Indie

So I'm a little late to the game on this one, but Geoffrey Gilmore announced on Monday that he is leaving Sundance for Tribeca...offical March 1.

It's an announcement that has left the independent film community reeling (pun intended), as the Sundance Film Festival chief is as synonymous with Sundance as Robert Redford.  Naturally, the fact that Gilmore is departing the non-profit Sundance for the for-profit Tribeca is leaving people scratching their heads...everyone's wondering what it means.

But let's not kid ourselves, Gilmore has been dropping hints that he was growing restless with independent film.  Before last month's Sundance festival, Gilmore wrote,

"Is the independent arena creatively moribund and/or has the audience itself changed either because of a generational shift or simply a transformation in pubic taste?"

He continued in the piece for indieWire, "It's difficult to say whether a new generation will continue to harbour the passion for film that we had.  Independent film has broken a lot of ground and had a lof of success in the last two decades.  But what was innovative then is now familiar."

Okay, I get it Gilmore.  You're disillusioned with independent film, but why the move to Tribeca then? Which has some indie content but is far more commercial than Sundance.  Gilmore's "defection" is certainly unleashing speculation about the widening rivalry between the two festivals.  The two festivals stir up an East Coast vs. West Coast, Tupac and Biggie-like battle for the film world, and people are definitely wondering if Gilmore's departure is representative of something more. 

I'm sorry to see Gilmore leave Sundance, as I've always prefered it over Tribeca.  That said, I wish him the best, and I hope that Gilmore's move east will end up being the opportunity he's looking for.

Tags: film festival, geoffrey gilmore, robert deniro, robert redford, sundance, tribecca

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 6:08 pm and is filed under Festivals and Conferences, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.