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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1496181
Challengers Sundance … Indie Film Folks Show their Best By Andy Marken Finally… Despite two years of uncertainty, creatives held their breath, crossed their fingers and hoped the in-person gatherings at the Sundance Film Festival would set the stage for the rejuvenation of the independent film industry. Sure, movie theater audiences have continued their slow, painful decline; studios have consolidated focusing their attention on tentpole and superhero (expensive) productions; but the creative industry needs film festivals to give talent the attention and exposure they need and deserve. Big budget projects like Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water showed that people need to gather in dark rooms to experience content together. At the same time, streaming giants – despite what Wall Street says - have shown that people like a wide range of content themes from horror to comedy to drama to scifi and documentaries that tell the stories behind the stories. These were the kinds of projects Robert Redford and a few close friends wanted to give an opportunity to be seen on a national and perhaps even global platform. Film festivals like Sundance have become the place where independent filmmakers get their work seen and acquired for even broader viewing. A longtime friend and early collaborator with Redford, Cirina Catania, CEO/founder of Catania Studios and Executive Director of High School Media Collective, noted that Sundance has increasingly become the place where new, exciting films get seen and, more importantly, bought for even broader audience exposure.