1989-PRESENT US Film Festival to Sundance

Sundance 1989 was the last year that the U.S. Film Festival had that name in Park City, Utah Film lovers, journalists, and low level industry people would go to discover the next big thing 1989 festival celebrated both Cassavetes and Charlie Chaplin Heathers and Sex Lies and Videotape also screened that year

sex, lies and videotape (1989) Greatest impact on Indie Cinema Showed unfinished Standing Ovation Bidding war (Harvey and Bob Weinstein of Mirimax won) Budget $1.2 million Box office $24,741,667 Made Mirimax a player in the Indie market Showed studios that Indie movies were good business “The Right movie at the right time”

Underground Underground and midnight films went away (mainly due to video rentals) Horror thrived during the 80’s 1981 Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead Budget $90,000– 400,000 (est.) Box office $2,500,000 (est.) 1984 Wes’ Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street Budget $1.8 million Box office $25,504,513 [1] [1]

Spike Lee “We have to tell our own story” “She’s Gotta Have it” (1986) Started 40 Acres and a Mule Production Company Budget $185,000 Box office $7,137,502 (USA) Hollywood titles: School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Malcom X, 25 th Hour, Inside Man, When the Levees Broke (HBO) “Mars” “Mars”

The 90’s Independent Film was a big business New Line (Nightmare on Elm Street) was a true ministudio Mirimax kept growing and was purchased by Walt Disney studios (Good Will Hunting and Scream) Universal purchased October Films Sony formed Sony Pictures Classics Fox formed Fox Searchlight

Big Business at Sundance Sundance became “the engine of the indie system.” Filmmakers would alter production schedule to meet the Sundance deadline Little movies found distributors there to help with marketing Without promotion movies started to get lost in an increasingly crowded marketplace Studio backing increased the overall popularity of Indie movies in the country By the time Bill Clinton became president most cities had arthouse theaters who showed Indies

Slacker, Rick Linklater Didn’t get admitted into Sundance He opened the film himself in Austin, TX 23,000 to make and earned 1,228,108 Plotless Unique structure (chain letter) Was able to shoot over an extended period Distributed by Orion Classics

El Mariachi 1993 Robert Rodriguez 7,000 budget (sold his body to science to raise part of the money to make it) A young mariachi is mistaken for a hit man and is propelled into a series of shootouts Edited on two VCR’s Tried to sell it to the straight to video Spanish language market Gave it to an agent and it was sold to Columbia studios for 150,000 and Rodriguez received a 600,000 deal Budget $7,000 Box office $2,040,920 [2] [2]

Clerks (1994) Kevin Smith Surprise hit of Sundance Sundance, Cannes Good marketing strategy made it successful Budget $27,575 $230,000 (post) Box office $3,151,130

Todd Haynes Poison won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance Safe (1995) was barely noticed in the box office “Plays like a TV movie, but ends up being a critique of the self-help movement as well as the dehumanizing effects of modern society” –Merritt Next film: Velvet Goldmine 1998

Quentin Tarantino Worked at a video store Hong Kong action films, French New Wave, Sam Fuller, Martin Scorsese Sold scripts for True Romance and Natural Born Killers Reservoir Dogs, non-linear script (ultra violent) Started production on another script and was able to secure a big name: Harvey Keitel That allowed him to secure 1.5 million Didn’t win prizes at film festivals, but it got people talking Pulp Fiction million budget over 200 million

Richard Kelly's "Donnie Darko" Set in 1988 Issues with distribution, because it was set to release after 9/11 and it features a jet engine falling from the sky “Years of midnight screenings at theaters around the country and the film’s impressive success on DVD — taking in more than $10 million to date in U.S. sales alone — have turned what was once a confusing and oblique failure into a confusing and oblique cult hit. “ -- Dan Kois Dan Kois

' How many times can you show 'Pink Flamingos' and 'Eraserhead'? Phil Hartman,The Pioneer Theater “pastiche of horror flick and teenage comedy references” “Darko may or may not be insane” “enters an alternate universe that may or may not actually exist” “involves the complexities of time travel -- wormholes, tangent universes and so forth”

Unlikely rise of the film Received its first media attention when it opened in England Fascination with the 80’s there A song on the soundtrack a cover of Tears for Fears’ Mad World made it to the top ten Drew Barrymore who helped produce the film (and distribute it through her own company: Flower Films) says that she is approached all the time about Donnie Darko