2014 Sundance Film Festival
Introduction

The **2014 [Sundance Film Festival](/wiki/Sundance_Film_Festival "Sundance Film Festival")** took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in [Park City, Utah](/wiki/Park_City%2C_Utah "Park City, Utah"), United States, with screenings in [Salt Lake City](/wiki/Salt_Lake_City%2C_Utah "Salt Lake City, Utah"), [Ogden](/wiki/Ogden%2C_Utah "Ogden, Utah"), and [Sundance Resort](/wiki/Sundance_Resort "Sundance Resort") in [Utah](/wiki/Utah "Utah"). The festival opened with *[Whiplash](/wiki/Whiplash_%282014_film%29 "Whiplash (2014 film)")* directed by Damien Chazelle and closed with musical drama *[Rudderless](/wiki/Rudderless "Rudderless")* directed by [William H. Macy](/wiki/William_H._Macy "William H. Macy").

The festival honored late [Roger Ebert](/wiki/Roger_Ebert "Roger Ebert") and premiered *[Life Itself](/wiki/Life_Itself_%282014_documentary_film%29 "Life Itself (2014 documentary film)")* by [Steve James](/wiki/Steve_James_%28producer%29 "Steve James (producer)"), a biographical documentary film based on Ebert's 2011 memoir titled as *Life Itself: A Memoir* on 19 January 2014\. The festival introduced a new film category titled *Sundance Kids*, which will help to introduce independent films to a younger generation of audiences. It is also a first category at the festival dedicated to children's films. The festival also hosted several events and discussion panels around themes of success through failure titled *Free Fail*, which included the screening of *[Bottle Rocket](/wiki/Bottle_Rocket "Bottle Rocket")* turned down by the Sundance Film Festival in 1996 and later become independently successful. The festival had more than 700 sponsors and 1,830 volunteers.


Which film opened the 2014 Sundance Film Festival?