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Show C-1 B-1 IT WOULD BE FUTILE AND STUPID TO MISS MOVIE FILM GUIDE INSIDE! Our annual Film Guide breaking down the festivals is inserted in this issue. POWDER KEG AWAITS SKI MOUNTAINEERS Sundance BUSINESS, A-15 COLUMNS, A-20 Map ce // Bus // Slamdan // Music Cafe 18-28, 2018 January Park Record. SUNDANCE ON LOCATION: STORES OPEN IN PARK CITY IS RUDENESS A CRIME AT SUNDANCE, TOM CLYDE ASKS The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, January 20-23, 2018 Serving Summit County since 1880 Episode I: Sundance for the TV | Vol. 137 | No. 100 50¢ Fest stresses changes Park City puts a velvet rope around streets Officials forbid non-local traffic on the neighborhood roads off Main Street in Old Town COURTESY OF SUNDANCE INSTITUTE | PHOTO BY NOAH M. ROSENTHAL JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record Esai Morales, left, and Matthew Lillard appear in “Halfway There” by Rick Rosenthal, an official selection of the Indie Episodic program at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Indie Episodic entries given own program for the first time BUBBA BROWN The Park Record For decades, attendees of the Sundance Film Festival have traveled to Park City each January to be dazzled by the work of independent storytellers lighting up the silver screen. They’ll now also come to see Sundance as a place to catch some of the best independent work being done on the small screen. After Sundance accepted submissions for episodic and television work for the first time in 2017, this year marks the premiere of a fullfledged Indie Episodic program. The inaugural lineup features seven screenings with works ranging from longform documentaries to television pilots and webisodes and represents the latest evolution of a festival that has always strived to be a reflection of its storytellers. “It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, artists should do this,’” said Charlie Sextro, a Sundance programmer who spearheaded the Indie Episodic category. “It was like, ‘Artists are doing this and this is what is exciting right now.’” The program stems from the transformation of television in recent years into a medium where storytelling on par with cinema is possible. The emergence of the small screen, once reserved for sitcoms, campy dramas and procedurals, was obvious as ambitious shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Game of Thrones” became smash hits and has only accelerated with companies such as Netflix and Amazon providing more homes for that kind of work. And lately, Sextro said, TV has also increasingly become a place for esoteric or subversive material previously reserved for indie cinema. “That kind of storytelling, that kind of voice, 20 years ago you were Please see Episode I, A-2 3 sections • 44 pages Business ............................... A-15 Classifieds ............................ C-11 Columns ............................... A-20 Crossword .............................. C-4 Editorial................................ A-21 Events Calendar ..................... C-6 Legals ................................... C-13 Letters to the Editor ............. A-21 Restaurant Guide.................. A-19 Scene ...................................... C-1 Scoreboard ............................. B-5 Sports ..................................... B-1 Weather .................................. B-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Sundance founder Robert Redford, left, laughs with Keri Putnam, who is the executive director of the Sundance Institute, and John Cooper, the director of the Sundance Film Festival, during a press conference opening the festival on Thursday at the Egyptian Theatre. They addressed topics like the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements meant to spotlight sexual misconduct and the diversity of the festival’s program. Sundance opens amid broad concerns about misconduct in the film industry SCOTT IWASAKI The Park Record The Sundance Film Festival stands behind the #metoo and #timesup movements. Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford, executive director Keri Putnam and John Cooper, director of the Sundance Film Festival, united their voices when they praised the conversations the social media hashtags have created in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations in Hollywood and other industries. “I’m pretty encouraged now,” Redford said during the 35th Sundance Film Festival’s opening-day press conference, held Thursday at the Egyptian Theatre. “What this period of change is doing is bringing more opportunity for women in film to have their own voices heard and do their own project. Change is producing a tipping point and changing the order of things so women can have a stronger voice that they didn’t have before.” Redford said the new role for men is to pay attention. “I think the role for men right now would be to listen and think about it and discuss it,” he said. “This can lead to a new conversation. At least I’m hopeful.” Putnam thanked Redford and agreed. “I think it’s more than