Sundance Film Festival to preface Olympics

The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY -- For years, the Sundance Film Festival has billed itself as the premier showcase for independent filmmakers to compete for awards and studio acquisition.

This year, the festival also serves as a prelude for a much larger competition: the Winter Olympics.

The games have bumped the festival up a week this year, running from Thursday through Jan. 20. That will allow a three-week gap between the last film and the first luge run.

Park City, the site of the festival, is home to three Olympic venues, and it's gained much needed crowd control experience thanks to Sundance -- the biggest annual event in the ski town 21 miles east of Salt Lake City.

"One thing we've learned is how to move people around efficiently," Park City Councilman Fred Jones said. "Typically during Sundance we have a snowstorm, and rental cars don't work well for people who don't know how to drive in snow, so we have worked with Sundance in developing a shuttle system."

A bus system with park-and-ride lots will be the main form of transportation in Park City during the games.

Last year, 20,000 actors, filmmakers and cinema fans converged on the town for screenings, panel discussions and parties during the 10-day event. During the Olympics, up to 45,000 people are expected on any given day.

The city's Main Street, normally festooned with Sundance banners and kiosks plastered with fliers for films and events, will share space this year with decorations for the games and advertising by Olympic sponsors.

Park City's new mayor, Dana Williams, sees "a lot more organization this year."

"Instead of a 10-day event we're looking at this as a month-and-a-half-long event," Williams said.

The Olympics, however, were the least of the festival's worries this year, Sundance spokesman R.J. Millard said.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks forced the festival to review its emergency training and safety procedures, one of the theaters used for the festival is unavailable because it's under construction, and a lagging economy has taken its toll.

"Companies are sending fewer representatives due to budget cutbacks and layoffs, but that is freeing up tickets," Millard said.

This year Sundance will show 173 films, 113 of them feature-length. Opening night is the premiere of "The Laramie Project," an adaptation of the Moises Kaufman play about the killing of Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard. The film's cast includes Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo, Laura Linney, Peter Fonda and Christina Ricci.

Other highlights include the premieres of "Birthday Girl," starring Nicole Kidman; "The Dancer Upstairs," John Malkovich's directorial debut; "Gerry," which reunites Matt Damon with Gus Van Sant, who directed him in 1997's "Good Will Hunting"; and Miguel Arteta's "The Good Girl," starring Jennifer Aniston.

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