Park City in January

An Interview with Peter Baxter of Slamdance

by Jennifer M. Wood | Published February 3, 2007

Peter Baxter of Slamdance

In 1995, a group of energetic young moviemakers decided they wouldn't let a little thing like not making the cut for the Sundance Film Festival stop them from screening their films in Park City. Legend has it that they simply banded together and started a festival of their own, cheekily calling it Slamdance.

Peter Baxter is one of the founders of the Slamdance Film Festival, and currently holds the post of festival director. After six years in Park City, neither the festival nor Baxter show any sign of slowing down. Now a full-fledged organization with an international component, traveling series and screenplay contest, Slamdance is hardly the upstart counterculture event it once was. Which is not to say the founders have shifted their goals. Slamdance is still "by, for, and about filmmakers," particularly first-time filmmakers without the influence that industry contacts can bring. Here, Baxter talks with MovieMaker about what sets Slamdance apart from other festivals, and what it's like to be part of the Park City movie community.

Jennifer M. Wood (MM): Tell me about the first year of Slamdance, and what that experience was like.

Peter Baxter (PB): At the time we started Slamdance, one was just about to see the explosion of independent filmmaking. Despite the fact that most of the films had no "names" or distribution attached-neither at Slamdance nor at Sundance-audiences for independent film were growing. We started the festival in Salt Lake City and, about halfway through, we came up to Park City and had the screenings there. By the end of it, along with a front page piece in Variety about what we were doing and really good audiences and distribution interest, we found that we had struck something that was valuable for our type of filmmaker. That's why we've continued this festival.

MM: How did the idea for Slamdance actually originate, and at what point did you come into it?

PB: I came along a little bit later. Dan Mirvish and Shane Kuhn first met at IFFM in the Fall of 1994. While chatting amongst themselves, they talked about what would happen if their films didn't get into Sundance. They had heard that, a year before, a couple of filmmakers had brought their films up to Park City and showed them in hotel rooms. So they waited to find out and see if their films got in. They didn't, and they got together with John Fitzgerald, another co-founder. Then my film, Loser, came along and that's when I got involved. It was these four films plus eight other features and 14 shorts that made up the first Slamdance Film Festival.

MM: You made quite a splash your first year in Park City. Why did you plan on relocating the festival the second time around, and what made you decide to stay?

PB: Each year, we take a good look at our location. We've done this every year, and each year we've come back to Park City for the simple reason that we always try and put the filmmaker first at Slamdance. We've realized that Park City has been the best place for them so far. One of the reasons why is that all the industry members turn up there each year.

MM: As far as the atmosphere goes in Park City, with so many festivals and so many moviemakers, what is the competition like among festivals and is there a sort of hierarchy that exists?

PB: I like to think that everyone comes together as a group of filmmakers. I think that for a festival to be competitive or to think of itself in terms of a hierarchy is not a positive way to go because, in the end, that is self-serving and that won't help the filmmaker.

MM: What is the one thing that you believe sets Slamdance apart from the other festivals in Park City?

PB: We have established ourselves, that's one thing that has helped us. We've been able to establish ourselves because we have doggedly focused on helping independent filmmakers. I think, at last, people can now appreciate that and are looking at the films in a different way. They're not just judging it by the cast or the story line or the trailer, they're actually looking at the film. And a number of films which have found distribution after Slamdance are sort of adding to that. We haven't moved away from that so people understand what exactly we do. Also, we've become a year-round organization, so we're not just a festival for seven days out of the year.

MM: Was there any one incident or film that was a real breakthrough for Slamdance?

PB: In 1996, our second year, we got 450 submissions. One of the films entered that year was Greg Mottola's Daytrippers. It won the Grand Jury Prize that year. Since then, Steven Soderbergh, who helped produce that film with Nancy Tanenbaum, has become a supporter of ours. Having a film like that really helped grow Slamdance.

MM: Is there one film that, over the years, you have been most proud to present to an audience?

PB: There are a number. I'm very interested in filmmakers who struggled to make their film with no stars and very small budgets. I'm very proud of a number of films that we show each year, and I'm proud of the program that we put together each year. But two films that are really think merit mentioning here are The Bible and Gun Club by Daniel Harris and Kevin DiNovas' Surrender Dorothy. To me, those films represent what independent filmmaking is about.

MM: The programming method at Slamdance is quite unique. How do you go about selecting which films will show at the festival each year?

PB: All of our programmers come from the festival as filmmakers. These are filmmakers who have screened at Slamdance before. Their vote is the same as anyone else's. We don't decide any of the films until the last day of programming. There are about 50 programmers. Each film is marked and commented on and submitted back into the office. Each film is watched three times before it goes on or is rejected. The further a film goes, the more comments there are and then we pick the films out at the end that we want to consider for final programming.

MM: What can we expect to see at Slamdance 2001?

PB: First and foremost, we're focusing once again on our feature film competition, which is the most important part of Slamdance. This is a competition where films have been made by first time directors, on limited budgets, and also part of that competition is short films as well. In the last two or three years we've been developing the Filmmakers Lounge. This year we're developing more elements to the Lounge, one of which is the $99 Special. Here are a group of films which have been made for $99 by Slamdance alumni, where they've been given $99 and 99 days to make a film under 5 minutes. So we'll be showing those in the Filmmakers Lounge but they're intended, initially, to premiere on Slamdance.com.