Long, rewarding journey for new Sundance Film Festival director

PARK CITY — A flight layover. That's what John Cooper has to thank for his 20-year career with the Sundance Institute and with the Sundance Film Festival.

Cooper, 53, is the new director for the festival, which is widely regarded as the premier showcase for independent and world cinema in the United States.

He served as chief festival programmer for the past seven years. But he says he was originally a theater designer and performer who "learned to love film even more."

As fate would have it, a cross country flight in the late '80s included a layover stop in Utah.

"I wound up staying with a friend, and we wound up at the (Sundance resort in Provo Canyon)," Cooper recalled. "It was pretty much love at first sight."

While he was there, he made friends with people at the Sundance Institute, which was still in the process of taking over the former Utah/U.S. Film Festival.

He later volunteered for the institute and then assumed a role as the head of its summer lab programs. From there, he joined the programming staff for the film festival and, eventually, became the head of programming.

"It's been a long, strange but rewarding journey," he said. "I worked my way up through the ranks, though I never really thought I was going to be in this position. Now that I am, it feels a little strange — but good."

Cooper may be a longtime Sundance veteran, but he's part of an "infusion of new blood" into the festival, according to none other than Robert Redford, the head of the Sundance Institute.

"John continues a tradition of excellence in our festival leadership, while he tries to take us in some exciting new directions," Redford said.

And together, he and Cooper are trying to return the festival to its independent roots, since it had "become stagnant and almost archaic along the way."

Redford is not the only one praising Cooper before his first festival has even wrapped, though. Programming director Trevor Groth calls his boss a "visionary" and complimented him for "how smoothly the leadership transition has been."

Of course, Cooper downplayed the compliments and says that he earned his stripes and gained valuable experience by working so closely with Geoff Gilmore — who helmed the so-called "little festival that could" for 19 years.

"By watching what Geoff and the other leadership has done, I've learned how to keep this well-oiled machine running well, as it has for so many years."