Sundance still a place for 'indies'

PARK CITY — Critics say the Sundance Film Festival has become too big, too commercial, too focused on celebrity sightings and star-driven movies at the expense of spotlighting undiscovered talent.

"Hollywood on ice" is a frequent wisecrack hurled at the 11-day festival, which opened Thursday amid the snow and cold of Park City's upscale ski resorts.

Yet unlike Hollywood, where many Sundance filmmakers would be able to get onto a studio lot only if they took a tour with the rest of the general public, the festival is cinema democracy in action.

Where else could unknowns such as Pape Sidy Niang, Anna Oxygen and Eric Breedlove star in a film competing for top festival honors against movies featuring Keanu Reeves, Liv Tyler and Naomi Watts?

"As much as the press argues that Sundance has completely changed, it hasn't changed that much," said festival director Geoffrey Gilmore. "It's still a place for discovery. It's a place for common ground among filmmakers and audiences more than it is the celebrity stuff."

Niang, Oxygen and Breedlove are among the cast of director Robinson Devor's "Police Beat," one of 16 films in Sundance's dramatic competition, a launching pad for past critical and commercial hits such as "In the Bedroom" and "You Can Count On Me."

A culture-clash romance following an immigrant West African bicycle cop involved with a Seattle woman, "Police Beat" faces off against such competition entries as "Lonesome Jim," the tale of a dysfunctional family featuring Tyler and Casey Affleck; "Ellie Parker," starring Watts in an expansion of her short film about a wannabe Hollywood actress; and "Thumbsucker," with Reeves as a dentist in an ensemble tale about a teenager (Lou Pucci) with an oral fixation on his thumbs.

Co-starring Tilda Swinton, Vince Vaughn and Benjamin Bratt, "Thumbsucker" is considered one of the hot potential acquisitions for distributors prowling Sundance in search of the next big indie hit.

Sundance's dramatic competition is a dream slot for filmmakers seeking a high-profile place to premiere a movie for distributors. It's also a nerve-racking experience.

"Obviously, it's a great honor, but it's given me a major stomach ache right now," said "Thumbsucker" director Mike Mills.

Along with the competition for U.S.-made independent dramas, the Sundance lineup of 120 feature films includes competitions for American and world-cinema documentaries.