As the creators of The English Patient sailed down the aisle to claim their ninth Oscar last spring, critics were already hailing 1997 as the Year of Independent Film. With interest in indie films up, Robert Redford and his Sundance Institute are jumping in with their own contribution, and on Wednesday announced that it will introduce a chain of Sundance-branded film theaters intended to offer more screens to struggling filmmakers.
"One of the greatest complaints is that independent films get pulled from screens too quickly - you've got to do a gangbang blockbuster weekend or else you're pulled," explains Michelle Byrd, executive director of the Independent Feature Project, a coalition of indie filmmakers. "Anything that's going to provide more screens for independent projects is important."
Sundance Cinemas, which are being created in conjunction with the GC Cinema chain, will consist of a "significant number" of cinemas that will screen only independent, foreign, and specialty films - much like the fare already shown at the Sundance Film Festival or on the Sundance Channel. The cinemas will be the latest link in a chain that Redford founded 18 years ago to help independents get their films noticed, funded, and exhibited.
The cinemas will be focused in areas that don't already have outlets for independent films, although Sundance said it will not rule out putting cinemas in areas that already have indie theaters. And while indie-film theater operators agree with the 'more-screens-are-good" creed of the filmmakers, they're nervous about what might happen if Sundance happens in on their turf without necessarily widening the audience.
"If they go to communities where there are no outlets already, they'd be doing good for the filmmaker community, but all those other cities [like San Francisco, Seattle, or New York] are pretty well covered, and they'd be just splitting a pie that's pretty well divided," says Rick Norris of the Roxie, a San Francisco art-house cinema. "People who know what Sundance is are already going to indie films - I don't think they're going to be dragging new people in off the street with the power of the Sundance name."
While Sundance has come to represent "independent film" to the common man, there are those in the independent-film community who think the organization and its celebrity-studded festival have become too mainstream. Events like Slamdance and the ResFest have emerged to redefine the indie niche.
With that in mind, a concern of the independent-film community is that the films getting screen time at Sundance Cinema will be the more palatable, larger-budget fare that's being lauded as "indie films," such as Hollywood darlings The English Patient or Sling Blade, and won't include low-budget or abstract features. (Sundance representatives say the scope of the films at its theaters has yet to be decided.)
By virtue of Sundance name, the company should have an obligation not to give up on smaller independents, says Byrd. But while the Sundance Channel is able to include cutting-edge films into its mix, she doubts that the theater will be as avant-garde. "They have to make a profit," she says.
