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 "Sundance is really the first grand community
gathering after all this has hit. So we're looking for ways to
form a community around it ... and making it very safe -- not
only a safe place to do your work but a safe place to talk about
these issues," festival director John Cooper told Reuters.
"We've always worked closely with local law enforcement and also
the security in hotels. We're upping the game on code of
conduct. We've always had a code of conduct for our staff and
volunteers (and) we're presenting that broadly to the whole
community," he added.
Movie producer Harvey Weinstein, formerly a major force in
independent films and a staple at Sundance, has been accused by
more than 50 women of sexual harassment or assault over the past
three decades.
Some of the accusations against Weinstein involve incidents said
to have taken place at the 10-day Sundance festival in Park
City, Utah.
Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.
Reuters has been unable to independently confirm any of the
allegations.
Several Hollywood actors, filmmakers and agents have stepped
down in the past two months following sexual misconduct
allegations leveled against them.
Cooper said Weinstein, who was fired as chief executive of his
award-winning Weinstein Company in October, has not applied for
a credential to the Sundance festival this year.
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Sundance Film Festival, organized by Robert Redford's Sundance
Institute, unveiled its 2018 line-up of movies and documentaries on
Wednesday, many featuring female leads.
They include "Eighth Grade," a coming-of-age story of a 13-year-old
girl, "The Kindergarten Teacher" starring Maggie Gyllenhaal as a
teacher helping a young prodigy, and "The Tale" in which Laura Dern
plays a woman examining her sexual history.
"The performances and the women you see on screen are strong and
complex and have deep psychology in these characters that you often
don't see," said Trevor Groth, the festival's director of
programming.
Other films profile actress and activist Jane Fonda, U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, women's rights attorney Gloria
Allred, Japanese visual artist Yayoi Kusama and Yazidi ISIS survivor
Nadia Murad.
"They're all from different walks of life and backgrounds and
fields, but all with the same passion and drive to make their mark
on the world," Cooper said.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-RoyEditing by Sandra Maler)
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