The Sundance Film Festival

Every January, Utah hosts(1) the Sundance Film Festival. Films are shown in three locations: Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance. The Festival has its origins in the Utah/US Film Festival that was created in 1978. Later, in 1985, the Festival became part of the Sundance Institute and was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. It is now the second largest showcase(2), after Cannes, for independent cinema in the world. Some of the films that were shown for the first time at Sundance include Sex, Lies and Videotape, El Mariachi, Reservoir Dogs and The Blair Witch Project.

The Sundance Institute is an organisation dedicated to the support(3) and development of emerging screenwriters(4) and directors of vision, and to the national and international exhibition of new, independent dramatic and documentary films. It encourages(5) the development(6) of artists of independent vision and the exhibition of their new work. The Institute offers artistic and professional resources to filmmakers, writers, playwrights(7), actors and composers so that they can develop their work in an atmosphere of support, collaboration, freedom of expression and freedom to experiment. The Institute was founded in 1981 by the actor Robert Redford and is located in Sundance, Utah.

Sundance is a canyon where, centuries ago, the Ute Indians used to go to spend(8) the hot summer months of the year and to hunt(9) the abundant game(10). In 1969, Robert Redford bought a lot of this land from a family of Scottish immigrants, who had settled(11) the canyon in the early 1900’s. Redford saw his new land as an ideal place for environmental conservation and artistic experimentation, and so Sundance was born.

If you want to learn more about the Sundance Film Festival, check out the official website.

(1) ser la sede de, (2) escaparate, (3) apoyo, (4) guionista, (5) anima, (6) desarrollo, (7) dramaturgo, (8) pasar tiempo, (9) cazar, (10) caza, (11) colonizado