Independents Day

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Product Details

Format : NTSC
Binding : VHS Tape
EAN : 9780767016803
Product Group : Video
Release Date : 2002-06-01
Studio : Sma Distribution
UPC : 733961944037

ASIN : 0767016807

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com

So you wanna be an independent filmmaker? Then listen now to what Living in Oblivion director Tom DiCillo says: "Get a good haircut, good wardrobe, and a good publicist." And then head to Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival, where Hollywood suits vie for bragging rights to the discovery of the next Steven Soderbergh or Quentin Tarantino.

Independent's Day is the next best thing to being there. If Sundance is indeed "a monster," as founder Robert Redford has said, then Marina Zenovich's irreverent chronicle of the 1997 festival takes viewers into the belly of the beast. Make way for the film critics and the cell-phone-toting studio executives, the bedraggled filmmakers carrying their precious films around in Glad bags, and the actors looking for indie cred. (Hey look--it's Tori Spelling!) Ever since Soderbergh scored an unprecedented Hollywood windfall with sex, lies, and videotape in 1989, independent filmmakers have "set their clock" by Sundance. In 1997, this film informs us, 800 films were submitted to the festival, up from 50 in 1985. From breakout successes such as Neil Labute (In the Company of Men) and Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy) to lost-in-the-shuffle obscurities such as Jeremiah Bosgang, Independent's Day captures the exhilaration and gallows humor of the Sundance experience. Zenovich also detours to the alternative Slamdance Festival, which was created for films rejected by Sundance, and the alternative to the alternative, Slumdance.

For aspiring filmmakers, Independent's Day is an inspiring primer. Consider what one director suggests: "Anyone asks, tell them you went to film school. Preferably Canadian. No one knows anything about Canada anyway." --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Interesting, But Lacks Depth (2004-05-26)

Independent's Day is a brief film shot on less than a modest budget. Interspersed between candid interviews with dozens of novice filmmakers are cuts of the infamous week at the Sundance Film Festival. Notable comments are made by Sydney Pollack, Robert Ebert, actress Parker Posey, director Steven Soderberg ("Sex, Lies & Videotape") and many others. Robert Redford appears briefly in archive footage from past Sundance events. There is much to hear from these young filmmakers, such as the horror stories of impossible deadlines, going into great debt and other hard luck stories, only to have their film dismissed and lost forever. More interesting is the offspring event for independent filmmakers like "Slamdance", a vital alternative to Sundance. It's worthy to note that in 1987, 50 films were submitted to Sundance and 800 were submitted in 1997. This is a direct result of the huge success of previous Sundance award winners. It would have been nice to have heard more stories of the parties and the extent to which filmmakers will go to get their films made. Some of them are outrageous. For a short, 'independent' film, this documentary slightly satisfies, but falls short when considering what it might have been. A fitting example of what happens to most of the Sundance entries.

A great documentary for those interested in independent work (2000-03-13)

Is a great documentary, because it shows how Sundance Film Festival works. Interviews with new and not so new in the film arena directors. Is inspiring to see all kind of people talking about their work and points of view about the festival. What they gave for being there, what they won, what they lost. I ask to Director Zenovich to make a second part of this video, because with the new Digital Revolution, it would be interesting to see the impact in the film festivals, compared with the time when she did the current video (1997), when digital revolution had not begun yet.

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