Our ongoing, long-running Flashback feature looking back at SHOOT headlines five and 10 years ago provides perspective, a stroll down memory lane, and occasionally a chuckle or two as we see how things have changed or not changed, progressed or regressed.
Not regularly subject to such Flashback context is this column. However, I found compelling cause to hearken back thanks to a recent online exchange with Robbyn Foxx, an agent at Innovative Artists who handles a roster of notable DPs, production designers and other talent.
Nearly a decade ago, when Robbyn was head of production at harvest, this column issued a plea for lung donors on her behalf. We even outlined criteria for ideal donor candidates while listing whom to contact at USC University Hospital in Los Angeles. The situation was dire as cystic fibrosis had significantly decreased Robbyn’s pulmonary functions and her life was in jeopardy.
Thankfully, we followed up with good news just four months later as two of her brothers proved to be a transplant match and Robbyn was recovering nicely–to the point where she had begun working part time. It was an amazing recovery for someone who at one point was so ill that she had to be put on life support.
Robbyn mailed us a card in November 2003 after her return to work, thanking us, many well wishers and her extended supportive family at harvest. Pictured on the front of the card was a sketch of two healthy lungs.
Fast forwarding from a card of yesteryear to today’s preferred message medium, Robbyn sent an email to me a couple of weeks ago, noting that the 10-year anniversary of her lung lobes transplant is fast approaching. “Not too bad, right?” she wrote.
It’s a happy flashback and a reality/priority check for us, serving as a reminder of what’s truly important, particularly as we at times get bogged down in the many details and machinations that somehow seem important when we are in the midst of them.
It also gives a greater importance to certain work our community is involved in from time to time–such as PSAs raising awareness of and promoting organ donation, campaigns addressing the need for access to healthcare for all people, and social media helping to connect those in need with those who can help.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More