Red carpets for the stars might not be rolled out in Park City, Utah, this year, but the 2021 Sundance Film Festival is opening its doors to audiences globally with online premieres and virtual panels.
Like many other festivals, the main US showcase for independent film, founded by actor and director Robert Redford, has cancelled its in-person edition at the ski resort town owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, presenting a digital version instead.
Smaller in size and length, it began on Thursday and runs until next Wednesday. Films presented at the festival will include 72 features and 50 shorts.
People can buy tickets to watch premieres and take part in question-and-answer sessions online. Sundance is also putting on drive-in and other outdoor screenings in some US cities.
"The festival is coming from a place of needing to completely reimagine and take the pieces we know are part of our essence, and build them into something different," festival director Tabitha Jackson told an online news conference.
She said submissions were only slightly down from previous years, mainly from US production.
Signs of the times
"We also got films that were made in Covid, reflected in the subject matter or in the form. ... It's been interesting for us to be able to be one of the first showcases for creativity that came through a pandemic or is being made in the midst of it."
Film screenings include Coda, about a music-loving girl afraid to leave her deaf parents, and Together Together, starring The Hangover actor Ed Helms as a single man who hires a surrogate mother.
Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga star in the racial drama Passing set in 1929 New York, while How It Ends, featuring Olivia Wilde, takes place on the last day on Earth. Documentary The Sparks Brothers, about the pop and rock music duo, is also on the list.
"There's very few films from studios. ... There's not as many celebrities," film industry and review website IndieWire Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris-Bridson told Reuters.
"It feels almost like a throwback to Sundance of the early '90s when ... Sundance was still fairly new and still proving itself and hadn't been understood as a launching pad for larger titles. In a way ... it's going back to its roots." Panels at the festival will include one about women in film featuring Halle Berry and Robin Wright.
Rethinking film festivals
Film festivals have had to postpone or rethink their editions, with September's Toronto International Film Festival also streamed digitally. The Cannes Film Festival in 2020 was replaced with a pared-back edition of short films; the 2021 event has been delayed to July.
But Harris-Bridson said there are positive aspects to going virtual.
"It gives a much larger opportunity to the public to see the films," she said.
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Sand storm
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Dust storm
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- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
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- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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Countries offering golden visas
UK
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Germany
Investing or establishing a business in Germany offers you a residence permit, which eventually leads to citizenship. The investment must meet an economic need and you have to have lived in Germany for five years to become a citizen.
Italy
The scheme is designed for foreign investors committed to making a significant contribution to the economy. Requires a minimum investment of €250,000 which can rise to €2 million.
Switzerland
Residence Programme offers residence to applicants and their families through economic contributions. The applicant must agree to pay an annual lump sum in tax.
Canada
Start-Up Visa Programme allows foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to create a business in Canada and apply for permanent residence.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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%3Cp%3EWhile%20the%20Lebanese%20government%20has%20deported%20a%20number%20of%20refugees%20back%20to%20Syria%20since%202011%2C%20the%20latest%20round%20is%20the%20first%20en-mass%20campaign%20of%20its%20kind%2C%20say%20the%20Access%20Center%20for%20Human%20Rights%2C%20a%20non-governmental%20organization%20which%20monitors%20the%20conditions%20of%20Syrian%20refugees%20in%20Lebanon.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%9CIn%20the%20past%2C%20the%20Lebanese%20General%20Security%20was%20responsible%20for%20the%20forced%20deportation%20operations%20of%20refugees%2C%20after%20forcing%20them%20to%20sign%20papers%20stating%20that%20they%20wished%20to%20return%20to%20Syria%20of%20their%20own%20free%20will.%20Now%2C%20the%20Lebanese%20army%2C%20specifically%20military%20intelligence%2C%20is%20responsible%20for%20the%20security%20operation%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20Mohammad%20Hasan%2C%20head%20of%20ACHR.%3Cbr%3EIn%20just%20the%20first%20four%20months%20of%202023%20the%20number%20of%20forced%20deportations%20is%20nearly%20double%20that%20of%20the%20entirety%20of%202022.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ESince%20the%20beginning%20of%202023%2C%20ACHR%20has%20reported%20407%20forced%20deportations%20%E2%80%93%20200%20of%20which%20occurred%20in%20April%20alone.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIn%20comparison%2C%20just%20154%20people%20were%20forcfully%20deported%20in%202022.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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