Sundance 2022, day one: A study in sound, and some words from Robert Redford

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival kicked off Thursday night the way the 2021 festival did — from people’s living rooms and laptops.

With COVID-19 case counts prompting the Sundance Institute to cancel this year’s in-person Utah screenings, festival attendees were back to the online experience — starting with a special presentation in Sundance’s virtual gathering place, The Spaceship.

The movie playing in the New Frontier section, in The Spaceship’s Cinema House, was “32 Sounds,” documentarian Sam Green’s multi-faceted look at how sound works in our ears, our brains and our souls — with a range of interview subjects, from Foley artists to Phillip Glass.

The screening was supposed to be preceded by a welcome message from the big guy, Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford. A technical glitch kept people tuning in through the Cinema House from hearing the message — which was posted on the festival’s website, and is worth a listen.

Read my account of Sundance’s first day at sltrib.com.