The surreal whirl that is Sundance

The parties, the poseurs, the iconoclasts,
the poultry - the Sundance Film Festival
has come of age as a festival where
miracles dance cheek-to-cheek with absurdity.

By JESSICA HUNDLEY

Most pre-festival notoriety

Alfred Spellman's and Billy Corben's documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent arrived at the festival on a whirlwind of controversy and left with a distribution deal.

Exploring the case of a wild University of Florida fraternity party that led to rape accusations, Raw Deal included portions of a video made at the party. Protests of that creative strategy by the Gainesville chapter of the National Organization for Women brought more attention to the footage.

So Sundance welcomed the chance to show the film, NOW simmered on the sidelines and two 22-year-old filmmakers -- both students at the University of Miami -- strutted straight into the spotlight.

Reactions were mixed. One audience member snidely referred to it as "the first press screening of the Bush administration." However, the film was purchased for distribution by Artisan Entertainment, whose previous Sundance acquisitions included the enormously successful The Blair Witch Project.