Following the wonderful success of the digital 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where a record number of tickets got sold, the Sundance Institute has announced a hybrid plan for its 2022 fest. The dates announced for next year’s event will be from Jan. 20-30. Next year’s fest will be both in-person in Park City and online. More to come …
I had skepticism going into this year’s all-virtual Sundance Film Festival, but count me as wholly impressed by the way they pulled it off. This should be the way every other festival does it digitally this year. The streaming was smooth, the sense of community very present and the quality of the movies was, surprisingly, decent. Especially given the fact that most of the titles that screened this year were shot in 2019. That won’t be the case next year, which is why they’ve expanded the fest back to its original 11-days of screenings.
Quality could be found, albeit sparsely, but, again, given the fact that most indie productions have been shut down for most of the year, it was quite an accomplishment to find strong cinema with the likes of “Passing,” “Luzzu,” “In the Same Breath,” “Summer of Soul,” and “Pleasure.”