Park City, 1/23.

"And on the fifth night, the wallets opened," writes David M Halbfinger in the New York Times.

"It happened maybe a day later than last year, but the acquisitions floodgates have opened a bit at the Sundance Film Festival." Filmmaker's Scott Macaulay has news and pointers; indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez has the names and the numbers.

"At the halfway point at this year's Slamdance Film Festival, few films have emerged as consensus favorites among festivalgoers," writes Brandon Harris for Filmmaker. "So far, the documentary competition seems to boast a much stronger roster of titles than the narrative side. Although it hardly qualifies as a market, in this year's of cautious buyers in Park City, no films have picked up significant sales buzz, the way The King of Kong did at last year's festival, where it sold to Picturehouse before it's first screening."

"Sundance ranks among the youngest of major film festivals, both in the average age of its filmmakers and of its attendees, which on the one hand makes it a reliable nexus of new filmmaking voices, and on the other makes it susceptible to more than its share of Salinger-lite exercises in adolescent naval-gazing," writes Scott Foundas in the Voice.

At Cinematical, Kim Voynar reports on the Women in Film panel - and she's got pix.

Stephen Garrett's blogging from Park City for Esquire.

Photos: Shawn Levy (more) and Ray Pride.

Online listening tip. Matt Singer and Alison Willmore assess the fest so far at IFC News.

Posted by dwhudson at January 23, 2008 3:55 PM