By: Katelyn S. Irons
Amid social tension and a lineup of seedy films, ten students from Taylor composed the 6th annual J-term trip to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
The Sundance Film Festival screened nearly 120 films over the eleven days it was held in Park City, according to ABC News. Two films stood out overall: "Fruitvale," a dramatic film, and "Blood Brother," a documentary, which both won jury and audience awards in the U.S. competition.
Other films also stood out, but not for the reason of excellence. The New York Times said the Sundance Film Festival 2013 was "marked by aesthetic ambition, a formidable female presence and enough on-screen sex to take the chill off."
Films such as "Lovelace" and "Two Mothers" had blatant sexual themes, including homosexuality and the pornographic industry. "(These films) had attendees wondering if the programmers had sexed up the festival or the world at large had," said Manohla Dargis of The New York Times.
Sundance 2013 had several strong critics. The Sutherland Institute is one of many conservative groups which object to the festival, according to the Huffington Post. "We are a family friendly state," said Derek Monson, Sutherland Institute Director of public policy, "and we endeavor to be so because we value the benefits that strong families bring to society." Monson is behind the institute's stance that the state should pull its funding from the festival.
Currently Utah is spending $300,000 to support Sundance, but is gaining $80.3 million through the festival according to a study by the University of Utah. It is unlikely that the state will give up this economic opportunity, according to the Huffington Post.
Outside of the social and economic controversy, many attendees, such as the group from Taylor, remained more concerned with the festival's artistic side.
"Even if we still disagreed with some aspects as it . . . relates to our faith . . . the intentions of most filmmakers at Sundance are simply to create, to express and to make beautiful stories that affect the audience in some way," said Jack Galbraith, senior film major who attended the festival.
Sundance released an official statement which read, "Audiences should find films that are right for them." Following in this spirit, Taylor students viewed an average of 16 films each during the festival. Taylor was represented by eight film students, a public relations major and a media writing major as part of an independent film course, said Kathy Bruner, co-chair of the Media Communication department and team leader for the Sundance Study Trip.
Unlike many Sundance attendees, the Taylor group participated in opportunities to integrate their film exposure with their faith. They attended the Windrider Forum-a faith and film forum at a local church-daily and wrote about "the intersection of theology and film," Bruner said. The forum had a time of Q&A with directors and writers who participated in Sundance, Galbraith said. "(Some) members of the team had a difficult time with some thematic material (since all films are essentially unrated)," Galbraith said, "but after discussing the major themes . . . most would understand its necessity, beauty or, if it truly was bad, gain a (sic) appreciation for it in some sense."
"Almost every one of the 15 movies I saw at Sundance had some sort of content I didn't agree with, but both documentaries and narratives are presenting stories about imperfect people," said Taylor Blake, a junior media writing major, "Sometimes their overall messages can be actually positive, even if there's some muck along the way of getting there."
"It's less about critiquing what so-called objectionable content might exist and more about how independent film can speak artistically and even sometime prophetically about what is both wrong and right with our world," Bruner said. To review the group's experience at Sundance, visit their blog at http://sundance.taylormediacomm.com/.
