Jade takes her pick of the Sundance Film Festival.

One of the first rules for film buyers at Sundance, nosing out the next indie hit, is that audience reactions in Park City are not necessarily a good predictor for audience reactions elsewhere. Sundance crowds are notoriously supportive, so it can take ages for each screening to start.

First, the programmer who helped choose the film introduces themselves (clap), and talks about how much they love the film (wohoo!) and the actors (clap), and how much they admire the director’s independence of vision (clap, cheer!). Then the director gets up (clap, yay!) and thanks Sundance (clap), and the various people who gave them money (clap) and love (clap), and reminds the audience that they’ll be around for a Q&A (clap, clap).

Finally, the film rolls and various representatives from film production companies cheer for their credits. It can get exhausting. Here are five films that got plenty of (mostly well-deserved) applause:

Pieces Of April

Yes, it stars cute, squishy-faced Katie Holmes of Dawson’s Creek fame, but don’t write her off as just another glib TV teen. With a moving screenplay penned by writer/director Peter Hedges (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, About a Boy), Holmes shines as April, a f**ked-up girl who’s set her life straight and is making Thanksgiving dinner for her doubtful family.

Thirteen

Co-written by 13-year-old Nikki Reed, who collaborated with her dad’s ex-girlfriend, production designer Catherine Hardwicke (Vanilla Sky). They started out trying to write a “dumb teen movie”, but it quickly became a real-life look at Nikki’s rocky road to adolescence. Nikki also co-stars, along with Holly Hunter (O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Hardwicke took the best director prize at Sundance.

Raising Victor Vargas

The young, unknown actors who star in this movie about growing up on New York’s Lower East Side are luminous and make you wonder why we have to have movie stars at all. First-time writer/director Peter Sollett tells a very simple, very real story about an inner-city neighbourhood – but he manages to do it without guns, drugs or bad rap music.

Born Rich

Director Jamie Johnson, heir to the American Johnson & Johnson fortune, interviews his fabulously wealthy friends about the topic they all think about, but never discuss - money. Johnson’s voiceover is strangely lugubrious, but it’s hard not to be fascinated.

Party Monster

Macauley Culkin makes his comeback in this fanciful biopic of over-the-top club kid Michael Alig, now in jail for the murder of a “celebrity drug dealer” named Angel. Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore introduced this as his favourite movie. That recommendation alone is sure to get it distribution and a whole lot of attention – which is all Alig wanted from the start.

Jade Chang 06 February 03

useful link: www.sundance.org