Everyone was buzzing in Filmmaker Lodge this morning. Yes, the coffee and crisp air helped, but mostly the crowd for the kickoff of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival was just excited to be together again.
In the audience it felt like a family reunion with hugs being the primary way everyone greeted each other as they walked into the inviting space, and onstage it was a homecoming for the whole group: Joana Vicente (Sundance Institute CEO), Eugene Hernandez (Director of the Sundance Film Festival and head of public programming), Kim Yutani (Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming), and Jason Blum (Blumhouse Productions CEO).
Watch the full event below in which the team goes deep on the 2024 Festival slate, their favorite moments of Sundance Festivals past, and Jason Blum’s tight connection and thrill about our All-Time Top 10 Community list.
“I think Sundance is a vital part of the entertainment ecosystem and I think it's undervalued in that way and I think without Sundance, the United States would not be where it is today in entertainment and I don't think enough people make that connection.”
“To have this opportunity to have this past year, shaping this Festival and this program with Kim and the incredible team of programmers, we have assembled a program that includes movies that deserve to find their audience. These filmmakers are ready and these films are ready for their audience…we have a slate that is ready to meet its audience.”
“I think Sundance is always a place of renewal, a place of discovery, and the films are so compelling that we are very hopeful that they will connect with audiences and the measures of success are different for each film…what I can say — in terms of the slate that the team has put together — is that it’s a really incredible, exciting, and fresh slate.”
“One of the wonderful things about Sundance is the collective experience we have in movie theaters…to feel the energy from the audience and that is what reminds me of what we do so well, and what we will always do. And it's such a privilege to do this job and help launch the careers of filmmakers. Year after year I see filmmakers before and after they get that standing ovation, they get their manager, their film gets bought — we have countless stories of the filmmakers who have their lives changed.”
