Sad news for the British movie-loving public today as the Sundance Institute have cancelled the Sundance London festival in 2015.
The three day music and film festival was a big hit with the public, and had grown year on year in ambition and execution, becoming a firm favourite with film fans.
This follows the news that the directors of the British Independent Film Awards are stepping down and the Birds Eye View festival is also closing after ten years.
Changes to the movie calendar are inevitable as economic turbulence is met and conquered, piracy and other demons take their toll but Sundance’s place seemed to be assured. Present for three years the Sundance London brand was beginning to establish itself as the perfect place for young filmmakers to show their work, the first year saw Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow bring over Safety not Guaranteed and win over fans here.
It provided a necessary counterpoint to the annual LFF, with the best of the Park City films making their way over months earlier than in previous years. Most of all it had the potential to grow, and keep an eager film-going public in the finest indie films and events of the year.
The fault may lie partly in the o2 arena, its annual host where, as with the last Empire Big Screen in 2011, it sometimes struggled to create and hold the atmosphere of other festivals.
As the announcement broke the Sundance Institute tweeted a hopeful missive,
After three successful years at @TheO2, we are exploring our options for @SundancefestUK. Brit film fans, we hope to be back soon 🙂
— SundanceFilmFestival (@sundancefest) January 16, 2015
Screen also had this quote from the Institute:
Though we are not confirmed to host public events in London this year, we hope to be able to return very soon
And we, among many, hope to see them back in 2016. We’ll be there.
