Opening: Sundance Next Fest 15

A weekend of indie and alt filmdom unfurls, Park City-style, around LA.

While you should wear whatever you like to the movies, and do what you like after the credits wrap, we must firmly advise you that when attending the big LA-based film fest that's just ahead that you should A) leave the parka at home and B) you should not make plans with your pals to meet on the ski slopes later in the day.

We understand how these topics might discombobulate film goers set to attend Sundance Next Fest, the long weekend of indie and avant garde and cutting-edge movies that bear the banner of a certain snowy film festival located in Park City, Utah.

Snowy and celebrated, we'll add. It's hard to conjure up an independent film festival with more cachet to its name, a name reverently spoken among filmmakers all year long around LA but very much so in early August, when Southern California receives its own interesting slice of the Sundance pie.

The dates for the mini Sundance roll-out are Friday, Aug. 7 through Sunday, Aug. 9, and the big names of smaller films will be out in film-happy force around The Ace Hotel downtown, which, like Main Street in Park City, will serve as the hub of all the hubbub.

"Mistress America" with Greta Gerwig, "Cronies" and an appearance by Robert Townsend, and the comedy "Finders Keepers" are three treats on the schedule. Musical guests are part of the vibe, too. 

And let us pause to address the vibe. It's as Sundance-y as all get-out, minus the ice and frost, so while a lot of people are there to maybe possibly talk about their own project, there's some warm support in the room, too.

That's the way of now decades-old fest, which was famously founded by Robert Redford to nurture and love upon the rising innovators of moviedom.

The Scene

Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.

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Is it a scene? A bit, but scenes come with style and oomph, two qualities most events would trade anything for. Will you see good movies that may get even more famouser down the road? Yes, and "famouser" is absolutely a word, when you're talking about up-and-coming cinema.

But what will you wear? Leave the parka in the closet and think Park City summer, instead, on the clothing front. Soon you just may be in the mountains, in January, in a sweater, but for Sundance's LA outing, you'll need to dress fresh, in every sense of the word.

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