What To Watch For At The Sundance Film Festival

Celebrating its 31st year, the festival has steadily outgrown its indie-film roots to showcase emerging and established talent in art, music, television, film and new media. All kinds of installations pop up during the 10-day event to lure movie lovers and the Hollywood crowd, from Sundance-sponsored panel discussions to concerts, parties, dinners, gift suites, even camera and car showrooms. (Watch on the Sundance website.) Another special program, "Misery Loves Comedy," features comics and filmmakers weighing in on whether feeling blue is a prerequisite for being funny. There's Slamdance, a film festival that runs concurrently during Sundance that focuses on experimental approaches and emerging talent. Major media outlets (including The Associated Press) station photo and video studios near the temporary lounges set up to welcome the stars. If skiing at one of the nearby resorts isn't enough, festival-goers can get some exercise on the indoor rock wall at the Eddie Bauer Adventure House or at the pop-up Pure Barre studio, which is set to present more than a dozen of its body-shaping fitness classes during the first weekend of Sundance. Noah Baumbach's latest, Mistress America; a drama starring Sarah Silverman called I Smile Back; Kirby Dick's documentary about campus rape, The Hunting Ground; Leslye Headland's new comedy, Sleeping With Other People; Jack Black's Sundance return in The D Train; the premiere of Alex Gibney's documentary Going Clear: