2011 Sundance Film Festival

10,279 films were submitted. 3,812 feature films were submitted, including 1,943 from the US and 1,869 internationally. From these, 118 feature films were selected and include 95 world premieres. For a full list of films appearing at the festival, see List of films at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. YouTube Screening Room 12 short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and 8 "classic" shorts were available to watch online at the YouTube Screening Room. Each series is scheduled to run for 6 weeks, beginning January 6, 2011, through February 3, 2011. Launched on January 6, 2011 were shorts from past years by filmmakers with feature films at this year's festival. The short films, directors, and current films include: • By Modern Measure by Matthew Lessner, The Woods • Little Farm by Calvin Reeder, The Oregonian • Countertransference by Madeleine Olnek, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same • Choices by Rashaad Ernesto Green, Gun Hill Road The January 13, 2011 launch included shorts developed at the Sundance Institute Feature Film Labs: • Conversion by Nanobah Becker • Pandemic 41.410806, -75.654259 by Lance Weiler • Pop Foul by Moon Molson, Crazy Beats Strong Every Time • Sikumi by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, On the Ice Scheduled to launch in 3 parts on January 20, January 27, and February 3 are short films from this year's festival: • 8 Bits by Valere Amirault, Sarah Laufer, Jean Delaunay, and Benjamin Mattern • Andy and Zach by Nick Paley • Close. by Tahir Jetter • Excuse Me by Duncan Birmingham • Jupiter Elicius by Kelly Sears • oops by Chris Beckman • Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 by David & Nathan Zellner • Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul by Orlando von Einsiedel • The High Level Bridge by Trevor Anderson • The Hunter and The Swan by Emily Carmichael • Xemoland by Daniel Cardenas • ''Yelp (With Apologies to Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"'' by Tiffany Shlain) ==Awards==

• Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - How to Die in Oregon • Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - Like Crazy • International Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking - Deeper Than Yesterday All of the awards were announced January 29 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony, which was hosted by Tim Blake Nelson near Park City. ==Juries==

The 23 jury members, which award prizes to films, were announced on January 17, 2011. Presenters are followed by asterisks. U.S. Documentary Jury • Jeffrey Blitz • Matt Groening (*) • Laura Poitras • Jess Search (*) • Sloane Klevin U.S. Dramatic Jury • America Ferrera (*) • Todd McCarthy (*) • Tim Orr (*) • Kimberly Peirce (*) • Jason Reitman (*) World Documentary Jury • José Padilha • Mette Hoffmann Meyer • Lucy Walker World Dramatic Jury • Susanne Bier • Bong Joon-ho • Rajendra Roy Alfred P. Sloan Jury • Jon Amiel • Paula Apsel • Sean M. Carroll • Clark Gregg (*) Short Film Jury • Barry Jenkins • Kim Morgan • Sara Bernstein Helen Fisher was initially announced as a member of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize Jury, but was not included in the final list of jurors. Additional award presenters included Ray Liotta, Joshua Leonard, and Vera Farmiga. ==Festival theaters==

• Park City • Eccles Theatre - 1,270 seats • Egyptian Theatre - 290 seats • Holiday Village Cinema I - 164 seats • Holiday Village Cinema II - 156 seats • Holiday Village Cinema III - 156 seats • Holiday Village Cinema IV - 164 seats • Library Center Theatre - 478 seats • Prospector Square Theatre - 336 seats • Redstone Cinema 7 - 175 seats • Redstone Cinema 8 - 193 seats • Temple Theatre - 314 seats • Yarrow Hotel Theatre - 295 seats • Salt Lake City • Broadway Centre Cinemas IV - 211 seats • Broadway Centre Cinemas V - 242 seats • Broadway Centre Cinemas VI - 274 seats • Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center - 495 seats • Tower Theatre - 349 seats • Sundance Resort • Sundance Resort Screening Room - 164 seats • Ogden • Peery's Egyptian Theatre - 840 seats Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. On January 27, 2011 the festival sent 9 filmmakers to 9 cities across the US to screen and discuss their films. The cities and films included: • Ann Arbor, Michigan at Michigan Theater - Win Win, and post-festival: Cedar Rapids • Brookline, Massachusetts at Coolidge Corner Theatre - My Idiot Brother • Brooklyn, New York at BAM - Kaboom • Chicago, Illinois at Music Box Theatre - The Music Never Stopped • Los Angeles, California at Vintage Cinemas Vista Theatre - The Details • Madison, Wisconsin at Sundance Cinemas Wisconsin - Like Crazy • Nashville, Tennessee at The Belcourt Theatre - Letters from the Big Man • San Francisco, California at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology • Seattle, Washington at The Egyptian Theatre - Cedar Rapids ==Reception==

