This week, the Gateway Film Center and the Columbus film industry are presenting the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, which takes place Jan. 28 to Feb. 3. The Gateway Film Center is one of 33 venues chosen by Sundance Film Festival to showcase this year’s lineup. 11 films will be debuting in Columbus.
A notable aspect of this year’s festival is that the Gateway Film Center and Columbus film industry’s collaboration with Sundance will allow local filmmakers to get their work out to more audiences, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is an amazing opportunity to showcase Columbus to the world,” says John Daugherty, film commissioner and director of Film Columbus. “Even though there will be limited in-person screenings, it still adds Columbus to an extremely prestigious list of filmmakers, venues and cities.”
Film Columbus, which is in a partnership with Wexner Center for the Arts, will be showcasing the work of three local short filmmakers who all received Art Unites Cbus Awards. The Art Unites Cbus Awards is a juried, paid contest in which photographers and filmmakers entered their visual accounts of the Black Lives Matter Protests in Columbus and/or their documentation of the art that stemmed from the protests.
The contest is a part of the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Film Columbus collaboration, sponsored by American Electric Power, and the three films that received the Art Unites Cbus Awards will play on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 3 p.m. Admission is free.
The three films are As a Matter of Black by Donte Woods-Spikes, Blue Rebellion by Cristyn Steward and Our Voices – The Sounds of the Silenced by Sterling Carter. Each Black filmmaker received $5,000 to produce these short films about the Columbus Black Lives Matter protests.
As an independent film organization, the Wexner Center for the Arts supports the Sundance Film Festival coming to Columbus.
“Columbus's commitment to film and filmmakers is long, deep and special, and the Wex is thrilled to have played a part in that legacy,” says Johanna Burton, executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts.
On Saturday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m., the Wexner Center for the Arts will present its short film showcase, Ohio Shorts, which is also free to attend.
The partnership between the Gateway Film Center and Sundance Film Festival comes at a point of economic downturn during COVID-19, in which the local film industry has struggled.
“This industry is a great vehicle for Columbus and Ohio for recovery from COVID. It’s widely recognized that recovery from this horrific pandemic will take years. This industry spends a lot of money immediately upon arrival,” says Daugherty, “and that money is quickly spent where it’s needed most, like hotels, food service and hospitality.”
All access passes and tickets to the 2021 Sundance Film Festival at the Gateway Film Center can be found on the Gateway Film Center website.
Helen Widman is an editorial assistant. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
