Online Exclusive: Interview with Director of Sundance John Cooper

Last week, Haute Living Los Angeles published our premiere Hollywood Power Player Awards. The piece presented our picks for the hautest director, producer, agent, actor, actress, agency, film studio, lawyers, and film festival. If you haven’t gotten your hands on a copy of the print edition (which, through our direct distribution model, only ends up in the hands of the region’s elite), you can check out our choices here.

While putting together the piece, I had the opportunity to speak with John Cooper, the director of the Sundance Film Festival. While he has been with the Sundance Institute since 1989, this year was his first in the big-boss role. Just weeks after the close of Sundance Film Festival, Cooper sat down with Haute Living to discuss the festival and all that goes into it. He joked that he was out of media practice and might be a little unguarded with his answers, which I of course prefer. His uncanny insight led us to name Sundance as the hautest festival in our Power Player article.

Keeping his thoughts all to myself would be selfish, I know, so I am happy to share some excerpts from my interview with our online readers. Check back later in the week for more from the director of the Sundance Film Festival. More after the jump.

Haute Living: As director of Sundance, what are your main responsibilities?

John Cooper: I’m the director of the film festival; the festival is part of the not-for-profit Sundance Institute. My responsibilities are everything dealing with the festival—overseeing the whole event, stemming from an artistic approach, from the picking of the films to deciding the overall tone, right on down to the design aspects.

HL: This was your first year as the director. What were the biggest changes made under your direction?

JC: I was director of programming for the festival for eight years, and I have been with the festival for 20, so it isn’t new to me in any way. But as the director, I found I had to be a different kind of listener. When you are the director of programming, when you have final say, you have to read the passion of the staff. I have a staff that watches a lot of movies, and I was the most seasoned and loudest voice in the room for a good number of years. When I became director, I had to switch over and become sort of the best listener in the room. Because what I really want to do is read their passion. I made a rule for myself to put together the best program. Somebody had to love every single film that was in the festival. No matter how much we talked about a film, no matter how much we argued about a film, in the end, I asked, “Does anybody love this film?” If nobody did, it didn’t make the cut.

HL: Even if a film creates a controversy and gets everyone talking, if someone doesn’t love it, you won’t add it to the festival lineup?

JC: Right, because we are pretty controversial already. But last year, they used words like important. “This is an important film.” Instead I asked, “Do you love it? Does it work? Does it work for you both intellectually and emotionally?” I think that is what you need to make a really good festival.

Check back tomorrow for more of John’s interview, including his reflection on the success of his goal to take the 2010 festival back to its artistic roots.

Update: Part Two