The 2013 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 17, 2013, until January 27, 2013, in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah.

2013 Sundance Film Festival
Festival poster
Opening filmMay In the Summer
Closing filmJobs
LocationPark City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah
Hosted bySundance Institute
Festival dateJanuary 17–27, 2013
LanguageEnglish
Websitesundance.org/festival

The festival had 1,830 volunteers.[1]

Films

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A record 12,146 films were submitted, 429 more films than the 2012 festival. 4,044 feature films were submitted and 119 were selected (with 103 of them being world premieres). 8,102 short films were submitted and 65 were selected.[2][3] The festival had films representing 32 countries, from 51 first-time filmmakers,[4] 27 of which had films in competition.[2]

For the first time in the festival's history, half of the films featured were made by women[4] and half by men. In the U.S. dramatic competition, 8 directors were women and 8 were men. In the U.S. documentary competition, 8 directors were women and 8 were men.[5] In the dramatic premieres category, however, only 3 of the 18 films were directed by women.[5]

Cara Mertes, director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Sundance Documentary Fund, said that of the 40 documentaries at this year's festival, 12 of them came through the Documentary Film Program, which "really came here in 2002."[6] Linsanity, a documentary about the rise of Asian American basketball player Jeremy Lin, premiered to a sold-out screening on January 20.[7][8] The Los Angeles Times wrote that it received a "rousing response, easily making it one of the most crowd-pleasing documentaries to play the festival this year."[8]

Non-competition features

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Midnight

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Awards

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The awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2013, a few miles north of Park City, Utah at Kimball Junction at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse,[1] and was hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.[2]

Additional awards were presented at separate ceremonies.[2] The Shorts Awards were presented January 22, 2013[1] at the Jupiter Bowl at Redstone Square.[9][10]

  • Short Film Grand Jury Prize - The Whistle
  • Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction - Whiplash
  • Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction - The Date
  • Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction - Skinningrove
  • Short Film Jury Award: Animation - Irish Folk Furniture
  • Short Film Special Jury Award for Acting - Joel Nagle in Palimpsest
  • Short Film Special Jury Award - Until the Quiet Comes
  • Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Awards - Sarthak Dasgupta for The Music Teacher, Jonas Carpignano for A Chjana, Aly Muritiba for The Man Who Killed My Beloved Dead, Vendela Vida and Eva Weber for Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name
  • Sundance Institute/NHK Filmmaker Award - Kentaro Hagiwara for Spectacled Tiger
  • Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Award - Revolutionary Optimists and Hungry; honorable mention to Studio H, and $5,000 to the short film Jungle Fish
  • 2013 Indian Paintbrush Producer's Award - Toby Halbrooks and James M. Johnston for Ain't Them Bodies Saints (and $10,000 grant)[2][11]

For the first time since 2009, the same film won the top awards from judges and audiences. Fruitvale won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award. Blood Brother also won both top prizes in the U.S. Documentary competition, the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award.[12]

Juries

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Nineteen of the jury members, which award prizes to films, were announced on December 19, 2012.[13] The 5 members of the Alfred P. Sloan Jury, which would also take part in the Science in Film Forum Panel, were announced on January 17, 2013.[14] Presenters of awards are followed by asterisks:[1][2][9]

Others who presented awards included Barbara Kopple, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Mariel Hemingway.[2]

Festival theaters

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[15]

  • Park City
    • Eccles Theatre - 1,270 seats
    • Egyptian Theatre - 290 seats
    • Holiday Village Cinema 1 - 164 seats
    • Holiday Village Cinema 2 - 156 seats
    • Holiday Village Cinema 4 - 164 seats
    • Library Center Theatre - 486 seats
    • The MARC Theatre - 525 seats
    • Prospector Square Theatre - 336 seats
    • Redstone Cinema 1 - 188 seats
    • Redstone Cinema 2 - 175 seats
    • Temple Theatre - 314 seats
    • Yarrow Hotel Theatre - 295 seats
  • Salt Lake City
  • Sundance Resort
    • Sundance Resort Screening Room - 164 seats
  • Ogden

Sundance Film Festival U.S.A.

