Every year, industry execs flood the streets of Sundance hoping
to find the next great filmmaker, temporarily transforming the
snow-covered mountains of Utah into the Hollywood hills. The
constant wheeling and dealing of Sundance puts insiders like
Hollywood’s Weinstein brothers into the warm auditoriums but
leaves the average festival-goers out in the cold.
On every Friday in July, the Sundance Institute attempts to
change this by showcasing a selection of short films at the UCLA
Hammer Museum in the series “Sundance Summer Shorts.”
Since the beginning of the series two weeks ago, over 1,500
filmgoers have ventured to the Hammer in order to get a taste of
Sundance here in Los Angeles. The final screening is this Friday,
in a self-explanatory collection dubbed “The Nonfiction
Faction.”
Before its start at the Hammer, the series played in the Museum
of Modern Art in New York, garnering attention for its broad
assortment of short films as well as the unique experience of
watching them in a beautiful museum.
However, the Hammer’s open courtyard allows for a
film-going experience completely different from New York.
Encouraging visitors to bring picnic dinners and lounge before the
screening, the programmers at the Hammer hope to create a fun,
vibrant atmosphere unlike the tense hysteria at the actual Sundance
Festival.
“The Hammer’s courtyard is a beautiful space where
people can have dinner, be comfortable and watch films,” said
James Brewley, the head of public programs at the Hammer.
Unlike many other film festivals or screenings in Los Angeles,
this series focuses solely on the short film, a very difficult
genre, according to Sundance short films programmer Roberta Marie
Munroe.
“It’s a very difficult genre of filmmaking where you
need to have a beginning, middle and end in a short time,”
Munroe explained. “The films showcased are the best of the
best.”
The nature of short films as a distinct art form plays right to
the objectives set forth by the Hammer Museum.
“At the Hammer we want to support new and emerging
forms,” Brewley commented. “This series hopes to
highlight the genre and bring an informed and intelligent audience
that appreciates quality.”
The unique experience, coupled with the large film-going crowd
in Los Angeles, has attracted throngs of people inside the
Hammer’s doors. Brewley attributes the strong reception to
the Sundance brand name and all it entails.
“This is the kind of program that sells itself,”
Brewley explained. “People come to expect a certain level of
programming at the Hammer, and this is it.”
The popularity of “Sundance Summer Shorts” not only
brings attention to the museum, but also to the films showcased and
their prospective directors.
“It’s kind of a kiss of death to be in
Sundance,” Munroe quipped. “Being in Sundance gives off
this perception that you don’t need help, thus screening your
work in Los Angeles is a great way to get noticed.”
The filmmakers themselves agree that screening films in Los
Angeles can help open doors.
“The series is giving us another opportunity to reach
another audience,” explained Vasco Nunes, co-director of
“Recycle,” one of the seven shorts being screened this
Friday. Other co-director Ondi Timoner echoed the same sentiment as
her collaborator, stating, “Sundance was an incredible
incubator, and Los Angeles is another launching pad.”
With more and more people discovering their films at the Hammer
this summer, it won’t be hard to imagine these filmmakers
pushing the Weinsteins outside at Sundance in the future.