As part of their grand experiment, they gave themselves permission to fail. “Some things aren't going to work because we're trying a lot. We're trying to maintain the energy of the festival by rolling out films in a certain way and making sure we have human connection by having a live Q&A for everything.”
One of the boldest of this year’s experiments is a new platform called New Frontier, which allows hundreds of people to gather, watch, and discuss XR experiences. “It's the very definition of when we talk about Sundance as a place for imaginative possibility,” says Jackson. “Shari and her team ran with that and built this extraordinary thing.”
Jackson says it’s too soon to say which experiments will become part of a new paradigm. “But there are things I would find inconceivable to pull back on, the main one being the reach of the festival, and the accessibility for people who, for whatever reason, physical, geographical, financial, could never think of coming to Sundance Film Festival on the mountain.”
Now more people than ever can experience their first Sundance and be part of the conversation as the first audience to see premieres. “Everyone who sees these films, or these talks and events and panels can play a role in carrying them further out into the culture. So why would we ever go back on that?”
Jackson’s new vision created the opportunity to rethink their environmental footprint as a programming team that travels the world to meet filmmakers. “This year, we had a virtual visit to Africa, where we met a ton of filmmakers we never would have if we were trying to get around physically. Now, as a global society, we’re more used to thinking of [virtual visits] as the first kind of interaction.”
Inhabiting different perspectives
This year’s changes also make it clear what can't be replicated online.
“There’s something in being together, hearing the laughter of an audience when a film is playing," says Jackson. But she hopes that by reaching a wider community—"one full of multiple perspectives, multiple languages, whether that's the language of cinema, or the language we speak to each other"—the festival can add to a larger conversation happening in the world.
“There are things that we share that make it obvious how connected we are,” Jackson says. “What we share is the air we breathe. At a time when there is such division in the world, [it’s about] getting to a place where we respect the difference. It's the difference that adds value. It's not that everyone needs to think the same. It's the opposite. It's that we can inhabit different perspectives, and come together through that. It's ‘Oh, you see this from where you are? I see this from where I am. So I see something different. Therefore, what does that mean for us?”
Jackson thinks that question is embodied in the physical shape of this year’s festival “by having it not simply be audiences who have managed to get to the top of the mountain to see these films in Park City. It's also audiences from around the US. The accessibility and ability to encounter these films for the first time from where they are from, makes me very excited to see what's going to come out of it.”
To check out the Sundance Film Festival’s new online platform, visit festival.sundance.org
To read about the making of this year’s films, visit our Sundance 2021 Featured Collection.