Now twenty years old, the Sundance Film Festival remains alive and well, continuing to thrive in the snow-covered mountains of Park City, Utah. This year’s official logo, a film reel followed by the number 4, was inescapable throughout Park City, and the throngs of film viewers and filmmakers (mostly the former) crowding Main Street and the fest’s other venues filled the air with talk of movies and little else.

Festival founder Robert Redford was on hand to present this year’s opening film, Stacy Peralta’s surfing documentary “Riding Giants.” Redford said he remains positive about the fest’s development, praising its continued commitment to diversity over commercialism.

Such an opinion might be debatable, particularly in light of such sponsors as Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Microsoft; nevertheless, the variety of films – over two hundred feature-length and short films – made for a nice slice of cinephile-heaven.

Among the plethora of film offerings, certain movies naturally rose above the rest, and of those, some will hopefully even make it out to Columbus. In particular, Jared Hess’s debut feature “Napoleon Dynamite” and Guy Maddin’s latest work, “The Saddest Music in the World,” both knocked the snow boots right off this reviewer and both should make it near Ohio State before too long.

Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Guy Maddin, whose film-crazed mind has produced such incredible odes to cinema as “Archangel,” “Careful,” and “The Heart of the World,” unleashed his rare vision on the masses once again with the world premiere of his latest feature, “The Saddest Music in the World.” Maddin was on hand to introduce the film and take questions afterward, along with his two stars, Mark McKinney (formerly of “Kids in the Hall”) and Isabella Rossellini.

Remaining true to form, Maddin has once again created an explosively anachronistic and surrealistic love letter to the cinema, past and present (but mostly past). To look at a still from the film would give one the impression of looking at a frame from a movie dated around 1935, yet the editing owes much to the current trend toward fast cutting.

If “The Saddest Music in the World” makes it to Columbus for no other reason than Maddin’s positive rapport with the Wexner Center for the Arts, the other standout film, “Napoleon Dynamite,” should arrive in town based on its overwhelming audience reaction and purchase by indie powerhouse Fox Searchlight.

The laughs began immediately, and the audience remained in hysterics for the movie’s 90-minute duration. Despite a thin plot, one couldn’t help but get caught up in the characters and the visual gags – particularly when Napoleon Dynamite gets thwacked in the face with a piece of steak thrown by quarterback-wannabe Uncle Rico. Such antics rival those of even the great Preston Sturges.

Inspired by writer-director Jared Hess’s childhood in Idaho, “Napoleon Dynamite” seems to share the tone of Wes Anderson’s films (“Rushmore” in particular) and could signify the coming of a Wes Anderson generation in the contemporary American film scene. Even Munn Powell’s rife cinematography, complete with outrageous zooms, seems an homage to Robert Yeowman, Anderson’s cinematographer of choice.

Gauging by its opening weekend, the Sundance Film Festival continues to be a driving force in the independent film scene.

Now, if only the films it showcases were able to find an outlet and concomitantly an extended life beyond Park City.