History
A festival was began inside 1978 as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah. At a instance, the independent focus of the event was to present a series of retrospective films & film producer panel discussions; even so it as well involved a little program of films manufactured outside the Hollywood system.

the festival can swell develop ended higher existence nothing to a higher degree a microscopic, regional event, however deuce key factors helped click it later to greatness. A foremost one was a involvement of actor Robert Redford. Redford was the local Utah resident and became a festival's maiden chairman of a board, & getting his title associated using the festival allowed it to garner much additional attentiin than it will otherwise use been respire to achieve on its have.

A 2nd factor was a festival's move from either September to January; in more words, from either summertime to winter. A move was reportedly on the advice of Hollywood director Sydney Pollack, who suggested that heading the film festival witharound the ski resort when you took wintertime would effect in “Hollywood beating down the door to attend”.

Management of the festival was taken on top per Sundance Institute, a non-profit organization, in 1985, and around 1991 the festival was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival. Numbers of celebrated independent filmmakers, including Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, James Wan and Jim Jarmusch had their big break at a festival. A festival is likewise responsible bringing wider attention to films like Saw, The Blair Witch Project, El Mariachi, Clerks., Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and Napoleon Dynamite.