by Shannonn Kelly

Robert Redford’s  Sundance Fim Festival kicked off it’s  24th  season on January 15 and will run until January 25.

While most Hollywood people maintain the argument that the film industry is ‘recession proof ‘, one thing for sure in this economy one day before Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America, even films are a tough sell.

Deals are being made, but it’s nowhere near the heady prices shelled out for Sundance faves in the early to mid 2000’s.

Last year deals included:  Frozen River , directed by Courtney Hunt, The Wackness , directed by Jonathan Levine, Documentary American Teen , directed by Nanette Burstein.

In 2007  the priciest acquisition was for Grace Is Gone , directed by James C. Strouse, which went to Weinstein for $4 million. Eventhough it was a terrific role for John Cusack and he has a solid fan base, the movie has made less than $50,000 at the box office. The reviews were mixed and there was the  feeling that there were too many films about war and the American audiences were just tired of it all.

Last year, after a rousing premiere of Hamlet 2 , a bawdy romp starring Steve Coogan as a failed actor turned pathetic high school drama teacher who stages a musical sequel to “Hamlet,” with a “sexy Jesus”; e-mails flooded in from distributors saying ‘I must have that film’ and ‘Name your price,’ ” said Micah Green of CAA, the movie’s sales representative. The film also starred  Catherine Keener and Elisabeth Shue .

Focus Features emerged the winner, paying $10 million — just shy of the Sundance record $10.5 million paid for Little Miss Sunshine  in 2006.

Films this year are selling more in the range of last year’s  Henry Poole Is Here , directed by Mark Pellington’s which sold for  $3.5 million.

According to Bloomberg’s Michael White:

"It’s clearly a buyer’s market,” said Michael Schaefer, head of acquisitions at Summit Entertainment LLC, the independent studio that released “Twilight.” “People are more cautious about how much they’re willing to spend.”

At least four studio specialty labels have folded or cut back since last year’s festival. Those making the trip to Park City, Utah, where Sundance runs through Jan. 25, are shopping for bargains.

Time Warner Inc. closed its Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse units last year, and merged New Line into parent Warner Bros. ThinkFilm, a distributor focused on small-budget films, closed its New York office and is being run from a new Los Angeles office, spokeswoman Katrina Wan said today in an e- mail. Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Vantage has scaled back releases.

Picturehouse and Time Warner’s HBO together bought “Rocket Science” in 2007. The movie cost $6 million to make and took in $59,000 at U.S. theaters, according to Internet Movie Database, which tracks industry sales.

This year’s festival features more than a dozen name-driven films that are looking for a distributor, including “I Love You Phillip Morris,” a gay love story featuring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, and “Brooklyn’s Finest,” a police drama showcasing Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle. Paul Giamatti appears in “Cold Souls,” about an actor who undergoes a procedure to separate himself from his soul.

“There are more movies without distributors than ever before at Sundance,” said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics.

One film that’s made it big, deal or not,  is Spike Lee’s film Passing Strange based on Stew and Heidi Rodewald’s Broadway musical that’s a globe-trotting, coming-of-age story, which was a critic’s darling a year ago in New York.  The film version has found a new audience at Sundance and they like it, gaining raves from both critics and audiences alike.

It’s been a 25 year struggle for Spike Lee  to get a fim into Sundance and now he’s finally made it with Passing Strange .

The director behind such films as She’s Gotta Have It  (1986), Mo’ Better Blues (1990) Malcolm X  (1992), Inside Man  (2006) and Miracle at St. Anna  (2008) has debuted films at Cannes, Venice and other festivals, but he and Sundance previously had been out of sync.

"It’s because of where the schedule is, where the festival is in the schedule. January never works out for me when I shoot," Lee, 51, said in an interview. "I’ve never had something that’s been available in January."

Now he has audiences and critics applauding him wildly. Apparently, in bringing a film to Sundance, Spike has managed to Do the Right Thing   …

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