Here's what you need to know before the 2020 Sundance Film Festival starts on Thursday

The days are counting down to the start of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, set for Thursday evening, Jan. 23. And the questions mount: Where to park? Who’s going to be there? What’s worth seeing?

The answer to the last question remains a mystery, since we won’t know what movies are worth seeing until we see them. As for the rest, let your trusty Sundance sherpa, yours truly, be of some assistance.

In the pages of Sunday’s Salt Lake Tribune — and online at sltrib.com — are printed my stories in advance of the festival. They are:

• A profile of John Cooper, the festival’s director since 2010, who is retiring after this year’s event.

• A preview of the opening-night film at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival, “Film About a Father Who,” a three-decades-in-the-making about former Park City developer Ira Sachs, directed by her daughter.

• A guide of helpful tricks for navigating Sundance, particularly in Park City — parking, concessions, how to behave in a crowd, and how to deal with the overwhelming sense of FOMO the festival imbues in attendees.

• A handy list of 50 celebrities, from Christopher Abbott to Barry Zito, who are expected to appear in Park City during the festival.

• Also, from earlier in the week, announcements of Sundance’s offscreen events and the members of the juries that will decide which movies win prizes.

• And, because it bears repeating, here is the original slate of films playing at Sundance (with embedded trailers for some of them). Here are the special events, Indie Episodic, and shorts programs, and here is the roster of the New Frontier program.