“Does it get more Sundance than this?” Eugene Hernandez, the festival’s director, said at the opening night premiere of “Twinless,” which was being unveiled Thursday at the Eccles, Park City’s biggest venue. But the evening didn’t go off without a hitch. Shortly after Hernandez left the stage, a sizzle reel promoting the festival’s nonprofit arm had suffered sound problems. The moment was particularly unfortunate as the audio malfunctioned as the clip was introducing festival founder Robert Redford.
The house lights came up while sound was tested for five minutes. The film was quickly restarted, but the problem persisted throughout the screening to groans of “Nooooo!” from stressed audience members. Luckily, it didn’t derail the otherwise enthusiastically received film or the dual performance from Dylan O’Brien as twin brothers. Add to that extremely chatty Sundance tech and ground staff (not the volunteers, who were as warm and welcoming as ever in their one-of-a-kind Kenneth Cole down jackets), and it made for a disruptive kickoff. Technical glitches aside, the “Twinless” team seemed overwhelmed by their big moment.
“There are so many references for this film, but almost no references,” James Sweeney, the film’s writer, director, and star said. “At one point, the best way I could describe it was ‘Ingrid Goes West’ meets ‘The Cakemaker.’” A few seconds later, Sweeney sweetly stumbled and admitted to being overwhelmed. Herndandez swooped in with a brief breathing exercise.
There weren’t many moments for festival-goers to exhale during a packed opening day, filled with more than a dozen premieres. The flurry of activity seemed to be designed to show that the celebration of indie film is still going strong after nearly half-a-century, and there were plenty of the kind of memorable moments that have made Sundance so iconic.
Marlee Matlin had viewers dabbing their eyes at the sold-out screening of “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.” John Lithgow and Olivia Colman played a father and daughter in “Jimpa,” a touching drama about a family that seemed to defy the current MAGA moment with its sensitive portrait of LGBTQ+ life. And Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who had unveiled the Oscar-winning “Summer of Soul” during Sundance’s COVID era digital edition, finally got his Eccles premiere with “Sly Lives!” a boisterous examination of the enduring legacy of Sly and the Family Stone.
Throughout Park City, the mood was celebratory. However, there was an undercurrent of anxiety around the mountain resort. It was hard to escape the sense that both the festival, and the industry it spotlights, are in a period of transition. For one thing, Sundance is poised to relocate in 2027, possibly for Cincinnati or Boulder. Even if it stays in Utah, its base of operations will shift to Salt Lake City, which is better equipped to handle the crowds. At a pre-festival cocktail reception for press on Wednesday, Hernandez played coy about Sundance’s landing spot. “I used to be a journalist, and of course, I know there’s at least one specific burning question that you probably want to ask me, or that you asked me, and I’m going to tell you to answer that question,” he said. “The answer is no, not yet.”
There’s also the fact that film business, particularly the indie part of it, doesn’t have the same energy it did when Sundance reached its peak influence in the 1990s and early aughts. Streaming services, many of whom shell out big bucks to buy Sundance films, have upended the ways that movies are experienced. That’s left people more reluctant to go to cinemas, which is reflected in the steep declines in attendance — a change in behavior that only accelerated during COVID. Studios are cutting back on their spending, which could make it harder for the movies that premiere at Sundance to get the kind of backing they need to be seen. Media companies may have sent fewer envoys. Indeed, it seems like there have been fewer people on Main Street and reservations at restaurants throughout the resort, while still hard to obtain, weren’t impossible to come by.
Audiences were still eager to embrace the inspirational, feel-good films that have turned Sundance into a destination for cinephiles. During the afternoon premiere of “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore,” a revealing look revealing at the Oscar-winner’s life and career, Matlin seemed to feed off the energy off the clapping and signing of applause. Among those in the crowd were her husband, Kevin Grandalski, kids, Sarah, Brandon, Tyler and Isabelle, and “CODA” co-star Troy Kotsur.
“I felt it was time to tell my story and I knew she would tell it 200% in an authentic way,” Matlin said, gesturing toward director Shoshannah Stern as they took the stage after the screening. Matlin added that she specifically requested a deaf person to direct the documentary and knew Stern was the person for the job.
“I wanted to make this movie for Marlee and also for me and my younger self, and for all Deaf children out there,” Stern said through her ASL interpreter. “For them to have their own words to define the way they feel and know they’re not what the world has decided that they are.”
And at a festival that celebrates the rebels, the artists and the iconoclasts, is there anything more Sundance than that?