The Eccles Theater came alive last night at the screening of this year’s opening night film, Martin McDonagh’s darkly comic gangster pic In Bruges. Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford introduced the film and hinted at some of the themes driving this year’s Festival. “A word that’s been bandied about a lot lately is ‘change’ and I think our country is desperately in need of a change,” he said to audience cheers. “But I want to focus on the word as it relates to artists. Artists are agents of change. They're our first responders and they document the world around us.”

The word “artist” merits close examination during this year’s Festival. At the inaugural press conference earlier that day, Redford pointed out that the programming staff saw an increase in submissions from artists of other disciplines who had crossed over into filmmaking. Artists as diverse as poets, photographers, graphic designers and, in the case of opening night film In Bruges, playwrights all have films screening in the 2008 program. “That to me is another sign of change that’s occurring,” he said. “It’s pretty exciting.”

But that’s not to say that these artists can simply transfer their sensibilities from one discipline to another – there’s a definite learning process. Festival Director Geoffrey Gilmore introduced Irish playwright-turned-filmmaker Martin McDonagh at the inaugural press conference earlier that day, commenting that the film “is not your archetypical ‘Let’s put the stage onscreen.’”

“That’s exactly what I didn’t want to do ‘cause I was brought up with a love of films much more than the theater,” said McDonagh. “The last thing I wanted to do was to put a play onstage.”

The filmmaker also spoke candidly about his initial fears crossing over from theatre into film. “Script-wise, I was happy with the dialogue and the characters, but it took an awful lot of thought and work with the DP to get to a comfortable place finding a visual style and learning where to place the camera,” he said. “Also working with the actors … mostly with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson – those boys put everything at ease for me. I was terrified going into the process.”

In Bruges is one of 58 films by first-time feature directors screening at the Festival this year, which means 58 new voices will be heard for the first time by audiences. “Not since we started 25 years ago have there been so many new filmmakers and I'm really proud of that,” said Redford.

“That’s exciting because there’s a new spirit that seems to be emerging with the new filmmakers and their new voices,” he pointed out. “Rather than in the past, where I think some of the filmmakers were connected to the generation of baby boomers who were trying to hang on to something of value, now there’s a new group that’s saying, ‘We don’t want to inherit anything before us. We just want to do something new. So just get out of our way and let us do that.’”

Gilmore stressed the Festival’s focus on international filmmakers. “The Festival has always been acknowledged as the premiere American film festival,” he said, “but one of the things we're proudest of, that we've developed over the last several years is our focus on international film.” This is the Festival’s fourth year to feature an international competition.

Films from 34 countries will screen in the Festival lineup this year. “It's an amazing experience for me – from a programming focus – to look at work from all over the world and have the opportunity to be as impressed and excited as I was this year,” Gilmore said and stressed that the Festival is one of discovery. “I think we’re going to look back years from now and say, ‘Wow, look at the filmmakers that emerged from this year’s Festival.’

That spirit of innovation and discovery is also evident in the Festival’s New Frontier program, which opened the doors of its Main Street home yesterday and unveiled 15 installations by visual artists. The venue also includes a theatre which will screen seven feature films during the course of the Festival.

Located on the basement level at 333 Main Street, New Frontier on Main inhabits an appropriately underground setting, fitting for the groundbreaking work that emerges from it. “This is what we’re going to look back on [in the future] as the Sundance back then when we were in the basement underneath the mall, because we’re going to continue to grow,” said Director of Programming John Cooper to a crowd of revelers at the New Frontier launch. But while the Festival is utterly committed to embracing change as it applies to new cinematic voices and forms, it is equally committed to not changing its core mission. “Sundance was structured to adapt to change,’ Redford explained at the press conference. “On the other hand, our mission at the core remains the same and that mission is supporting the artists and finding new ways to get their work seen and to help develop new audiences for their work. “That's our mission and that remains the same every year.’