Sundance Film Festival 2022 Takes On Diversity & Making an Impact for First Day
The Sundance Film Festival brings movie lovers and creatives together for a 10-day event that premieres film, art, and sound. Usually held in Park City, Utah, but due to the pandemic, this year has been moved virtually. As a result, moviegoers, press, and creatives could watch their desired films on their screens.
The Festival Director Tabitha Jackson said that the institute was reimagining this year’s festival as ‘10 Days of Difference’.
“It’s important to highlight diversity and inclusion in the film festival,” she said. “We want to make it into a celebration to come together and make a meaningful difference.”
Jackson stated that Sundance Institute, which puts on the festival, wants to support the artists as a transformative force in various cultures.
“Society has changed but we adapt, thrive, and see it as an opportunity for future generations,” Jackson said.
The Director of Programming Kim Yutani talked about the film submissions and how it was great to see the artists speak to several cultural levels and audiences.
“We’ve seen a lot of entries dealing with trending topics that are important to the world today,” Yutani said. “There’s been topics highlighting climate change, politics, cultural issues in Latin America, reproductive rights, and fighting for justice.”
The documentary, ‘Alone’, highlights mass incarnation in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Picture by the Sundance Film Festival Institute).
These topics were shown especially in the short films. One of those films was “Alone”, directed by Garrett Bradley. The 13-minute film highlighted the mass incarnation rate in the Black community in New Orleans, Louisiana. Alone touches on the shaping of the modern Black family. The main focus was on Alone Watts, whose fiancé and love of her life, Desmond, is in jail.
Desmond reassures Watts that she is all he needs and that he wants to marry her. This news troubles Watts as she’s not sure if she’s ready to be a wife of a man who’s set to be in jail for at least 10 years.
When asked how she thought of herself, she had nothing but positive things to say about herself.
“I am attractive, beautiful, fabulous, and there’s a glow about me,” Watts said.
Desmond and Watts decide to marry the following weekend after the initial conversation and asked the warden to allow the wedding to occur in the jail. However, when she shares the news that she and Desmond planned to wed with her family, they were not pleased with Watts’ decision.
“If he’s a real man, he’ll say, ‘Wait till I get out,’” Watts’ mother said. “You have so much going on for yourself.”
The New Orleans family is all too familiar with the realities of seeing loved ones put away. The mother reveals that she saw people get thrown into jail, and doesn’t want her daughter to go through the same thing as her.
The warden denied the couple’s request; something that gave Watts a sigh of relief.
“Without my mother’s blessing (for the wedding), it was like God’s intervention,” she said.
Despite this setback, Watts continues to wait for Desmond to get out of jail. She said that she knows that she’ll live a lonely life with this reality.
“I will be held by time, connected by love, and alone in love,” she said.
The Sundance Film Festival will continue virtually until January 31, 2022.