How 3 Brands define the 2019 Sundance Film Festival
With the 2019 Sundance Film Festival® kicking off this week in Park City, Utah, many may not realize the three brands (company, festival and personal) behind this annual event. While this festival is only ten days (January 24-February 3, 2019), there is a year of planning that goes into this independent film celebration by the Sundance Institute®, Sundance Film Festival® team and the Leadership Team (Robert Redford, Keri Putnam and John Cooper). After covering Sundance for the past ten years as a reporter, here are our insights on how these teams put together a festival that defines “cool”.
From a 30,000-foot view, the festival’s focus is “connecting audiences with artists” by sharing the best “stories”. There is a “Power of Story” series of panels, including “Makers of the New Narrative Revolution” with Terence Nance (As Told To G/D Thyself, Random Acts of Flyness), Reggie Watts (Runnin’, Waves), John Gaeta (Magic Leap), Stephanie Dinkins (Not the Only One), and Sarah Ellis (The Seven Ages of Man, Royal Shakespeare Company).
Many say it is harder to get into the Sundance Film Festival® as a filmmaker versus attending Harvard. For the 2019 festival, there were 14,259 submissions, including 4,018 feature-length films. Out of the 112 films selected from 33 countries, 45 were made by first-time filmmakers. The nine competition categories include US Dramatic, US Documentary, Premieres, Park City at Midnight, Spotlight, NEXT, World Cinema Dramatic, World Cinema Documentary, New Frontier and Shorts Program.
Let’s take a closer look at three brands and the “story” behind this film festival.
Company Brand — The Sundance Institute® was founded in 1981 by Robert Redford. You may not know that it is a nonprofit organization “that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and media to create and thrive.” The Institute hosts Labs, awards grants, and has mentorship programs that are dedicated to developing new work year-round in the U.S. and internationally.
Film Festival Brand — The Sundance Film Festival® brand is widely recognized for finding groundbreaking filmmakers and films with global audiences over the past three decades. Films discovered at Sundance include The Big Sick, Mudbound, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs and sex, lies, and videotape. The festival is just one of the programs of the Sundance Institute®.
Personal Brands — Even though Robert Redford announced that he’s stepping back as the “face of Sundance Film Festival” at the Opening Day Press Conference on January 24, 2019, his personal brand will remain part of the legacy forever as the founder. Each year the Opening Press Conference includes the festival leaders at the world-famous Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah, on Main Street. Each of these individuals have personal brands as champions of filmmakers telling stories. Featured speakers included Robert Redford, President & Founder, Sundance Institute®; Keri Putnam, Executive Director, Sundance Institute®; John Cooper, Director, Sundance Film Festival®; and Kim Yutani, Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival®.
For the film competition, everyone involved in the awards program also represents the festival brand. There are juries with judges for each category, who will decide the award winners. To watch the awards via livestream, go to sundance.org on Saturday, February 2, 2019. Actress Marianna Palka will host this awards ceremony. The juries include filmmakers such as Academy Award Winner Damien Chazelle, who went through the Sundance Labs, and Director and Wrote La-La Land and Whiplash (that won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival).
You’ll also find festival branded items such as fun Sundance Film Festival® hats, t-shirts and a moose wearing the event colors in the on-site shops and online. The keywords for this year’s festival include Challenge, Question, Break, Experiment and Risk Independence.
With nearly 125,000 fans attending the festival in 2018 (Salt Lake Tribune), over 100,00 fans are estimated to participate this year in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. Along with attending films, there are thousands of brands sponsoring events and lounges, just to be associated with film industry influencers (talent, press and digital stars). One of our favorite stops in the Canon Lounge on Main Street.
As for navigating the festival, getting into movies and events, it is another story that we could write a whole book about because it is an art. To take you there, we did just release a new branding book called, “8-Second PR: Energize Your Story for Ultimate Media Success!” that does include behind-the-scenes scoop for how to get into parties and press events. This how-to-promote your brand book is written with a 360-view as an author, red carpet reporter and public relations professional with case study examples in multiple industries.
If you are not at Sundance now, make a plan to attend the 2020 Sundance Film Festival® that will take place from January 23 to February 2, 2020. You can learn a lot about branding at the festival, and we want your personal brand to be as unstoppable as this global film festival.
