NLFF Goes to Sundance!

Posted on Tue, 13 Jan 2009

In a year where 25 feature length and short films (and most if not all their directors) are making the trek from these shores to the Sundance Film Festival in the ski resort town of Park City, Utah, I will be heading there as well.

Sundance remains an essential destination despite all the hype and general hoopla surrounding the parties, what famous celebs are seem on Main Street (Paris, are you coming this year?) and all the media coverage. Bottom line, for most of us it's still about the films (as its founder Robert Redford endlessly stresses), and I look forward to taking in at least a couple dozen of them from around the world and bring a few back to our Festival next November. And look for potential guests, too.

Just as importantly, attending Sundance also is about spreading the gospel of NLFF, as well as meeting, greeting, networking, pitching, inviting, plugging, sharing opinions, giving and getting tips on films, keeping up-to-date on what films are about to be completed. Now that we have gone global, it is especially important to talk about the Festival to filmmakers, sales agents, producers, distributors, the press, other film festival directors and programmers, plus anyone else associated with the independent film world. It makes a huge difference when one can associate a live human with a film festival (as opposed to an email or a voice over the phone), and having attended, in my previous job capacity, every Sundance festival since 2003, I really look forward to telling all my friends and cohorts about NLFF and the wonderful place where I now live.

Okay, let's see: passport - check; business cards - check; hat and gloves - check; mobile phone - check; iPod - check; NLFF brochures to hand out - check; lots of water - check; emergency chocolate - check; vitamins - check; Zantac - check; skis - whoops, no time for that!

NLFF Goes to Sundance!

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