A cool post from Indiewire about Sundance '08 buzz

PARK CITY '08 | Buzzing About The Buzz and Managing The Chattering Class as Sundance Approaches

by Steven Rosen (January 15, 2008)

The Sundance Film Festival, which opens Thursday, is where the new year's buzz starts for independent and specialty movies hoping to become arthouse hits. Last year's Sundance worked for "Waitress," "Once," "No End in Sight," "The Savages" among others, but how does the buzz get started at Sundance? Or, more to the point, how do some films get on festgoers' short list of must-see titles even before the event begins? Such advance buzz can be a leg up for those films since, according to Sundance's press office, 121 feature-length entries are being shown this year. With 87 being world premieres, 14 North American premieres and 12 U.S. premieres, most are unknown quantities. Further, there are 55 first-time filmmakers, including 32 in competition. And as reported yesterday in indieWIRE, there are some 100 films on the market for potential U.S. distribution.

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