The Sundance Film Festival will go on as planned.
Despite calls for a boycott of the Utah-based festival (in response to the Mormon Church’s active role in the passage of Proposition 8 in California), the movement doesn’t appear to be getting any real support.
“We’re not staying away from Sundance,” says Ellen Huang, founder of Queer Lounge, the six-year-old networking and event space that has become the prime gathering spot for gay and lesbian festivalgoers. “I think it would do more harm than good in boycotting an institution that has been so critical in helping create tolerance and acceptance.”
How bout the problem of the Holiday Village theater? The four-screen venue is one of the few theaters in Park City; it’s operated by Cinemark, a nationwide chain whose CEO Alan Stock donated nearly $10,000 to backers of Prop 8, which outlaws same-sex marriages.
And now, those who would rather not patronize Cinemark won’t have to. Geoffrey Gilmore, director of the festival, told the New York Times that folks will have the option to avoid the Holiday Village because every flick screened there will also be shown at an alternate venue.
A rep for the festival said Holiday Village would definitely be used because they have no other options.
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