Lauren Greenfield's new Feature Doc, The Queen of Versailles, which garnered her a Best Directing Award at this year's Sundance in Park City, has been chosen as one amongst a select 14 films to screen at the first ever Sundance London.
Trevor Groth, Sundance Director of Programming told Variety, "We wanted not only a mix of narrative and documentary films, feature and short films, but also films from a variety of sections of our festival in Utah -- Premieres, U.S. Competition and even our New Frontier experimental section."
John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, said in the Guardian yesterday, "We're a mission-driven organisation, so we are always looking to extend the audience for American independent films. London is the perfect venue. We have a long history with UK films, and probably show more British titles than any other films from outside the US. So there's a natural affinity. But I'm also interested to explore the differences between UK and US independent cinema." He went on to say, "I've been working at Sundance since 1989 and we've obviously seen a lot of changes in that time. But the mission has always stayed the same. It's a festival for artists who are outside the mainstream. Despite all the changes in exhibition and distribution, there is still something great about just getting people together in one place. That's why festivals still matter. It has to happen on a bricks-and-mortar, person-to-person basis. That's where the fresh ideas take root."
The Inaugural Sundance London Film Festival runs from April 26-29 at O2 in London. The 4 day event will begin with appearances by Robert Redford himself, and renowned musician T Bone Burnet. The London iteration of the festival will place a particular emphasis on music as well as film.
