It always amazes me how quickly Main Street in Park City starts shutting down in the middle of the festival. All of the big parties take place around the first weekend, and by today many of the storefronts that have been reimagined as festival party rooms, interview rooms/swag stops for the stars and gathering places for filmmakers are closing down.

It has been a noticeably quieter festival this year. Streets are not nearly as crowded as in in the past, and it has been much easier to make reservations at restaurants. Some of this is being attributed to the lack of snowfall for skiers, but real skiers usually stay away during Sundance due to the crowds.

Antonio Campos, Pat Kaufman & Brady Corbet

One place that was busier than ever this year was the New York Lounge. Right up until the signs were being taken down last evening, it remained a popular destination for filmmakers and festival goers to meet up for coffee and conversation. Later  in the afternoon, Film Commissioner Pat Kaufman was meeting with Antonio Campos, director of the much talked about “Simon Killer”, and his star, indie darling Brady Corbet.

An exhausted team from NY State that had worked non stop in the upkeep of the lounge celebrated their most successful year yet.

The end of a long day for the film commissioner

Even with less of a crowd on the streets, sales have been brisk, which is great news for filmmakers. IFC Films acquired North American distribution rights to Josh Radnor’s “Liberal Arts”, which co-stars Elizabeth Olsen, Alison Janney and Richard Jenkins. Sony and Samuel Goldwyn Company have partnered to acquire the delightful “Frank and Robot”.

Other festival sales this week have included ” Me at the Zoo”, “Queen of Versailles”, ” Searching for Sugar Man”, ” Black Rock”, “For A Good Time Call…”, “The Words” and “Indie Game: The Movie”.

In all, a very healthy sales environment will keep Sundance as a continuous source of rich content for distributors. A quieter remainder of the week will follow, but hopefully there will be more announcements of deals as the week moves toward the close this weekend.

Celebrating a successful year for the New York Lounge