Sundance Opens Without Bob

January 19 -- For the first time in years, Sundance Institute founder and president Robert Redford will not attend any part of the film festival he helped make famous. (He's apparently off in Morocco shooting The Spy Game with Brad Pitt for director Tony Scott.)

In his place were nude members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who marched through Park City, Utah, in the altogether to protest the wearing of furs and leather — "Human Skin in, Animal Skin Out," read one banner.

Redford's absence was not lost on actress-director Christine Lahti, whose new movie, My First Mister, opened the 2001 festival Thursday night. "This is my third time at the festival," Lahti told the assembled masses in Salt Lake City, adding that her sole goal in coming to Sundance in previous years was to meet Redford.

"And now I'm here with my film on opening night," Lahti said hopefully, looking to festival director Geoff Gillmore for a sign that perhaps her wish would come true, as the crowd began to chuckle. "No Bob? OK, I'll be back again."

A Kinder, Gentler Opening NightOpening night at Sundance is a decidedly middle-of-the-road affair. It's held every year in Salt Lake City, where the society crowd comes out to mingle with filmmakers, members of the press, and celebrity seekers. To prevent offending the sensibilities of SLC's citizens, the opening night film is usually a feel-good comedy.

But as the opening credits rolled on Lahti's My First Mister — with the punkish strains of "Disconnected Child" by Tin Star playing as drops of blood splattered onto the pages of star Leelee Sobieski's journal — it appeared that things were going to be a little bolder this year. Never fear: By the time the film ended, we'd laughed, we'd cried, we'd even winced. And Frank Sinatra took us out over the end credits.

The Buzz BeginsThe festival hadn't even officially kicked off yet when early buzz began building around certain films, such as Memento, starring Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Chocolat, The Matrix), which was produced by sisterly duo Suzanne and Jennifer Todd (two of the producers behind Austin Powers). Also on people's minds was Southern Comfort, a documentary that stirs emotion and spirit with its story of transsexualism deep in the heart of rural Georgia.