The Sundance Film Festival does not currently have a specific plan in mind for its 2021 edition, but all indicators point towards it being a very unique edition of the Park City-based event — in other words, it will be a much smaller affair than in years past, with limited screenings.
What we do know is that Sundance 2021 will go from being a 10-day festival to just seven days, taking place from January 28 to February 3. Betsy Wallace, the Sundance Institute’s managing director, and CFO, appeared before the Park City city council Tuesday to get these plans signed off, which include a drastically reduced amount of space for parking, ticketing, and office space Sundance is planning on leasing from the city.
The key point I deduced from today’s announcement was that screenings for next January’s fest will be reduced to 25 percent capacity in Utah, and involve a heavy digital component. Furthermore, if it’s “safe” again, an assortment of world premiere screenings will happen in a number of U.S. states all around the country. All this for a festival happening six months from now. Do organizers really believe things won’t go back to normal by late January? You bet and so do most realists.
This past edition of the Sundance Film Festival wasn’t the most remarkable one, in fact, it was somewhat underwhelming, but, as it stands, it still screened some of the best movies I have seen all year (theatrically or digitally) — Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Palm Springs, The Truffle Hunters, Blood Nose Empty Pockets, The Assistant, and The Killing of Two Lovers.