john hazlett is the producer of The Suburbanators, which was invited to this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

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park city, utah: From its humble beginnings, Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival has grown to almost mythic proportions over the years. The mecca of the independents has changed accordingly with the shift in the American independent film community itself. Independent film now runs the gamut from grainy ultra-low-budget projects to slick big-budget films with major stars attached.

The festival has certainly received its fair share of criticism in the last few years for ‘losing touch with its roots’ and becoming an annex to Hollywood, but again, this is an offshoot of the debate raging within the independent community.

This year’s festival was bigger and more overcrowded than ever with multiple representatives of every major film company and talent agency in attendance.

Haggard acquisitions people were often seen walking about with 1:1.66 eyes after having screened 20 films in five days. Despite the size of the event, festival staff were very filmmaker-friendly, and Redford’s speech at the filmmakers’ brunch, ‘This is your festival’ seemed to ring true. There were larger more monied films at the festival but this was offset by a good selection of smaller films.

A panel discussion that I participated in (on international film production) seemed to expose the major points of contention inherent in the festival. The discussion began with a vociferous attack on American cultural imperialism by the producer of Carrington and was rounded out by similar sentiments from Brazil, Australia, China and Canada.

The audience reaction was varied, but the line of thought was united: stop bashing the studios and work on alternatives.

Another point, extremely well taken, was the fact that the smaller American independents are in the same situation as filmmakers around the world and perhaps worse off because of the lack of government support in their struggle to make films outside of the majors.

It was a strong reminder that not all American films are studio products or have major backing. It was also a reminder that we do have certain advantages in Canada with Telefilm, the provincial agencies and, in our particular case, the film co-ops.

Sundance is specifically an American film festival, and as such, Canadian films participate as foreign films in the World Cinema category. The focus of the media is squarely on the competition films and it is hard to get anyone’s attention. But it’s not a bad place to meet people from the Canadian media looking for a national angle.

This year, three Canadian features participated, House, Rude and The Suburbanators. There were also several Canadian films in the shorts program: Why and Your Name in Cellulite.

Films from Canada were also heavily present in the Beyond Borders: New Native Cinema section. Included were Borders, The Hero, The Three Sevens and Home. All the Canadian films were well attended and received good word of mouth.

Taking a film to this festival seemed a bit daunting at first, but once things were in full swing it became manageable. Myself and the director of The Suburbanators, Gary Burns, stayed for the entire festival, and due to the absence of a distributor or press agent in our lives we spent a proportionate amount of our time slogging through the snow postering the town.

The festival is a great opportunity to schmooze a highly concentrated group of movers and shakers from the l.a. film world. We firmed up contacts made at the Toronto International Film Festival and got a sense of what’s going on.

Alliance and the Consul General of Canada hosted a Canadian filmmakers dinner during the festival which included Norman Jewison. Charlotte Mickie, Alliance International’s senior vp international film sales, was there representing international sales for House and Rude.

It was good to see a bit of solidarity amongst the Canadians and it was a welcome opportunity to eat and drink on Alliance’s tab.

There was no Telefilm presence at the festival this year due to cuts at the festivals office. Telefilm did, however, ante up a small amount of cash to offset the travel costs of attending directors. There were, as far as I know, no big deals signed by the Canadians at the festival, but with the prestigious reputation of Sundance attached to a film it’s bound to make the going easier in the American market down the line.

There were the usual film biz goings on and a few films attracted big attention as various companies wrestled for rights. An Australian film, Shine, was the subject of a nasty bidding war between New Line and Miramax leading to a much-talked-about scene in a restaurant. New Line won out in the end and cut a cheque for $2.5 million for the film.

Another big story was the $10 million acquisition of Care of the Spitfire Grill, which was alternately described as ‘brilliant’ and ‘a maudlin melodrama fit for the Family Channel.’

Many stars were in attendance, some promoting projects screening at the festival, and others just hanging out. There were your usual massive festival receptions and parties including much finger food and drink, although the Utah liquor laws closed the bar at 12:30 which occasionally caused panic amongst the participants.

At the same time as Sundance there is the upstart Slamdance festival going on in the heart of Park City. Slamdance, founded last year by some brash filmmakers who didn’t make the cut to Sundance, is gaining momentum and is an interesting addition to the overall frenzy.

Although not talked about in polite company it did seem to draw an audience and there were several films in it that received some attention. Slamdance’s international section is definitely an alternative worth checking out for Canadian filmmakers in the future.

When all is said and done and the dust has cleared, Sundance is still, despite the rumors, the most important film festival in the u.s. As far as Canadian films go, Toronto is still the real launching pad where media and industry attention is more attainable. Sundance is, however, another step on the journey to gaining a foothold in the American market as well as being a good party. You can also bring your skis and enjoy some of the world’s best snow conditions.