A fresh dusting of snow over Park City heralded the beginning of the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday. Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford opened the festival by characterizing the slate of 117 feature films as products of “dark and grim” times and the “suffering from a government that's in paralysis.” “Even though the work reflects hard times, there's not paralysis here,” the 75-year-old filmmaker said at an afternoon news conference. “They're breathing life into fresh, new stories.” The selection of films are “as diverse as they can be” and no overriding theme has emerged, said festival director John Cooper. “Independent film is the theme,” he said. For 11 days every January, Sundance becomes the focal point of the independent film world as established directors and stars mix with up-and-coming talent, while theatrical distributors prowl the festival looking for the next indie hit, and film lovers just have a good time being the first audiences to see new movies. “You can't make a film with a festival in mind, and it's not something I would have expected or taken for granted. But it's always kind of the dream in the back of your mind,” said Lauren Greenfield, who premiered her debut documentary “Thin” at Sundance in 2006 and returns this time with one of the opening-night films, “The Queen of Versailles,” chronicling the housing-bust story of a couple that tried to build a palatial 90,000-square-foot (27,000-meter) mansion. “I think it's this really magical environment, a place that's such a nurturing, supportive influence for independent films. Also opening Thursday is “Hello I Must Be Going,” actor-turned-director Todd Louiso's U.S. dramatic entry that centers on a love story between a 19-year-old man and a 35-year-old divorcee, and stars Melanie Lynskey; the world-cinema drama “Wish You Were Here,” a dark story of a vacation gone wrong from Australian filmmaker Kieran Darcy-Smith that stars Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer.
