Courtesy of the Michigan Theater

The Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. screening, held concurrently with the film's debut at Sundance, will include an introduction by the filmmaker, highlights of the current festival, a message from Sundance founder Robert Redford and a question-and-answer session. View larger photo

On January 28, the Michigan Theater will host one of eight independent filmmakers flown from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, as part of an effort to engage a wider audience in the festival's events.

“In Park City, we see so many conversations and ideas about the subject matter,” said Brooks Addicott, associate director of media relations for Sundance. “We wanted to capture that very unique Sundance experience.”

The Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. screening, held concurrently with the film's debut at Sundance, will include an introduction by the filmmaker, highlights of the current festival, a message from Sundance founder Robert Redford and a question-and-answer session.

“People are aware that Sundance is going on in January and this offers them a chance to be a part of it,” Addicott said. “Unless you're in Utah in January, you'd never get that experience.”

The Sundance Institute — the nonprofit organization that oversees the festival — selected the eight theaters because of their involvement in the Sundance Institute Art House Project — in which community theaters screen Sundance films from previous years, said Russ Collins, Michigan Theater's executive director and CEO and a co-chair of the Art House Project.

“They selected us (Michigan Theater) because of our reputation,” he said. “There's a lot of film stuff going on in Ann Arbor and Detroit right now, so we're hopeful that this will be embraced by everyone on the metro area.”

Other selected venues include Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, Mass.; Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Music Box Theatre, Chicago; Downtown Independent, Los Angeles; Sundance Cinemas Madison, Madison, Wis.; Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, Tenn.; and Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, San Francisco.

If the initiative is successful, it will be expanded next year.

“There's an art house movement happening around the country,” Collins said. “If this works, it'll play a role in that growth.”

Tickets for the event are $15 and will be available in early December. For more information, go to michtheater.org.

The Sundance Film Festival runs Jan. 21-31 in Park City.