Afflicting the Comfortable
How a few movies at the Sundance Film Festival opened a book lover's eyes to the transforming power of stories on the silver screen.
By David Swanson | posted 2/01/2007
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I like books. My wife likes movies. OK, that's too simplistic. I enjoy the occasional film and my wife always has at least one book going, but given the choice I'll generally bury my nose in a book. So how was it then that I spent last week in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival? And how is it that I watched 11 films in five days and loved every minute of it?
Started in 1978 as a small festival for independent filmmakers to show their work, Sundance has evolved into the premier stateside film festival, garnering attention from around the world. If you've heard the noise this year about Dakota Fanning in Hounddog, then you you've experienced the Sundance hype. Given what I read about the festival beforehand, including the buzz about this year's "it" films, it was surprising to find Park City rather subdued, less like Hollywood on Oscar night and more like, well, a bunch of normal folks interested in watching a bunch of films.
But how did the book-lover end up at the film festival? I was there mainly to take part in the Windrider Film Forum, which for three years has partnered with Fuller Theological Seminary, Biola University, and Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship to bring students and ministry folks to the festival.
We began each day with a teaching session led by Fuller professor and author Craig Detweiler. The sessions included teaching on God's general revelation, cultural analysis, and the history of Sundance.
Toward the end of the week we had question-and-answer times with the filmmakers of Trade, The Monastery, For the Bible Tells Me So, and Save Me. These discussion times were some of the highlights of the week, and impressed on all of us just how passionately these filmmakers feel about their work. Before this festival I was unaware of the number of documentaries, dramas, comedies, and experimental films that are made each year that will never be seen outside of a festival. No wonder these filmmakers were so excited to talk with us about their films!
A few weeks before the festival I received a description of the Sundance films from which to make my selections. It's hard to comprehend the number of films that show during the festival; while reviewing the list of award winners, I realized that I hadn't even heard of some of the films that won.
The Top Four … for Me
Over the course of five days I saw 11 films. While I appreciated each of them, often for vastly different reasons, four that rose to the top: War/Dance, Save Me, Trade, and On the Road with Judas.
A scene from 'War/Dance'
Directed by the husband-and-wife filmmaking team Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, War/Dance won the Documentary Director Award. This tragically beautiful documentary tells the story of three children from northern Uganda, refugees of war, who are given a chance to experience a part of their lost childhood through Uganda's national music and dance competition. Part Hotel Rwanda and part Mad Hot Ballroom, this film captures both the devastation of a country's civil war on its children and the resiliency of those same children when given a chance to experience meaning and significance.
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