From Sundance To Smash Hit The Lines Between Independent,Mainstream Cinema Are Quickly Blurring

The route to summer movie success starts a long time before the popcorn cookers get lit. In some cases, the efforts begin years before.

All along the various development steps, though, there are moments that stand out. In terms of one of last summer’s biggest hits, the low-budget horror film “The Blair Witch Project,” one important step took place on a frosty Saturday midnight in Park City, Utah.

Park City, as you might already know, is the site of the annual Sundance Film Festival, which begins its 10-day 2000 run on Thursday.

It was then (last January, midnight) and there (Sundance) that an audience of committed film fans — for who else would brave the late hour lines and freezing temperatures just to see a no-name movie? — rewarded “Blair Witch” with its first burst of attention.

Those of us who failed to make the scene were, for the next few days (in some cases months), subjected to the taunts of those in attendance who bragged that they had seen what had to be the best, most frightening horror film ever made.

Well, all arguments about the relative worth of “Blair Witch” aside, one fact is clear: Its word-of-mouth success at Sundance earned the film a wide-spread summer release, not to mention an eventual $140 million (and change) at the box office.

Not bad for a black-and-white movie made on a shoe-string budget. Not a bad display of influence, too, for a film festival that is widely regarded as the finest showcase of American independent cinema.

Independent cinema? Those are the films that used to play at the gone-but-not-forgotten Magic Lantern, right? The kinds of films that now half-fill The Met once or twice a month? The kinds of films that seldom, if ever, play the houses that AMC or Regal run?

The very ones. But, as “Blair Witch” proves, the line between independent and commercial is becoming more and more blurred.

In its two-decade-plus existence, Sundance has evolved from a small festival that keyed on retrospectives and filmmaking seminars into a fully formed celebration of contemporary cinema. In 1985 the festival (founded in 1978 as the Utah/U.S. Film Festival) was transplanted some 35 miles east, from Salt Lake to the ski-resort town of Park City. It also expanded its schedule by adding international films to the annual lineup.

Sundance today is a virtual franchise, with Hollywood star Robert Redford still serving as its spiritual (if no longer actual) head. The name Sundance is plastered on everything from promotional ski caps to a cable television channel. The organization that oversees it all, the Redford-founded Sundance Institute, funds a number of filmmaking programs, including a special Native American Forum that helped Sherman Alexie develop the script that eventually became “Smoke Signals.”

And the locally filmed “Smoke Signals,” you may recall, ended up winning a couple of festival awards three years ago.

What great film will emerge from the lineup being offered this year? It’s anyone’s guess.

But we could start with the opening-night selection, “What’s Cooking?” Directed by Gurinder Chadha, an Englishwoman of Indian descent who now lives and works in Los Angeles. “What’s Cooking?” could be described as an example of how American independent film is going global.

Set during the archetypal American holiday, Thanksgiving, Chadha’s film - which she co-wrote with Paul Mayeda Burges - tells the story of four L.A. households. Each family, African-American, Jewish, Latino and Vietnamese, approaches the holiday in its own specific way.

Writing for the Sundance Web site (www.sundancechannel.com), Geoffrey Gilmore calls “What’s Cooking?” “an uplifting cultural chorale.”

For contrast, there’s “American Psycho,” Mary Harron’s adaptation of the controversial Bret Easton Ellis novel about a New York stockbroker who, in his spare time, indulges in an occasional serial killing spree. Christian Bale plays the title role; Harron previously directed “I Shot Andy Warhol.”

More mainstream is Ben Younger’s “Boiler Room,” the soon-to-be-released study of a corrupt stock-selling business, starring Giovani Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long and Ben Affleck.

All three films are premieres, as are a number of others, including: Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides” (starring James Woods, Kirsten Dunst), Alan Rudolph’s “Trixie” (starring Emily Watson, Dermot Mulroney, Nick Nolte, Nathan Lane), Emilio Estevez’s “Rated X” (starring Estevez and his brother Charlie Sheen) or Michael Almereyda’s updated adaptation of “Hamlet” (starring Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan and Julie Stiles).

But premieres are only one reason why people go to Sundance. Those in the business go to find the unknown projects, the “Blair Witch” wannabes. They also go to make contact, finagle deals and yell at underlings on their cell phones.

The rest of us go merely to watch. The objects of our attention are mostly movies, but they include the occasional movie star - which this year will include many of those mentioned above but also early Oscar favorite Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty”), who will be on hand to receive a special award.

Mostly, though, we go because Sundance, whatever it eventually will become, is still the heart and soul of American independent film. And we feel the need to be there.

Sundance may not be Disney, and it’s certainly not “Stuart Little.” Even so, aspects of it may be coming soon to your neighborhood movie house.

As the good scout says, be prepared.

If you’re just now thinking of attending this year’s Sundance Film Festival, better reconsider. Park City is a small town of 6,500 year-round residents that, this time of year, gets flooded by some 20,000 festival-goers and skiers. Most lodging, both there and in Salt Lake, was booked months ago.

Even worse, tickets to most movies are already sold out, although a certain number are released for each day for purchase. Otherwise, you have to arrive at least an hour early for the show you’re interested in and hope for the best.

Still, true movie fans can always find a way to get what they want. One cool thing about Sundance is that a free festival shuttle runs at 10-minute intervals between all six Park City theaters. That’s in addition to the Park City bus system, which also is free.

You can get the basic information you need by accessing the festival Web site at www.sundancechannel.com. Or you can call the festival box office at (801) 322-4033.