

While Sundance is often thought of as a launchpad for new talent, it's also a place where established names can consolidate or rekindle their reputations. Two veteran performers basking in praise this year are Lily Tomlin in upmarket comedy Grandma and Blythe Danner in "romantic dramedy" I'll See You In My Dreams. Other established names in the spotlight are Jason Segel as novelist David Foster Wallace in the much-admired The End of the Tour, and Ewan McGregor, playing Jesus and Satan in minimalist biblical drama Last Days in the Desert.

In recent years, American independent cinema seemed swallowed up by the mainstream or to have lost its energy entirely. Now, it looks as if US indie film-makers are offering an embarrassment of riches - and not just the sort that's rattling in the pockets of industry buyers.

- Observer