Show Sundance Sun dance Film Festival F- 2002 The 2002 Sundance Film Festival opens at Abravanel Hall By Olga v Community Editor On January 2002 the Sundance Film Festival opened its doors and welcomed people once again to its annual exhibition exhibition exhibition tion of work that showcases the best of independent cinema states the official of the Sundance Institute Robert Redford and a group of his colleagues who strongly believed in independent filmmakers founded Sundance I Institute in 1981 Since then the Sundance Film Festival had become a host of independent dramatic and documentary films supporting independent directors and screenwriters Every year the Sundance Film Festival opens in Salt Lake City featuring the premiere premiere premiere pre pre- of a film by a famous director This year it was the Laramie Project which was shown on Thursday night at Abravanel Hall The movie gathered people from all over Salt Lake and other parts of Utah People came to the Sundance Film Festival all the way from Wyoming to see the one of its small small- s alI 1 f towns by the name Laramie In 1998 Laramie obtained an infamous reputation after the brutal murder of the University of Wyoming student Mathew Shepard Murdered by two other young residents of the city It would be a typical murder case that probably never made headlines anywhere other than Laramie if it wasn't a hate- hate crime Mathew Shepard was openly gay and the people who killed him were straight and allegedly homophobic As the movie brochure puts it The brutal attack on Matthew Shepard was the kind of call a society doesn't get very often It triggered an avalanche of media a kind of national deathwatch until Shepard died five days later The Laramie Project is the response of one man playwright Moises Mois s Kaufman and his colleagues at the Tectonic Theater Project who went to Laramie Wyoming and conducted more than interviews interviews interviews inter inter- views with townspeople and officials The result is an inquiry into hate and the thoughts and feelings of an American com com- The audience of the movie was touched and many people who saw the Laramie Project had to make an effort to hold back their tears The movie was a great success partly because of the special atmosphere atmosphere atmosphere atmos atmos- phere created around it by Robert Redford Me fit t tRedford Redford welcomed the viewers in person and thanked the production crew as well as the talent for the creation of The Laramie Project Another reason for the movies movie's success was the superb acting Independent film talents talents talents tal tal- tal- tal such as Christina Ricci Steve Buscemi Laura Linney Summer Phoenix Jeremy Davies Clea Duvall and Janeane played parts in the movie They did a great job portraying the residents of Laramie who had known Mathew Shepard during his life in person or got to know him after his death through the media A gJ t u T J JJ i 44 1 2 M S. S ja G a Y r d y r c pA y C s L y c ca a h The Laramie Project based on the true life events surrounding the death of Mathew Shepard Photo courtesy of The Sundance Institute |