Bob Berney on Five Wild Decades at Sundance, and Chasing Movies No One Else Wanted Like 'Memento' and 'Donnie Darko'

"This is what Berney does: He spots a diamond in the rough and figures out how to get it to audiences. And there's no better place to accomplish that than Sundance. If you count movies Berney consulted on, acquired, or released, he's screened some 33 films at the festival. And yes, he did get into some intense bidding wars. Over the decades, trying to bring a film to Sundance or buy a festival title became Berney's "whole career," he said on Zoom."

""Those early days were the first times that the sales agents realized, 'Oh, this is the opportunity to actually sell a movie.' Sales agents like Cassian Elwes started the whole process of the market, special screenings, late-night fights, people actually slugging it out." One year, a gaggle of festival attendees - including the late indie distributor Bingham Ray - wound up throwing snowballs on Main Street."

Bob Berney has screened films at Sundance since the early 1980s, working as an exhibitor, consultant, buyer, and distributor. He runs indie distributor Picturehouse with his wife Jeanne. At Sundance 2024 he discovered the Ukraine documentary Porcelain War, raised financing for a fall release and mounted an Oscar campaign that led to a 2025 Best Documentary Feature nomination. Berney has consulted on, acquired, or released roughly 33 films screened at the festival. Sales agents like Cassian Elwes helped turn Sundance into a marketplace with late-night bidding wars and competitive encounters. The festival also functions as a location experience with weather, snow, and skiing, including collaborations with Robert Redford.

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