o Logan Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Chicago co-hosted the first event with Sundance to be held in a city other than Park City, Utah. Sundance X Chicago began with the screening of the Sundance documentary “Luther: Never Too Much” at the Logan Center for the Arts.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
No less a celebrity than the Mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, was present. Also in attendance was Eugene Hernandez, the Director of the Sundance Film Festival since 2022, and the Director of “Luther: Never Too Much,” Dawn Porter. The City of Chicago, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and Choose Chicago, in partnership with the nonprofit Sundance Institute kicked off the highly anticipated Sundance Institute X Chicago 2024 – the first of its kind event in the United States – with a welcome reception with City officials, Sundance creatives, and the greater Chicago film community.
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
The landmark three-day event, June 28 – 30, showcases Midwest premiere screenings of four films drawn from the Sundance Film Festival’s lineup in January, along with a robust series of panel discussions, master classes, and community programming.
Sundance, originally the brainchild of Robert Redford, began in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1978. In 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah, and changed the dates from September to January. In 2020, the year the pandemic struck, the estimated value of Sundance to Utah was said to be $167 million. Due to the pandemic in 2021, the 44th festival went virtual. The festival returned to in-person showings in 2023. I reviewed 8 films streamed to me from Sundance in 2024. Currently, Sundance is considering moving to another city in 2027. Cities that have expressed interest in hosting Sundance include Boulder, Atlanta, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Chicago, Buffalo, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“Luther: Never Too Much” Documentary
“Luther: Never Too Much” is a documentary that chronicles Luther Vandross’s impressive career and life, using clips from his performances and collaborations with greats like David Bowie and Bette Midler to interviews done with Luther, himself, along with those who knew and worked with him. Among those who praise the talent of Luther Vandross in the documentary are Jamie Foxx (an executive producer of the film), Dionne Warwick, Oprah, John Tesh, Roberta Flack, Richard Marx, and Mariah Carey. The treatment resembles the documentaries devoted to Little Richard, Billy Ocean, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, and others that have recently become available.
