Eugene Hernandez's trip to Sundance in photos

"It's poetic, really," a seasoned sales agent told me when news broke that IndieWire co-founder and New York Film Festival head Eugene Hernandez would take over as director. of the Sundance Film Festival. That's one way of saying it; another would call it fate. Hernandez, a friend and mentor to many of us, has lived and breathed Sundance DNA for his entire adult life.

The seeds for this site were sown during a fateful 1993 trip to Park City, where Hernandez and college friend Cheri Barner met Mark Rabinowitz. Their experiences there, at the height of America's burgeoning independent film market, inspired the concept of IndieWire, which they launched as an email newsletter at the festival two years later. late. In an oral history for IndieWire's 20th anniversary, Hernandez explained how the Sundance community experience motivated his work:

The opportunity to connect with these filmmakers on their early films was a truly inspirational moment for all of these people. We were trying to harness that energy and also support that community. …While cinema has changed in the years since, what hasn't changed is the ingenuity of independent filmmakers.

As Hernandez's profile grew in that same community, he remained an eternal friendly face - a rarity in the entertainment business, at all levels - as well as an inspiring optimist . This combination ability is especially welcome now, with Sundance returning in January to an in-person event after two years of a virtual pandemic and the industry struggling for some hope for the future. IndieWire's first decade was defined by similar uncertainty, amid the digital boom and early days of streaming, as filmmakers struggled for some clarity. Hernandez's amiable and inquisitive style provided an essential guide through the chaos.

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He guided NYFF through this same challenge, kicking off his first year as festival director amid the pandemic in 2020, when he crafted an innovative blend of outdoor and online experiences that supported the brand. He was my driver for opening night as we watched Steve McQueen's "Lovers Rock" from the back seat of his car, and he made his first festival introduction as a director standing on the grass. From the perspective of the festival, this period was both post-apocalyptic and inspiring. Yes, the fragile landscape of festival curation was already facing big existential questions. At the same time, we were there, the films were shown, the filmmakers were doing a magnificent job. The ability to support this result couldn't be more appropriate in the present moment, as Sundance prepares for its 40th edition and the film community needs its support more than ever.

Ahead of today's news, Hernandez shared these photos from his previous experiences at the festival.

IndieWire founders Eugene Hernandez, Cheri Barner and Mark Rabinowitz at Sundance in 1996

Randall Michelson