Slamdance's Peter Baxter and Founder's Award winner Christopher Nolan.
Courtesy of the Slamdance Film FestivalTwenty years ago, a few filmmakers — including Dan Mirvish, Peter Baxter, and Paul Rachman — rented out a room in a Prospector Square hotel, creating the first Slamdance Film Festival.
Their motivation: "the other film festival in Park City" had perhaps lost some of its independent spirit. Over the years this "little festival that could" has continued to showcase emerging filmmakers. Some of those upstarts have achieved A-list status since their Slamdance debuts: Christopher Nolan (more on him below) and Marc Forster, for example.