by Andrew MARSZAL
The U.S. film industry's first major gathering since wildfires devastated Los Angeles begins Thursday at Sundance, where Olivia Colman and John Lithgow will kick off the indie movie festival under somber circumstances.
Hollywood's annual pilgrimage to the Rocky Mountains to debut the coming year's top indie films is taking place two weeks after blazes killed more than two dozen people and brought the US entertainment capital to a halt.
Festival chiefs spoke at length with filmmakers "who lost homes or were displaced" by the fires before deciding to press ahead, said Sundance director Eugene Hernandez.
Organizers heard "harrowing stories of people running out of their homes, evacuating... with their hard drives under their arms" to ensure their films survived, he told AFP.
Among those were the filmmakers behind "Didn't Die," an indie zombie movie about survivors podcasting to an ever-dwindling human population, which was partly shot in the director and producers' now-destroyed Altadena homes.
"The parallels are intense," director Meera Menon told movie trade outlet Deadline.
"The main characters are fleeing catastrophe after catastrophe... and we were fleeing our home," she said.
Also among the 88 features being screened in Utah's Park City is "Rebuilding," starring Josh O'Connor as a rancher who loses everything in a wildfire.
"It takes on an added poignance," said Hernandez.
"It's an incredible film, and one that we felt was important to show, based on that spirit of resilience," said Sundance programming director Kim Yutani.
The big opening night film this year is "Jimpa," in which Colman plays a mother taking her non-binary teen to visit their gay grandfather -- played by Lithgow, in various states of undress.
Among other festival highlights, Jennifer Lopez brings her first film to Sundance with the glitzy musical "Kiss of the Spider Woman."
From "Dreamgirls" director Bill Condon, the film is based on the Broadway adaptation of Argentine author Manuel Puig's famous novel.
Lopez plays a silver-screen diva whose life and roles are discussed by two mismatched prisoners as they form an unlikely bond in their grim cell.
Cumberbatch stars in another literary adaptation, "The Thing With Feathers," based on Max Porter's experimental and poetic novel about a grieving husband and two young sons.
Rapper A$AP Rocky and late-night host Conan O'Brien make up the eclectic cast of mystery "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You."
And "The Bear" star Ayo Edebiri teams up with John Malkovich for thriller "Opus," about a young writer investigating the mysterious disappearance of a legendary pop star.
Among Sundance's documentary selection, which has launched several of the most recent Oscar-winning nonfiction films, politics will feature heavily.
Former New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern is expected in town to promote the behind-the-scenes documentary "Prime Minister."
And two films touching on the Gaza conflict will see their debut, days after the ceasefire agreement with Israel began.
"Coexistence, My Ass!" follows Jewish peace activist-turned-comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi, as she constructs a one-woman show and grapples with the consequences of Israel's military campaign.
"As an activist, I reached 20 people, and in a viral video mocking dictators, I reached 20 million people," she told AFP, admitting she is "anxious" about how the film will be received.
Palestinian-American director Cherien Dabis will unveil "All That's Left of You" in a prominent Saturday evening premiere at Sundance's biggest venue.
Sundance runs from Thursday through February 2.
© Agence France-Presse