Park City, UT: While word on the streets of Park City, UT was that this year’s Sundance Film Festival (Jan. 16-26) fare lacked the punch of past festivals, the 2003 fest was remarkable for Canadian filmmakers. Twelve Canadian films screened here, including six dramatic features (compared to two last year) as well as a host of short films and documentaries.

Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore, who makes an annual pilgrimage to the Toronto and Montreal fests in search of films, says he often finds a wealth of content in Canada. ‘I’m always conflicted – there’s always more [Canadian] stuff to show than we have room for.’ Gilmore believes there is a ‘renaissance’ in Canadian filmmaking taking place and that the evidence is in his 2003 program.

Two films made their world debut in the prestigious Premieres section of the festival: Richard Kwietniowski’s $10-million feature Owning Mahowny (distributed by Odeon Films), starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Thom Fitzgerald’s AIDS drama The Event (distributed by Thinkfilm). Fitzgerald, a Nova Scotia resident, says that the placement of his film in the Premieres section helped to raise its visibility. ‘This is my third film here at Sundance… the first two were in the World Cinema section, which means that they were one of two or three English-language films playing to a much more obscure reception.’

The Event, made for under US$500,000, stars Sarah Polley, Don McKellar, Olympia Dukakis and Parker Posey. And while the film received weak reviews from critics, the public response was favorable, albeit relative to the film’s somber subject – viewers left the screening in tears hugging each other for support. The film’s next stop will be at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

Strong native presence

Other Canadian films that screened this year include Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity, Vancouver-based filmmaker Mina Shum’s latest foray into Chinese-Canadian culture. Toronto’s Jennifer Baichwal also presented her compelling doc about a photographer and his lifetime obsession shooting Kentucky ‘hillbilly’ families in The True Meaning Of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachia. At press time, both films were in negotiations over U.S. distribution.

Three of the four films in the Native Forum section were Canadian, including Alanis Obomsawin’s latest documentary Is the Crown at War With Us? and newcomer Darlene Naponse’s experimental feature Cradlesong. And in the shorts program, Montreal native Douglas Bensadoun presented his charming poetry-pic At the Quinte Hotel, starring singer Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip.