Sundance Institute

Institute History

2017 Sundance Film Festival
1986 Sundance Film Festival

Description

“You’re just visiting the way I live,” Cay tells Vivian, the woman she loves, in Donna Deitch’s luminous debut film. It’s 1959, and conservative English professor Vivian has come to Reno to get a divorce. When she meets free-spirited Cay, she discovers a side of herself she never knew existed.

But Deitch’s breakthrough film is more than a tender love story. It’s one of the first films to explore the resistance of American small-town mores to untraditional lifestyles, even in a place that seems as wide open as Reno. In this town that thrives on gambling, these very different women take a chance on each other.

Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau couldn’t be better as Vivian and Cay, and Deitch surrounds them with colorful characters and an exuberant soundtrack of country western songs.

Desert Hearts won a Special Jury Prize at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival. We’re proud to premiere a new digitally restored version by the Criterion Collection and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Sundance Institute and Outfest UCLA Legacy Project.

— Barbra Bannon

Screening Details

Section: From the Collection
Film Type: DRAMF - Dramatic Feature
Country: U.S.A.
Run Time: 96 min.

Credits

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]