Little indie movies with big stars, their producers, and the brands that help them celebrate are cementing their party plans for Park City during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
For the third year, TheWrap’s Party Report is teaming up with the Kia Supper Suite, a touring series of cast dinner parties that has previously held events at the Tribeca, Toronto, and Sundance Film Festivals, as a branded media partner and our homebase on Main Street.
Only a year ago, Spike Lee lauded “Birth of A Nation” breakout Nate Parker in this space, as fellow indie champ Kevin Smith, and actresses Alysia Reiner and Gabrielle Union looked on. At the time, all were sure this Sundance hit was the one the industry would be feteing non-stop in this year’s Oscars race.
That was 10,000 news cycles ago.
For this year, the future looks bright and baggage free. But then again, 2017 is still young.
The Park City restaurant formerly known as Ciseros has new ownership and a new chef. “Firewood on Main” is the name and will host the Kia Supper Suite from Saturday, January 21 through Monday night January 23.
A series of film parties is on the menu with works from names like Hannibal Buress, original Sundance “it-girl” Parker Posey, Andy Samberg, Claire Danes, “Friday Night Lights” leads Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler, and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. (Though, while likely, The Party Report can not yet confirm the actual cast attendance at each.)
Here’s the lineup:
Saturday, Jan 21st
XYZ Films Cocktail Party for “Bushwick,” “Kuso” and XX”
Cast members from the films include ex-wrestler “Bautista,” Brittany Snow and Melanie Lynskey. “Kuso” comes from musician Flying Lotus, and the guests may be queasy after a screening of what Sundance calls “an outrageous fever dream” featuring a performance by Hannibal Buress. This sounds like authentic Sundance weirdness.
Sunday, Jan 22nd
The Creative Coalition’s Spotlight Initiative Awards Dinner
Normally on Saturday night, Robin Bronk and the non-partisan Creative Coalition will be flying in from the inauguration in D.C. where they have an event in support of the arts, and not a direct celebration of the inauguration. This year’s honorees are Connie Britton, Jay Duplass, Laura Prepon and Barbara Kopple.
“Columbus”
Later in the night, there will be a cocktail reception for the John Cho, Rory Culkin and Parker Posey film about a man stuck in a midwestern town while caring for his father who is in a coma.
Monday, Jan 23rd
*Hot Ticket*
“Brigsby Bear”
“SNL’s” Kyle Mooney co-wrote and stars in this film directed by SNL colleague Dave McCary. The quirky plot centers on a guy who realizes he was the only viewer of his favorite TV show, which was just canceled. The cast is stacked beyond Mooney: Mark Hamill, Claire Danes, Andy Samberg, Greg Kinnear and Matt Walsh are in the film.
“Sidney Hall”
Fresh off of two studio movies, “Live by Night” and “20th Century Woman,” Elle Fanning stars in a triptych story about a young writer who finds success with a breakout novel, rides the wave of success, and then disappears. This sounds like “Catcher in the Rye’s” J.D. Salinger.
There will be more Sundance party previews to come. Stay tuned!
TheWrap’s Party Report at Sundance is presented by the vehicles that will be shuttling filmmakers and casts to special events, the Kia Niro and Sorento Crossovers. Among those special events are The Party Report’s party pal and HQ, the Kia Supper Suite at the new Firewood on Main (formerly Ciseros). Keep up with real time photos of the scene in Park City on @SundanceParties (Twitter and Instagram) .