In a lot of ways Utah is a bit of a cultural wasteland, but for ten days in January it becomes the center of the film world which almost makes up for the other 355 days of the year. Last year N and I got a Sundance Film Festival ticket package and saw some great movies. It was a lot of fun. We bought a ticket package again this year and will be seeing at least 6 films. A friend asked me to do a post about some of the ins-and-outs of going to Sundance as a local and while I’m definitely not an expert I’m happy to share what I do know.
There’s a listing of the various types of ticket packages and passes available to Utah locals here. Unfortunately, the Film Lovers Package and the Locals Quick Pass (the two best options if you wanted to go see a lot of films) are already sold out. (I guess I should have done this post sooner–sorry, Erica!)
But don’t dispair, there are still good options left. You can buy individual tickets to screenings at either the Park City or Salt Lake City box office. BUT, you need to register ahead of time and then you’ll be assigned a time to show up at the box office in person. You have until this Friday, December 4th, to register and then you’ll receive an email with your time slot. They won’t let you give a friend your time slot and the address you register with has the match your driver’s license. Basically, if you don’t show up for your time slot you’re out of luck. So if you’re planning on going with a bunch of friends it might be a good idea to have everyone register individually to see who gets the best time slot.
That’s all well and good, you say, but you’re interested in seeing some of the best films from the festival for free? Well there’s a way of doing that too.
Every year they have a few free “Best of the Fest” screenings where they show films that won festival awards to locals. It’s their way of saying thanks for putting up with all the hassle of dealing with the crowds and traffic and such. You have to go line up for tickets in person on January 16th and 17th and they give them out on the first-come-first-served basis. Details are here at the very bottom of the page.
The films will be announced this Wednesday, so check out the web site then. There’s practically guaranteed to be something playing that you’d like to see. So if you’re interested, start making arrangements now to attend a screening (i.e. register before this Friday to buy tickets).
I’ll do another post when N and I make our list of things we want to see.