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The Question Concerning the Cooptation of the Sundance Film Festival: An Analysis of the Commodification of Independent Cinema

The Sundance Film Festival has transformed from being a fringe festival to a leading showcase for independent cinema. This research shows that studios now descend upon the festival to acquire films for commercial distribution. The Sundance Film Festival seems to currently operate as a marketplace for films rather than an independent festival. This research seeks to examine how Hollywood studios have been able to infiltrate and commodify independent projects from the Sundance Film Festival and what the potential ramifications are for emerging independent filmmakers seeking to have their projects screened at the festival. In other words, have Hollywood studios coopted the Sundance Film Festival and if so, what does this process look like? This research seeks to answer these questions through an analysis of Sundance Film Festival data and interviews with festival informants.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-1479
Date01 December 2009
CreatorsCottrell, Matt Dee
PublisherDigitalCommons@USU
Source SetsUtah State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceAll Graduate Theses and Dissertations
RightsCopyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact Andrew Wesolek (andrew.wesolek@usu.edu).

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