In the last week of January, 11 Dartmouth students and one recent graduate traveled to Park City, Utah, to volunteer at the Sundance film festival, the largest independent film festival in the United States.
The student volunteers worked shifts aiding theater managers and counting the number of people who attended different performances. They also had access to movie premieres and Q&A sessions with different industry leaders.
Harriette Yahr ’87, a faculty member in the Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies program, developed the initiative. Yahr — who has attended Sundance for nearly two decades — said this was the second year Dartmouth sent students to the festival. She said she hopes to continue to organize the trip annually.
“[The experience] is helping them grow as filmmakers who are going to need … to understand how to navigate all the various tentacles of film — whether it’s talking to publicists, understanding audiences,” Yahr said.
All 11 current students received funding for the trip from the College, Yahr added. She helped some apply for grants through the Center for Professional Development and the Leslie Center for the Humanities, while the graduate student received money from the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.
Film minor Janel Sharman ’27 said she “filled every moment” while volunteering at Sundance, attending movie premieres and panels. Her favorite part, she said, was walking down the town’s main street.
“I really see myself being in the creative [side] of filmmaking postgrad,” she said. “Being in these creative spaces is always so inspiring for me because it makes it seem more achievable.”
The student volunteers have varied career interests — and not all major in film at the College, Yahr said. Some are interested in the industry as aspiring filmmakers, while others are looking for careers in the production world.
Regardless of the students’ specific niches, every side of the film world is accessible at the festival, Yahr said.
“It’s a make-your-own experience,” she said. “There is so much [at Sundance].”
English major Lulu Alonso ’25 is interested in the production side of the film industry. She said her favorite part of the trip was “just walking up and down Main Street” because of the number of celebrities she and the other Dartmouth students spotted.
“Park City is just so small, and everyone is on the same street,” Alonso said. “When you’re just getting pizza, you see Dave Franco and Callum Turner and Questlove.”
Yahr advised the students to lean into this “serendipity” while at the festival.
“I write the students long missives with things I suggest they do, but [I also remind them to stay] open to serendipity,” she said. “ … Don’t worry about spending an hour waiting in line, because the person next to you might become your best friend.”
Attending the festival gave Sascha Agenor ’25 new creative insight. She is currently working on making a film for her final thesis in the film department and said that the movies she saw inspired her to use more low-technology filming equipment.
“[Sundance] made me realize that you don’t need a crazy camera to make something amazing,” she said. “With [my thesis] film, I’m using more handheld techniques, more improv, being on the go.”
This year’s group of students was selected on a “first-come, first-served basis” because the program is still nascent, Yahr said. In future years, she plans for the selection process to be more formalized.
Yahr said part of her enthusiasm comes from the fact that she is an alumna. She is eager to help other Dartmouth graduates have successful careers in the arts — and likened Sundance to a short, fast-paced internship.
“I see this Sundance experience as part of a larger initiative to help students find opportunities in the arts, in films,” Yahr said. “… We want to get our students into immersive experiences that catapult them in ways you can’t in the classroom.”
Charlotte Hampton is the editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth. She hails from New York, N.Y., and is studying government and philosophy at the College.
She has previously worked as an intern at Bloomberg News, where she was writing about work, and the Voice of America, where she was writing for the press freedom desk. Her writing has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, the Miami Herald and her local paper: the West Side Rag. She is the recipient of the 2024 Reveille Seven Courage in Student Journalism Award for her reporting on campus protest in the spring of 2024. She is a member of the Board of the Student Press Law Center.
Outside of The D, she likes reading Clarice Lispector, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Annie Dillard and one sentimental copy of “A Coney Island of the Mind.”
You can reach her with tips/corrections at editor@thedartmouth.com. You may submit letters to the editor to the same email. She is also reachable on Signal at 9176831832.
