Co-founded by actor Robert Redford, this event is held until January 29 in a station over 2,000 meters above sea level.

It is an essential launch pad for many independent films and documentaries.

After several online editions, Sundance is now the last major film festival to return to a classic format.

About 110 films share the bill this year.

Their creators are "very excited" to finally be able to meet in person, according to the festival's programming director, Kim Yutani.

“At the end of the day, that moment when the work meets the public is something that we all really cherish,” she explains.

"The filmmaker's apprehension before the screening, the fact of being in front of this audience, of experiencing the reaction and the questions and answers (...), nothing can replace that."

Documentaries

Documentaries are traditionally the cornerstone of the festival.

This year, one of the most anticipated is "Deep Rising".

Narrated by Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa, it dissects the worrying race to mine the seabed in search of rare metals useful for "green revolution" batteries.

Another American star, Dakota Johnson, lends her voice to the script of "The Disappearance of Shere Hite".

The documentary traces the forgotten story of the author of the "Hite Report", a pioneering study on female sexuality which sold millions of copies, but which sparked a violent misogynist reaction.

In the same vein, "Judy Blume Forever" tells how this American author introduced a generation of young girls to puberty and sex, but was attacked by conservative activists.

Ukraine and Iranian women are also honored by the festival.

"Iron Butterflies" examines the crash of flight MH17, shot down in 2014 by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine, and links the lack of consequences for those responsible to the current war.

The conflict is the subject of "20 Days in Mariupol".

The very personal "Joonam" follows three generations of women from the Iranian family of director Sierra Urich.

The feature films "The Persian Version" and "Shayda" also explore the stories of women in Iran and its diaspora, as the country is rocked by major protests.

Hollywood Stars

On the fiction side, Sundance focuses mainly on low and medium budget films.

But dozens of Hollywood stars will make the trip for a number of previews.

On Thursday, 'Game of Thrones' star Emilia Clarke and actor Chiwetel Ejiofor will present at opening night 'The Pod Generation,' a social satire set in the near future, where a company has invented a detachable womb, allowing couples to share their pregnancy.

Among other big names, actress Emilia Jones also returns to the festival, where she was spotted for the first time in the film "CODA", the Oscar-winning adaptation of the French film "La famille Bélier".

She plays this time in two new feature films;

"Cat Person", adapted from a famous New Yorker short story, and "Fairyland", inspired by a bestseller on the AIDS crisis in San Francisco.

For many films, the challenge of this festival is to find buyers among the major American studios, in order to be widely distributed.

But the bidding could be cut short: giants like Netflix and Warner Bros are currently imposing budget cuts on themselves, after spending unlimited amounts to inflate their streaming offer.

In this context, the directors could once again become the real stars of the event.

Many of them are thus from the "Sundance sector" and present their first feature film, after discovering the festival with a short.

"It's exciting for us to present so many new filmmakers," said festival director Joana Vicente.

© 2023 AFP