Park City's Perpetual Performance

One tires, truly, of these announcements. The Sundance Film Festival, or rather, the Park City Institute’s annual exercise in curated cool, bestows its predictable honors. This year, Chloé Zhao receives the Trailblazer Award – a perfectly respectable choice, though one wonders if the Google sponsorship influenced the decision. Nia DaCosta and Geeta Gandbhir will share the Vanguard Award, a pleasant gesture, if somewhat diluted by sharing. The annual fundraiser at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley will undoubtedly be awash in gala black and the hushed tones of those who’ve ‘seen everything.’ One anticipates the usual bottlenecks on Deer Valley Drive and a relentless onslaught of publicists. It’s all rather…efficient. The guest list – a carefully calibrated mix of emerging talent and established names like Ethan Hawke and Tessa Thompson – suggests a commitment to maintaining the festival’s carefully constructed brand. Amy Redford’s presence, of course, is obligatory. The focus on Robert Redford, predictably, continues—his legacy is now more of a marketing tool than an artistic inspiration. One notes the Labs and Intensives get a prominent mention, as if to justify the considerable expense. The awards are fine, the films are... films. Ultimately, it’s the access that truly matters.