The week before classes started, 28 film students, including myself, traveled over 600 miles to the town of Park City, Utah. What was the cause for such a trip? We were going to the 25th Annual Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance was started by actor Robert Redford, who named the festival after his iconic role as the Sundance Kid in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” He instituted it as a way to allow new filmmakers to premiere their films.

It has since become one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Sundance has jumpstarted the careers of many directors including the Coen brothers (“No Country for Old Men”), Quentin Tarantino (“Inglorious Basterds”) and Robert Rodriguez (“Desperado”). Famous films such as “Napoleon Dynamite,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” and “Memento” made their debut at this well known festival. Last year’s grand jury prizewinner, “Precious,” is now nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Knowing full well what exciting opportunities Sundance holds for the independent filmmaker, I was very excited for the week ahead. Sundance shows over a hundred films over the course of ten days. Suffice to say, it’s impossible to see them all.

During my time at Sundance, I was able to see eleven films. I was excited to get started, and traveling to a converted high school, I watched my first film, “Obselidia.” It was beautiful to watch but the story of a man who believes love is obsolete made it hard for me to pay attention. I was a little depressed after this — having such high expectations for every film was clearly not a wise idea.

This is not to say that there were no movies that were amazing. In fact, the next one I saw was very good. It was called “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife,” and it is a very funny comedy about the importance of treating others with respect. Another highlight of my trip was “A Small Act.” The film demonstrated the immense impact that even the littlest acts of kindness have in people’s lives. Another highlight was “Lucky,” a documentary that followed several winners of the lottery and showed the change it has had on their lives. Although these films were good, the two that stood out above the rest were a documentary called “Gasland,” and a film called “Four Lions.”

“Gasland” follows the story of a filmmaker who recieves a letter from a gas company asking if they could mine on his land for natural gas. Wanting to learn what it would mean if he said yes, he sets out across the country to other mining sites to see what had happened to others who were in the same situation. What is most enjoyable about the movie is that it takes the audience on a journey along with the filmmaker and is neither pushy nor in you face with its message.

“Four Lions” made me laugh harder than any movie I have seen in a very long time. It follows the story of four English citizens who live outside of London and have their own personal jihad against England. The comedy ensues when you realize how incapable they are at doing anything to cause harm. From accidentally blowing themselves up to making terrorist videos with toy guns, the movie had me laughing the entire time.

Now, as I said, I was only able to see eleven films. Out of those eleven, “Gasland” was the only film I saw that won an award, and it was also runner up for the documentary section. This year, the winner of the grand jury prize for drama was “Winter Bone.” The film is about an impoverished teenager who goes searching for her drug dealing father in the woods of the Missouri Ozarks. Although I did not see the film, there were several other Biola students who did.

“‘Winter Bone’ plays much like a gangster film, instead trading the big city landscape for the impoverished areas of the Ozarks,” said Nolan Goff, Junior.

The movie seemed to impact the few students who did see it.

“I’m still thinking about ‘Winter’s Bone’ and what it really meant,” said Matthew Hawksworth, Junior.

“Winter’s Bone” wasn’t the only winner though. Many films at Sundance have been picked up and are looking to be released at different points throughout the year. Keep an eye out for films such as “Buried,” a film about a U.S. contractor, played by Ryan Reynolds, who is kidnapped and buried alive by terrorists in Iraq. Another one to look out for is “happythankyoumoreplease,” a film about a group of people trying to understand love by Josh Radnor, the star of the tv show “How I Met Your Mother.”

All in all, the Sundance Film Festival was an awesome experience. It was nice to enjoy the snow and some really good cinema. If you want more opinions from Biola students on the festival, check out cma.biola.edu/sundance for student blogs.