Independent Film v Hollywood

This years Sundance film festival has brought an overwhelming amount of Hollywood stars to Salt Lake City to participate in the event. A film festival where once only independent and reasonably unknown filmmakers roamed is now home to a good chunk of Hollywood. Hollywood actors show up in more and more films, and some Hollywood heavy hitters show up in the crew credits as well.

With the new trend of Hollywood actors and key players getting involved in Sundance I have to wonder if it’s taking away from what the festival is. The point of Sundance was for small filmmakers to get exposure for their films, to get them distributed to be known. If you throw a bunch of already known people in the mix, doesn’t that in some way push out the unknowns whom Sundance was designed for?

I personally am a filmmaker. I have yet to make a film worthy of even attempting to enter it in the competition. I fear however at this rate by the time my film is ready for Sundance, they festival will be so full of Hollywood I will no longer be able to compete.

So, which is better? To have a film festival where only small named actors and small named directors work together on low budget filmsOR to have a film festival where some of the smaller names work alongside the bigger names in Hollywood to put on a great festival where the majority of the films walk out with distribution?

I’m on the fence with this one right now