PARK CITY, Utah — "In the Bedroom," a wrenching family drama, has emerged in recent weeks from the clutter of year-end movies to become a strong contender in Hollywood's annual race for the Academy Awards.
Its distributor, Miramax Films, has trumpeted the film in television, radio and newspaper advertisements as one of the year's must-see movie experiences, listing all the awards and nominations it has already received, including a Golden Globe nomination for best motion picture drama. But "In the Bedroom" did not begin as a studio release. It was picked up at last year's Sundance Film Festival, the annual celebration of American independent movies founded two decades ago by actor Robert Redford's Sundance Institute and held each winter in this picturesque mountain resort.
As the 20th annual edition of Sundance hits full swing here this week, the search for Oscar-worthy films has become part of the landscape, reflecting a "home run" mentality, as one filmmaker puts it--whether it's in pursuit of award-type films or big box-office payoffs--that has swept over this festival in recent years. Some say it is at odds with the original intent of Sundance.
This year, about 200 features and documentaries will play at Sundance--along with dozens of other films at the festival's unrelated satellites such as Slamdance and Slumdance--with as many as 20,000 filmmakers, fans and journalists expected to attend. Major festivals such as Cannes, Toronto and Berlin have become crucial to the marketing of movies, but it's Sundance that has the most direct ties to Hollywood because of its links to studios and American filmmakers.
The festival's growing importance to Hollywood also reflects the sea change in the film industry over the last quarter-century, as movies open on thousands of screens, living or dying on their first weekend in release, and blockbusters are made by dumbing down scripts so they will appeal to teenagers who flood the megaplexes each weekend.
In the past, Hollywood studios regularly turned out epic productions like "Ben-Hur" and "Lawrence of Arabia" that could be counted on to become best picture candidates at the Academy Awards. Today, the studios seem more consumed with creating and marketing blockbusters, whether it's the computer-enhanced wizardry of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and the upcoming "Spider-Man"; green-lighting risk-averse sequels like "Rush Hour 2" and "The Mummy Returns"; or relying on star-driven fare like "Ocean's Eleven."