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On January 31, 2013, the festival sent 10 filmmakers to 10 cities across the US to screen and discuss their films. The cities and films were:[16]

Reception

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Matt Patches of Hollywood.com wrote that the festival is more important than ever after Beasts of the Southern Wild, which debuted at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, winning the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Cinematography Award, and going on to garner four Oscar nominations at the 85th Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actress). He wrote, "we're living in a post-Beasts world where a Sundance unknown can end a year-long journey at the Best Directors table." He said "studios are looking to Sundance for recommendations."[17] Robert Redford said Beasts of the Southern Wild "is probably one of the great examples that we have of why Sundance is here and what my intention was to begin with." Kristopher Tapley wrote the film "was nurtured through the Sundance Institute's system every step of the way", mentioning the Screenwriters Lab, the Directors Lab, and funding at the Creative Producing Summit.[18]

Regarding the festival, Redford said "I never dreamed when we started — we didn't even know that we would last — and then when it lasted and grew, it became huge. I never anticipated that it would get to this size."[3] Kenneth Turan mentioned the number of films submitted and the few selected, saying "the sameness of those chosen from year to year is disheartening." He wrote "it almost feels as if programmers are filling specific, pre-ordained slots", and mentioned there are always too many teenage coming-of-age films. He said the festival is "inevitably a mixed bag, where excitement combines with frustration..." Turan wrote that "Sundance remains the nonpareil launching pad for tiny films that would never reach maximum altitude otherwise", saying that "without the heat generated by this festival", there is no way Beasts of the Southern Wild would have gotten four Oscar nominations. He praised the New Frontier exhibitions. Turan wrote, "As always, the spectrum in documentary was most impressive." And said Sundance "is looking more and more like the best doc festival in the world."[19] At the 85th Academy Awards, four of the five nominated documentary features premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and the fifth, The Gatekeepers, was shown at this year's festival.

Acquisitions

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Acquisitions at the festival included the following:[11][12][20][21]

Domestic Rights

International Rights

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Eric Hynes; Jeremy Kinser; Nate von Zumwalt (January 26, 2013). "2013 Sundance Film Festival Awards Updates". sundance.org. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Feature Film Awards". sundance.org. January 26, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-05-11. Retrieved 2013-01-26.
  3. ^ a b "Indie Time: Sundance Sets Focus On Low-Budget Film". NPR. Associated Press. January 16, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2013.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ a b Sandy Cohen (January 17, 2013). "Redford: Diversity reigns at Sundance Festival". San Francisco Chronicle. Associated Press. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  5. ^ a b David Germain (January 18, 2013). "Women win equal time in Sundance drama competition". Houston Chronicle. Associated Press. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  6. ^ Amy Goodman (January 24, 2013). "At Sundance Film Festival, Documentaries Shine Light on Overlooked Stories of Global Injustice". democracynow.org. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  7. ^ Alexander, Bryan (January 25, 2013). "Jeremy Lin to attend Sundance Film Festival". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 15, 2013.
  8. ^ a b Zeitchik, Steven (January 20, 2013). "Sundance 2013: In 'Linsanity,' Jeremy Lin's extraordinary journey". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  9. ^ a b Eric Hynes; Jeremy Kinser; Nate von Zumwalt (January 23, 2013). "Day Six: Shorts Awards, Cutie and the Boxer, and In a World..." Sundance Institute. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  10. ^ "2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Jury Awards in Short Filmmaking" (PDF). Sundance Film Festival. 22 January 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  11. ^ a b Justin Chang (January 26, 2013). "'Fruitvale' tops Sundance awards". Variety. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  12. ^ a b Keith Kimbell (January 28, 2013). "2013 Sundance Film Festival Recap". Metacritic. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  13. ^ "Sundance Institute Announces Jury Members for 2013 Sundance Film Festival". sundance.org. Sundance Institute. December 19, 2012. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  14. ^ "Sundance Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Mark 10th Anniversary of Collaboration". Sundance Institute. January 17, 2013. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  15. ^ "Film Festival Timetables" (PDF). sundance.org. 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  16. ^ Sundance Institute. "Sundance Film Festival U.S.A." Sundance Film Festival. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  17. ^ Matt Patches (January 15, 2013). "Sundance Post-'Beasts': The Festival Is More Important Than Ever". hollywood.com. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  18. ^ Kristopher Tapley (January 17, 2013). "Robert Redford and company look back on 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' success as Sundance 2013 gets underway". hitfix.com. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  19. ^ Kenneth Turan (January 28, 2013). "Sundance Film Festival's mixed bag of excitement, frustration". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  20. ^ Germain Lussier (January 23, 2013). "2013 Sundance Update: A First Half Recap Including All The Latest Acquisitions Like 'Prince Avalanche,' 'Toy's House,' 'Kill Your Darlings' And More". slashfilm.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  21. ^ "Report: Sheen Will Serve 17 Days, Start Sentence Next Week". TheWrap. Retrieved 2013-10-10.
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