John Cooper Director of Sundance Festival

Are you especially proud of this success? Yes I am. It is always nice to have confirmation of my belief in these films. I also know these filmmakers so I am very excited to see what it does for their careers. I hope it means there is a place for these films on the global stage and not just the American scene. I am always excited to see the Cannes lists when they come out.

Humpday is a buddy movie, Amreeka discovers America from a different point of view, I Love you Philip Morris provokes as a homosexual comedy, and Precious gives hope to the outsiders of this world. Is the selection of those specific titles mostly based on their fresh, unique storytelling? Fresh unique storytelling is utmost. They are hardly classic genre movies, but they each play with these genres in inventive and creative ways. I guess what I am saying is these films are not as they seem at first look. One thing is true, even with their diverse budgets they demonstrate excellent filmmaking.

I Love you Philip Morris left Sundance without a distributor. Is it a sign of our times that a film starring Jim Carey and Ewan McGregor would struggle to find its way to Hollywood? Let’s get real here. This is “one crazy ass” movie. I love it because it looks like other movies, even down to its cast (which was a brilliant choice) but it is really not at all like other movies when you get to its story and style. This film is meant to keep you off guard, not allow you to become a complacent viewer. It is not a “sure thing” for a commercial venture. I strongly sense the filmmakers and stars knew this going in. Picking up films like this takes real courage and clear expectations.

The 2009 Berlinale line up received mixed reviews and the Cannes programmers have been accused for gathering the “Dream Team” under its competition umbrella and, therefore, overshadowing new talent. Is there a happy medium? I didn’t go to Berlin but for Cannes that dream team is hard to resist! Of course there is a medium, but a “happy one” does not sell papers, as they say. I feel for festivals that work so hard and find nothing but criticism. But I also believe in film criticism and consider it a necessary part of the fabric of what we do. For me - I choose to read criticism, try to see if there is any truth in it and make it part of what I think about when putting together the festival. My pet peeve is when journalists start summing up your festival before all the films have shown.

This year Cannes is hosting films from countries that had to wait a long time to make an appearance on the Croisette, such as Malaysia and Greece. How important is diversity for a festival? I imagine other festivals feel as I do: we all desire diversity. We yearn for it. But you also cannot sacrifice a level of excellence or you are letting down your audience. Festivals have to have very clear ideas of who their audiences are. This does not mean that we are not constantly striving to push the envelope every chance we get.

You are attending “Meet the New Sundance” on the 17th of May at the American Pavilion. What should we expect? Trevor Groth has just been appointed Director of Programming. I want people to meet him and see us both in new roles. I want anyone who is interested to get to know us a little better, see that we are passionate people who believe in the bigger mission of the Sundance Institute…that art is vital to our society.

Eftihia Stefanidi