The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

There is a Christmas song that I remember listening to frequently as a child. It was from an Andy Williams Christmas album that my family played over and over on an old big console stereo. In one of the songs from the album Andy sang out (backed by an overly jubilant choir) the lyrics “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” As a child Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year. I still enjoy Christmas but I no longer feel the same child-like intense anticipation that I used to feel. Now I feel that anticipation for the third week of January each year when the Sundance Film Festival begins. For 10 days my world is filled with wonder and excitement. I look forward to each film just as I would look forward to my Christmas presents – sometimes I get just what I want, sometimes I get something much better than I had expected, and sometimes I am dazzled by the flashy promotion a film is wrapped in only to be disappointed when it doesn’t live up to its promise.

I am a longtime Festival attendee. I hate to date myself because that forces me to acknowledge the fact that I really am getting old, but I first started attending the Sundance Film Festival during my college days. That was just over 20 years ago! Since then I have attended the festival every year missing only once – the result of a poor decision to move to California. During those early years I’d see a couple of films during each festival but it didn’t take long for the addiction to sink its hooks deep into me. Before long I was buying festival ticket packages and passes and seeing an average of 30 feature films and a dozen or so shorts during the festival. I’ve seen as many as 44 feature films during a single festival. The adrenaline rush of the festival experience gets me through it all but I always end it exhausted. But for me it is all worth it.

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival begins today. Based on the current plan I’ve laid out for myself I will be seeing 40 films. I’m sure I’ll see some great films, but the film that I’m most excited to see this year is one that is screening outside of competition as part of a recently added festival category called “Spotlight”. Sundance added this category last year to feature films that have been popular at other film festivals during the last year. Susanne Bier is a Danish filmmaker that I absolutely love and her new film “In a Better World” will be screening in this category and I can’t wait to see it. I’ve got a “thing” for Scandinavian cinema – particularly Danish films. I’m not sure why they speak to me the way they do. Maybe I was Dane in a previous life because something about the Danish culture and worldview resonates with me. And of the contemporary Danish directors, Susanne Bier is my favorite. She came to Sundance in 2003 with her film “Open Hearts” and again in 2005 with “Brothers” which won the World Cinema Audience award that year. Ms. Bier is also a member of the World Cinema Jury at this year’s festival.

For any of you out there that enjoy international cinema and can’t make it to the festival but still want to have a Sundance experience, I highly recommend that you take the next 10 days to watch the films of Susanne Bier on video. My personal favorite is “Brothers”. Don’t confuse the recent American remake with the much superior Danish film which she both wrote and directed. Her film is immensely better in every respect. So whether you liked or disliked the remake, see the original Danish film and I promise that you will not be disappointed. And if you didn’t see the remake, then you didn’t miss a thing and jump right into the 2005 film.

Susanne Bier’s films currently available on video are:

• Open Hearts
• Brothers (Brodre)
• After the Wedding (Academy Award nominated)
• Things We Lost in the Fire (her only U.S. made film)

With my demanding viewing schedule, it will be too overwhelming for me to post reviews or commentary during the festival. However after the festival, I will post my overall impressions of this year’s event and a list of what I consider to be the best and worst of this year’s festival program.