Actor Tracy Morgan was rushed to a hospital in Park City, Utah on Sunday after collapsing at a Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony. The funnyman's spokesperson released a statement identifying the causes of his condition as "a combination of exhaustion and altitude." more ›

Get ready for the pep rally, root for your team to beat Valley and prepare to pull those pranks on the rival’s because it is homecoming time at the Sundance Film Festival. Not really but with several big name filmmakers making their return to Sundance, it is hard not to get excited to see what many of the festival’s notable alums, now later in their careers, have to say about the world of Independent Cinema. Sidenote: a football team at a school of all filmmakers would most likely be one of the worst teams in history....just sayin’. more ›

The Sundance Institute made the first of three festival announcements today for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Included in the announcement were the Institute’s selections for US Dramatic Competition, US Documentary Comp., World Cinema Dramatic Comp. and World Cinema Documentary Comp. In all, 10,279 films were submitted for consideration marking the first time in the festival’s history that submissions have hit above 10,000. Of the 3,812 feature submissions received, 115 were accepted to screen at the Festival. more ›

The first time I attended the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, I stayed until the festival's conclusion on Sunday. Never will I make that mistake again. While it did allow for a more leisurely pace, all the excitement (and most of the people) had left Park City by mid-week. So this year I once again planned an early Friday morning arrival and a late Tuesday night departure. I was able to see thirteen films, party three nights out of four and sit five feet away from Damien Rice during his amazingly casual concert at the ASCAP Music Cafe. more ›

The first day at the Sundance Film Festival is always a frantic rush. We arrive in Salt Lake City at the reasonable hour of noon and are on our way to Park City in our rental car within 30 minutes. Once we reach town, we decide to quickly shoot down to Main Street and grab a bite at one of my favorite restaurants in the city, Bandits Grill & Bar. The BBQ is good and, more importantly, the Wasatch beer is served in 25 oz. mugs (trust me, you need to drink that much since the alcohol content is watered-down by government fiat. more ›

When it was found that the CEO of Cinemark Theatres donated $9,999 to support Prop 8, talks of boycotting Sundance came up because the only movie theatre used in Park City, Utah is one owned by the company. But Sundance isn't budging and many opponents of Prop 8 agree. "As a nonprofit organization devoted to supporting artists, we very much appreciate and are sensitive to the larger issue at hand and respect the rights of individuals to express themselves," Sundance said in a statement via Variety. "It is our hope that people will embrace the festival for its commitment to diversity, not avoid it." more ›

For me, the Sundance Film Festival officially ended at the airport in Salt Lake City when I was waiting in line behind Bijou Phillips at the Quizno's in Terminal 1. She was politely arguing with the counter guy about why she couldn't get fresh mustard from behind the counter instead of having to use the the mustard packets by the napkin stand. In a heavy accent, he kept saying that all they had was "runny mustard" and she kept asking, "What is runny mustard?" before finally realizing he was saying "honey mustard" and asking him to give her some. Somehow, that moment perfectly captured the surreality of Sundance. more ›

We just received an unbelievable e-mail from friend-of-LAist and local indie troubadour Matthew Moon and wanted to share. Some amazing and surprising things really do happen at Sundance. Read on:

Two days ago I was performing at a Sundance Film Festival event in Salt Lake City, UT. After my performance at Rose Wagner Theater, I began driving the 25 minutes it takes to get back up to Park City. more ›

As one of my favorite bloggers Jeffrey Wells recently wrote, "The Sundance Film Festival is a 10-day event, but it's always over as of Wednesday morning...the voltage turns down, there are fewer people on Main Street, all the presumably hot titles (i.e., name casts, advance-hyped) have been screened." Park City actually becomes a manageable town again and tickets that were impossible to get a few days ago can usually be had for less than face value. With that in mind, I decided to blow off the morning's press screenings and head out with a group of friends to see a film I'd been closed out of earlier, . more ›

LAist caught up with Ben Lyons from E! to tell us what Park City is really like during the Sundance Film Festival. From Charlize Theron to Diddy, Ben's time at the festival is jam packed with screenings, interviews, and parties. We asked him to fill us in on his favorite films, his obsession with "Beverly Hills 90210", and going bobsledding with Ivan Radcliff. more ›

In 1992, Quentin Tarantino made a huge splash at the Sundance Film Festival with his directorial debut, . He didn't return to Park City until this year to serve as a member of the Festival's Jury. Last night, he was honored with the Ray-Ban Visionary Award and LAist was there. Following a short introduction by Dennis Hopper, Quentin took the stage and riffed about his first Sundance experience for about twenty minutes. Following that, The Bravery took the stage for a short concert. Videos and photos of all of it are after the jump. more ›

Starting tomorrow and continuing through next week, LAist will be reporting live from the Sundance Film Festival. We'll be covering the films, the parties, the people and the various surreal and pointless events that comprise the most important film festival in the country. With the WGA strike still in full bloom, most are expecting a buying frenzy up in Park City as distributors stock up on films just in case the strike continues to paralyze the industry. It should be a fun week of long days and even longer nights. more ›

Experience has taught us there is no such thing as a cheap weekend in Park City. more ›

Park City, UTAH - Don't worry, Dakota Fanning is safe and sound. She hasn't actually been raped. It's the character in her latest film that gets attacked. And thank goodness, because Fanning is the best thing about the otherwise dreadful Hounddog. Although the film's rape scene, which was filmed when Fanning was all of 12, has been getting so much grief (this morning's Sundance screening in Salt Lake City was greeted with protests), it's... more ›

We have arrived. After a grueling eleven and a half hour roadtrip through conditions ranging from foggy, to rainy, to blizzardy, we drove into Park City around 6:00pm Thursday night. A fine meal of Swiss/German food helped to fortify our freezing LA-based skins. It was about 18 degrees outside. And snowing. What did we get ourselves into? more ›

We are thrilled to hear that there's a second chance for Kepler's, the famous independent bookstore in Menlo Park. After an outpouring of support from bloggers, former employees, and friends around the country, and even NY Times coverage, things are taking a turn for the better. Councilmember Kelly Ferguson is organizing a rally this Tuesday, September 6th at 5 pm, outside the store, to be followed by a community organizing session at the Menlo Park City Hall. If you're in the Bay Area, please show up and make an extra-big "I Love You Kepler's" sign for us. We wish we could be there. more ›

LA Observed (newsy news) more ›

Earlier this week, LA.Com's nightlife newsletter, Plus One, gave their list of favorite local hot spots and while we might quibble with their favorite nights at most of the venues we can't much complain. more ›

The Golden Globes are over, Industry-types are off to Park City for Sundance and the Oscar nomination/winner odds-making begins in earnest. Now is the time for out-of-town journalists to do their legwork about town in order to find new ways to describe the luxuriousness of Wolfgang Puck's Oscar Ball menu or give readers a verbal blueprint of this year's location for the Vanity Fair party. more ›

But we grow weary of having the news foisted on us by the media. Already, there's been news bits about the $38,390 basket of love awaiting Golden Globe presenters and soon we will hear all about the goodies awaiting celebs and their handlers at Sundance or in town for the awards season (why doesn't some enterprising young publisher just compile all the press releases on what celeb received which complimentary doodad this time and publish a periodical called "Swagazine"). more ›