Sundance festival full of surprises

Twenty years ago this week, I heard Errol Morris expound on Stephen Hawking, listened to Winona Ryder gush over Gena Rowlands, asked Jim Jarmusch for his autograph, sat four seats away from Eric Stoltz while listening to Spalding Gray, asked questions of Brad Pitt from about 10 feet away, and shook hands with a seemingly grateful Seymour Cassel.

It's true -- you never forget your first Sundance.

I attended the Sundance Film Festival for the first time in 1992, before I got the job as The Tribune's movie critic. Just as a civilian (after scoring some tickets from my predecessor, Terry Orme), I came away with a flood of movie memories -- from screenings of "A Brief History of Time," "Night on Earth," "Monster in a Box," "Johnny Suede" and that year's Grand Jury Prize winner, "In the Soup."

And with all that, I missed two of the most talked-about titles at the festival that year: The documentary "Brother's Keeper" and Quentin Tarantino's debut, "Reservoir Dogs."

In the 20 Sundances I have attended -- 18 of them as The Tribune's movie critic -- I have seen some remarkable things, moments that became milestones either personally or in the history of independent film:

• 1993: At the screening of the ultraviolent Belgian drama "Man Bites Dog," I saw how quickly a Sundance audience can turn -- as a gang-rape scene prompted loud hisses, boos and the stomping of feet as people angrily walked out of the Egyptian.
• 1994: Making the mistake of attending a 10 p.m. screening of "Hoop Dreams," a movie that is as brilliant as it is long -- and then driving back to Salt Lake City at 1 a.m.
• 1995: Running into Robert Redford on Main Street and chatting about "The Brothers McMullen," before a throng of autograph seekers and minor celebrities descended on the actor to touch the hem of his barn coat.

This review is from The Salt Lake Tribune. To continue reading, please visit sltrib.com.