Sundance Film Festival, the nation's premier showcase for independent cinema, means big business annually for the state and in turn, Utah County. This year was no exception.

In Utah County, Robert Redford's 10-day film festival brought $1.15 million in spending on restaurants, lodging, transportation and discretionary purchases. That's up from $1 million last year.

Small wonder that local business officials including Steve Densley of the Provo-Orem Chamber of Commerce are trying to find ways to increase the number of premiere screenings in Utah County and expand a newly-introduced community guide of family-friendly films to woo more festival-goers and local business sponsors.

Some 790 visitors spent $621,821 on lodging, $243,453 on food, $212,219 on discretionary purchases and $71,516 on transportation in Utah County during this film festival from Jan. 18-28. Last year, the festival attracted 593 visitors to Utah County.

The average festival-goer spent $1,506 in Utah County (excluding airfare and film tickets) during their four-plus day stay this year.

More screenings for Utah Countyfi

"We're still getting spin-off from the festival in Utah County. We're meeting in July to see if we can expand the list of family-friendly films and get more exposure for them in 2008," Densley said. "If we approached local theater studios here, maybe we can get more premiere screenings in digital format done here."

The resort, located in the north fork of Provo Canyon, is still the only Utah County venue to date for Sundance's digitally-formatted films.

Densley is hoping to find more area venues that can support digital projection screenings for the 2008 film fest. Two possibilities, he said, are the Wynnsong Cinemas at the Shops at Riverwoods and Provo Towne Centre's Cinemark theaters.

But it's not going to be easy because it takes time and resources to distribute the film from one venue to another, said Patrick Hubley, the Sundance Institute's associate director of media relations.

"There are 125 films shown at the festival. We only get one copy of each film because it's pretty expensive for most filmmakers to make extra copies. It costs a few thousand dollars to do that, and some of these filmmakers are already maxing out their credit cards. Moreover, some are finishing their films right up to the very last minute. So coordinating film distribution between Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance resort is a challenge," Hubley said.

But there's definitely more room for growth in Utah County, said Jill Miller, managing director of the Institute.

"We're thrilled our attendance numbers have increased in Utah County. That shows the level of interest has increased. But we're still not screening at full capacity at Sundance Resort," Miller said.

The number of seats filled at the resort this year rose to 4,947 from 4,635 last year. But the resort can accommodate up to 6,300 seats at maximum capacity, Miller said.

To raise its profile at the festival, the resort's 150-seat screening room showed 40 screenings and Best of Fest screenings during the 10-day festival, and those numbers have been rising steadily in the last three to four years, said Lucy Ridolphi, Sundance's marketing and public relations manager.

Even though Utah County remains a small player in the festival, the Sundance resort remains the focal point where a majority of the Institute's theater, documentary, story and edit development labs for artists, screenwriters, directors take place in summer and winter annually, Miller said.

Festival's Utah impact

Statewide, the festival attracted 48,298 visitors who spent a total of $59.6 million this year. That compares with about 52,849 attendees who spent $61.5 million in 2006. And $42.8 million in 2005.

"The growth's leveled off in 2007 after the tremendous growth from 2005 to 2006. But we're still attracting new attendees. Forty-eight percent of our festival-goers are new visitors," Miller said.

The Sundance Institute spent $3.8 million through local vendors, property owners and groups to prepare for the 2007 festival. That investment is likely to increase annually as the level of technical presentation improves and the costs of doing business including marketing and transportation rises, she said.

Encouraging local sponsors

Convincing more Utah County businesses to sponsor the screenings remains a challenge because of widespread perceptions that the festival is more a Park City and Salt Lake event, Densley said.

"With so many companies with international ties located in Utah County, it might be worth their dollar to get name identification at the festival," he said. Increasingly, businesses are starting to realize that sponsorships can help promote their corporate brand name, Densley said. "Nu Skin has Nu Skin Theater at the Energy Solutions Center, Brent Brown just sponsored a stadium at UVSC."

The Sundance Film Festival gets funding from 20 national sponsors including the Utah Film Commission and Delta Airlines. It also has 35 to 40 official sponsors that provide free cell phone services, lodging, photography services and advertising, among other things, in exchange for recognition at the festival. They include Alpine Art & Frame Inc., City Weekly, Express Shuttle, Trolley Square, Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau, ABC 4 and several other local radio stations.

Zions becomes sponsor

Zions Bank, which has 13 branches in Utah County, also became a sponsor of the festival this year. Rob Brough, Zions' executive vice president of marketing and communications, declined to specify the size of its sponsorship.

The bank sponsored the Sundance En Espanol, a night of Spanish-language films shown in Salt Lake City during the 2007 fest. It is also principal sponsor of the 2007-8 Utah Community Program, a monthly documentary film series that runs in Park City from September 2007 through June 2008, Hubley said.

Zions will sponsor the Sundance Institute's Outdoor Film Festival which runs from July through August 2008 in Salt Lake City, Park City and Sundance Resort, he said.

"Sundance is an important event for our community and our state economically and socially, and has grown over the years into something that's internationally renowned. It's an important event for a local financial institution to be part of in promoting the growth of arts and culture," Brough said. "We chose to sponsor the Hispanic-language night of films because we see the importance of strengthening Hispanic culture and community."

If Utah County businesses would like to become official sponsors at the Sundance Film Festival, call Jill Miller at 435-658-3456.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D6.