- The Sundance Film Festival began in 1978 as the Utah/United States Film Festival, an effort by Robert Redford and the Utah state government to showcase independent film. Management of the Festival was transferred to Redford's Sundance Institute in 1985, and it was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. It takes place in Park City, Utah, every winter, and has launched directors such as Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith. The Festival maintains specific entry requirements for filmmakers interested in competing.
- Sundance offers five official categories for films in competition, and each category has strict definitions of the kind of film that may be submitted. The U.S. Documentary competition includes 16 documentary films from American filmmakers. The U.S. Dramatic competition covers fiction films from Americans, and is also limited to 16 movies. The World Cinema Documentary and World Cinema Dramatic categories cover the works of international filmmakers; each contains from 12 to 14 films in competition. Finally, the Shorts competition covers any movie (fiction or documentary) less than 50 minutes in length (those longer than 50 minutes qualify as features). Eighty to 90 films are screened in the Shorts competition. All other films are screened out of competition.
- Sundance uses funding to determine if a film is considered U.S. or “World” cinema. If a film receives half or more of its funding from American sources, it’s a U.S. film. Otherwise, it’s a “World” film.
- Deadlines for the Sundance Film Festival vary according to year. Early deadlines are typically in mid-August, official deadlines are in early September, and late deadlines are in mid-September. The official Sundance site has the specifics for each given year; however, the stated dates are when the films need to be in the festival’s hands, not the dates by which the films should be postmarked.
- If your film has been rejected by Sundance previously, you can re-edit and resubmit it if you wish. You can also submit rough cuts of a movie, though it needs to be reasonably complete, and should include citations for missing scenes in order to better establish the film’s continuity.
- Sundance asks that a given film be completed within two years of the year you wish to submit it for the festival. In other words, if you want your film to be considered for the 2012 festival, the film must be completed in 2010 or 2011. By “completed,” Sundance means that you've finished the final cut; you can shoot footage earlier, but the film must be in the can within the set time frame.
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