Sundance NEXTFEST: Quentin Tarantino Accepts Vanguard Leadership Award

By Steffanie Moyers

Living in LA, your average cinephile is privy to a multitude of surreal film-related experiences. Last night, for example, I was lucky enough to grab tickets to the opening night of Sundance’s NEXTFEST at the Ace Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

The opening night featured a red carpet, interviews, bars, food, live music and  – best of all – an honorary screening of a 35mm print of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.

It’s been 25 years since Reservoir Dogs made it’s debut at the 1992 Sundance Film Fest. In celebration of this slightly hard to believe anniversary (25 years already?), Quentin Tarantino appeared in person to accept the Vanguard Leadership Award.

The Vanguard Leadership Award is given annually to a member who has made sustained exemplary contributions in her/his area of professional practice, and/or in professional associations, regulatory boards and in the community, emphasizing service to others, innovations and entrepreneurial spirit. This year’s award was presented by Michelle Satter, the founding director of the Sundance feature film program.

As expected, Tarantino’s on-stage appearance was greeted by a standing ovation. He donned a brown leather jacket and delivered an esoteric 15-minute speech, during which he covered his career, his passion for film, as well as his two leads, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen, who also appeared in Tarantino’s 2015 offering The Hateful Eight.

Tarantino spoke of being born in Tennessee but growing up in LA. “There are New York crime films, and other crime films but [Reservoir Dogs] is a Los Angeles crime film,” he went on, “I’m an L.A. boy”. True to form, Tarantino was so excited at one point he nearly knocked his award to the floor – but caught it just in time and commenced the screening.

Photo by John Salangsang/Variety/REX/Shutterstock

Speaking of Tarantino films featuring notorious L.A. crimes – not much is known about Tarantino’s next project, which revolves around the Manson family. Clearly he intends to keep it that way as no questions were answered about it on the red carpet.

Madsen commented that Tarantino hasn’t changed in twenty years. “He loves making movies, he’s like a kid, he has so much heart and so much reverence for cinema”.

The screening served as the kicking off for Sundance NEXTFEST, which ran until August 13th. For more information about the event, head on over to the official website.

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