The Sorry State of Sundance

I have, from time to time, bemoaned the rather... poor quality of student films shown in festivals. And I freely admit that mine aren't all that great either. But that's because I tend to try to do things with just a few non-filmmaker friends with a zero budget. And thus far, we've done pretty well for ourselves.

And for all I hear about Sundance, I expect quite a bit.

Well, if you've ever wondered what Sundance films are like, you can watch ten Sundance selections for free on iTunes until the 25th by going here.

NB: These are Sundance films, so please be advised: The content is not acceptable for all audiences. I've only watched a couple of them thus far and have already encountered plenty of f-words, some nudity, a story with homosexual pedophilia, and gratuitous gore. You have been warned.

John August and
Scott Simmons

Granted, I have yet to watch all of them, but I can see why these are free. The ones I've seen aren't worth money to watch. In fact, several movies from the 48 and 24 hour projects I've been involved with have turned out better.

These films suffer from all of the beginner mistakes: Too long, poorly cut, terrible audio, lame direction, and overall bad story telling (if there's a story at all).

I expected more.

If anything, it should give us all hope: If this is what they are accepting into Sundance, anyone... anyone can get in. So get out there and make your movies, friends. You are not far behind the "Official Selections"--and often outstrip them.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father