Bob Tourtellotte of Reuters wrote "Sundance 2011 has proven to be exceptionally strong, audiences and filmmakers seem to agree." Tourtellotte reported that Robert Redford said that three years ago the Sundance Institute "set out to get back to its roots of supporting alternative voices in cinema and he felt like this year that strategy paid off." Redford said "This year, what has excited me, is I think the quality is increasing in diversity and is increasing in depth." Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times, wrote "though the festival has gotten ever bigger — and (thankfully) more efficient in moving its close to 50,000 attendees in and out of its far-flung theaters — it still retains the scrappy, antic spirit that has animated it from the start." Turan wrote "One of the paradoxes of Sundance is that the quirkiness and charm around the edges of the festival are not always fully appreciated because so much of the media focus is on the premieres section and the U.S. dramatic competition" which he said "are, frankly, often the weakest parts of the festival." Jada Yuan of New York magazine wrote "perhaps the biggest highlight of the festival is just how ripe it's been for acquisitions, with nearly 30 films getting picked up, the most at any Sundance ever." On "why everyone is suddenly so bullish on independent film", Owen Gleiberman wrote that the "energy and optimism at Sundance this year wasn't just hype." He said the factors he thought were driving a new evolving vision of the indie film world included: "The deals haven’t gotten cheaper — they've gotten smarter", a belief that last year's new festival director John Cooper and director of programming Trevor Groth "have re-energized the festival, heightening its quality and organizing the movies with a tempting new shape and vision", video on demand gives distributors a safety net and more confidence, and the audiences for Sundance movies are not going away, saying "The Oscars...have become a testament to the central place that Sundance movies now occupy." ==Acquisitions==

Redford was happy about the success of the festival, with about 45 films being sold vs 14 in 2010, an increase of about 220%. Tom Hall of indieWire wrote "Following one of the most critically successful years in the festival's history, a year that saw Blue Valentine, Winter’s Bone, The Kids Are Alright, I Am Love, Animal Kingdom, Enter The Void, Please Give, A Film Unfinished, Gasland, Restrepo, Exit Through The Gift Shop, Waste Land, Last Train Home, The Oath, The Tillman Story and many others find tremendous acclaim, 2011 always had its work cut out for it", saying "after looking at a strong year at the indie box office for last year's films, reasonable, level-headed deals were popping up all over Sundance.". Acquisitions at the festival included: • Anchor Bay Entertainment • The Big Bang • Dada Films • The Last Mountain • Focus Features • Pariah • Fox Searchlight Pictures • Another Earth • Sound of My Voice • Bengali Detective (remake rights) • The Art of Getting By (Homework) • Martha Marcy May Marlene • HBO • Knuckle (remake rights) • IFC • Buck (through Sundance Selects) • The Ledge • Perfect Sense • These Amazing Shadows • Salvation Boulevard (with SPWA) • Liddell Entertainment • Silent House • Lionsgate • ''Devil's Double'' • Magnolia Pictures • I Melt With You • Page One (with Participant Media) • Maya Entertainment • All She Can (Benavides Born) • Motion Film Group • Gun Hill Road • National Geographic Channel • Life in a Day • Oscilloscope • Bellflower • Paramount • Like Crazy • Participant Media • Circumstance • Roadside Attractions • Margin Call (with Lionsgate) • Project Nim (Lionsgate has DVD rights, HBO has overall rights) • The Future • Sony Pictures Classics • The Guard • Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold • Take Shelter • The Weinstein Company • The Details • My Idiot Brother ==References==