I had heard more than a few months ago that John Cooper was going to step down as head director of the Sundance Film Festival. It was, however, only officially announced today that, after just 10 years on the job, Cooper will move into a newly-created “emeritus director” role after the 2020 edition of the festival next January.
I honestly didn’t think too much about the reason for his decision, the person that told me the news. in early Spring, had mentioned that Cooper was just tired and wanted to move on. Fair enough. However, Jeffrey Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere quite unsubtly opined: “One thing you can always count on in these situations is that the reason[s] why a well-connected person has decided to leave a powerful, well-paid gig will never be disclosed at first, but will usually leak out several weeks or months after the fact, or certainly within a year or two.”
A fairly weak 2019 edition aside, Cooper really helped turn the festival around when he came in in 2009 and its shift into an unlikely launchpad for Oscar has been quite something this decade.