In Utah, a Bittersweet 'Culmination' for Sundance

Sundance is getting ready for one last curtain call in the Utah ski town it outgrew years ago. The independent film festival that Robert Redford launched in the 1980s opens Thursday in Park City for the final time before moving to Boulder, Colorado, next year, reports NBC News. The shift to a city roughly a dozen times larger underscores how the once-intimate event has ballooned into an 85,000-attendee draw, complete with traffic so heavy that some filmmakers, like director Gregg Araki, say they've had to ditch their cars and sprint down Main Street to make screenings.

• Shoutouts to Redford: This year's edition doubles as a farewell to both the town and its founder. It's the first Sundance since Redford died in September at 89, and organizers have built in some tributes, including a new award in his name, a screening of his early independent film Downhill Racer, and reunion events for past breakout titles, including Little Miss Sunshine, House Party, and Saw.

• 'New beginnings and endings': Festival chief Eugene Hernandez calls it a "culmination in Utah," while Redford's daughter, Amy, says her father saw Sundance and its nonprofit institute as a way to use his clout to "change the world" by boosting emerging voices—a list that has included Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Ryan Coogler, and Chloe Zhao. "This is a festival of new beginnings and endings," she tells the AP.
• On the lineup: Even as it looks back, this Sundance is stacked with new work and big names, per NBC. Charli XCX turns up in three projects, including A24's concert mockumentary The Moment and Araki's I Want Your Sex. Olivia Wilde debuts The Invite, while the marquees are topped by Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgard (Wicker); Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum (Josephine); and Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe (The Weight). Documentaries remain central, with films on Salman Rushdie, Billie Jean King, Nelson Mandela, Courtney Love, and Brittney Griner.
• Concerns and deep dives: The industry's current anxieties are also on the program. Two documentaries tackle artificial intelligence, and tech companies such as Adobe and Luma AI are sending executives to chat with filmmakers, ensuring AI will be a recurring topic in panel rooms and lobby conversations. Director Ava DuVernay, a past Sundance winner and former board member, returns for a talk with documentarian Barbara Kopple, arguing that the festival still has a crucial role.
• More: The Los Angeles Times and the Guardian make their picks for the 10 movies most worth catching at Sundance, which runs through Feb. 1, while USA Today has the 10 greatest movies that have emerged out of the fest. Meanwhile, famous filmmakers wax nostalgic on what Sundance has meant to them.