Let the fests begin.

"Beginning only a week apart, the Sundance Film Festival (January 15 - 25) and the Rotterdam Film Festival (January 21 - February 1) will wake the American and European film industries out of their holiday stupor with the year's first cinematic unveilings." Anthony Kaufman does a bit of comparing and contrasting at indieWIRE, quoting contributor Stephen Garrett: "It's like night and day."

The winter festival season has begun, with the lineup for the Berlinale (February 5 - 15) beginning to take shape and indieWIRE's Brian Brooks and the Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov already peaking ahead to a decidedly political picks at SXSW (March 12 - 20) in Austin.

But of course, today, it's all about Sundance, especially at indieWIRE. Wendy Mitchell introduces the eighteen first-time feature filmmakers in the fest while Eugene Hernandez offers advice: "How to Survive and Thrive in Sundance."

The official online fest won't be the only one in Park City. As Jason Silverman writes at Wired News, Slamdance's Anarchy and TriggerStreet.com will also be presenting films.

Posted by dwhudson at January 15, 2004 2:44 PM