Park City’s history with film festivals goes back to 1981 when the Park City Film and Video Festival debuted. By 1985, Robert Redford took over and rebranded the world-famous festival as Sundance.
Paying homage to the festivals' origins, the series opened with “The Return of the Secaucus 7,” at the Kimball Junction Library Monday.
As one of the organizers of the Lost Gems of Sundance Film Series, Rick Brough recounts, it was one of the 12 films in that first year’s independent program. It was directed by newcomer screenwriter and novelist John Sales.
“'The Return of the Secaucus 7,'” which is about a group of friends who were radicals on campus back in the day, and they are getting together again, and all the different relationships and issues between them kind of surface," he said. "And it's sort of a dramedy. It is the first film directed by Sales who has become a significant presence as an independent new voice.”
Along with co-organizer Destiny Grose, the two chose what they thought was a good representation of films from the past four decades.
“We wanted to do a documentary. So, 'Murderball' was definitely a choice,” Grose said. “Something light and fun in February - that's 'Waitress,' which is amazing. It was a film that became a musical, that became a musical film. And then we looked at 'Living in Oblivion' for March. Interesting - Peter Dinklage, back in the day - a lot of people know that he came for [the film] 'Station Agent,' but I think this was probably his first time at Sundance with 'Living in Oblivion.'”
Each screening will include a short introduction and a discussion following the film. The organizers are also interested in hearing from others about favorite films they’d like to see during the next run of the next “Lost Gems” series.
“We want to get people thinking about the idea of the lost gems, their lost gems of Sundance,” Brough said. “What picture did you see at the festival that was memorable? You loved it. It stuck in your mind. But after the festival, it disappeared into the mists of time. And you say, ‘What? What the heck happened to that movie?’”
Starting in January, the films will be screened for free on the first Thursday of each month at the Kimball Junction Library at 6 p.m.