individual men,” she said. “I think it’s about the underlying power.” That power, Putnam said, continues into the structures and assumptions that are made in the filmmaking process. “Who do we value?” she asked. “Who gets financing? Who gets distribution? Who gets to tell the stories? And what stories will they get to tell?” Putnam said the Sundance Institute works with many underrepresented storytellers, who include many women, and has seen a shift in the atmosphere. “What I’ve noticed in the wake of the movements is a different energy happening,” she said. “This isn’t a new conversation for us, but it’s a new moment. And we’re not going to go backwards from there.” This year’s festival numbers back Putnam up. Sundance will screen 45 features by women filmmakers, along with 35 shorts, according to a press release. In addition, the press release stated that 42 percent of all of the festival’s short and feature films were Please see Change, A-2 Park City has effectively forbidden non-local traffic on neighborhood streets in Old Town during the Sundance Film Festival in addition to the longtime parking restrictions there, putting up a velvet rope that Parkites are only allowed through. The measures are the latest taken by City Hall in an effort to ensure Old Town is not overrun during the festival. There have long been complaints about the festival’s impacts on the neighborhood, but the concerns have seemed more pronounced in recent years amid the growth of Sundance. The neighborhood surrounds festival venues like the Park City Library and the Egyptian Theatre as well as Main Street. The traffic crush during Sundance is well known to festival-goers and people who live in Old Town as drivers back up as they move up or down Main Street or circle the core for a parking spot. Sundance-goers have for years also ignored the resident-only restrictions in Old Town. City Hall has long attempted to protect the neighborhood during the festival and took further steps this year. One important measure was posting temporary signs with a more vigorous message than in the past. The signs note that parking is for people who hold resident-only permits, but they also prohibit thru traffic and indicate there is a $145 fine and towing enforced. The signs and stepped-up enforcement this year are in response to the wider concerns in the neighborhood about festival impacts. The discussions started shortly after the close of the festival in 2017 and extended through the planning of the 2018 edition. “Make sure, best we can, people are not cutting through residential neighborhoods,” said Jenny Diersen, who is City Hall’s special events and economic development program manager. She said officials in November and December met with the taxi and shuttle industry in an effort to reduce traffic on residential streets in Old Town. The ride-sharing firms Lyft and Uber were also involved in the efforts to cut traffic, she said. Park City hired a company that will post staffers to enforce the restriction at key locaPlease see Streets, A-2 Health Department stars in supporting role Inspections, permits increase during fest, the county says ANGELIQUE MCNAUGHTON The Park Record As Rebecka Hullinger talks with High West Distillery’s Hospitality Director Ted Russell on Thursday in the foyer before the restaurant’s bi-annual health inspection, employees hurriedly prepare the space for service. The restaurant’s inspection happens to fall on the opening day of the Sundance Film Festival. The 10-day festival is often the busiest time of the year for Park City’s restaurants and caterers, with most hosting private events throughout the event. While the inspection coincides with the festival, Russell said the restaurant doesn’t treat it differently than other inspections. Hullinger, an environmental health scientist with the Summit County Health Department, starts behind the bar, checking the cleanliness of the space and ensuring the dishwasher is working properly. She uses small white strips to test the strength of the dishwasher’s sanitizer, as well as temperature, before moving on to the restaurant’s other main bar and the kitchen, making notes as she goes along. Hullinger said the film festival poses a unique challenge for the Health Department. She said the event is more hectic than others because of the mass quantities of food that are served to people at different locations. “There are a lot of outside caterers that come into town, and we have to Please see Health, A-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Rebecka Hullinger, an environmental health scientist with the Summit County Health Department, shows Ted Russell, hospitality director for High West Distillery, a chlorine strip displaying the sanitization levels of one of the dishwashers in the bar during an inspection Thursday morning. VISITOR GUIDE Sundance prepares to throw a Snowball Sundance will present the BMI Snowball at 8 p.m. on Jan. 23. The event will feature a lineup of BMI singer-songwriters including multi-talented actress, producer, singer and writer Rita Wilson. For information, visit www.bmi.com/sundance. |