Sundance Film Festival Is Finally Here! 5 Things To Get Excited About

Amy Poehler, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Rudd
Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty; Joe Scarnici/FilmMagic; George Pimentel/Getty

Hello, Park City! Members of the InStyle crew have headed to Utah to set up our pop-up portrait studio in the heart of the Sundance Film Festival as it celebrates its 30th year—cheers to founder Robert Redford!—starting today through January 26. What are we excited about? Here are five things heating up our film festival winter wonderland.

1. AMY POEHLER SIGHTINGSThe weekend after the funny lady hosts her second Golden Globes in a row, she's keeping busy: Heading to Utah to promote her new film, They Came Together. The flick, directed by Wet Hot American Summer's David Wain, is a funny take on the romantic comedy with Poehler as the New York Upper Sweet Side candy shop owner who falls for the candy store executive (Paul Rudd) trying to shut down her outpost. Delish!

2. RYAN REYNOLDS WILL BE TALKING A LOT ABOUT PETSThe handsome actor takes on an unconventional role in his new Sundance movie, The Voices, where he plays a bachelor who talks to his lovable animals, Bosco the dog and Mr. Whiskers the cat. The only catch? They talk back. We expect his time at the festival to include a lot of discussion about cats and dogs. Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick also star.

3. ACTORS GO BEHIND THE SCENESThe trend of actors trying their hands at directing will be a popular theme this year. David Cross (aka Arrested Development's Tobias Funke) debuts Hits, a satirical comedy he wrote and directed about "a paranoid municipal worker" who becomes famous after his City Hall rants go viral; Shameless star William H. Macy makes his directorial debut with Rudderless starring Billy Crudup as the ad exec trying to recover after his son's death; and, finally, John Slattery directs God's Pocket, a drama starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and his Mad Men co-star Christina Hendricks.

4. JGL IS BACK ON TV!We haven't seen Joseph Gordon-Levitt on TV since his 3rd Rock From the Sun days. Now, the man who set records last year when his Don Jon film sold to Relativity Media for millions, is back with something equally entertaining, but less testosterone-pushing: HITRECORD ON TV. Part of the festival's New Frontier program, which showcases installations, performances and more, this half-hour variety show features completely crowd-sourced content, and will premiere on Pivot TV on January 18. The first three three episodes will screen at the festival. JGL originally kicked off the project at Sundance, so its debut brings it full circle! Watch a preview of it here.

5. DESIGNERS PARTICIPATE IN THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTIONHappy birthday, Sundance! To kick off the festival's third decade, the organizers pulled together an eclectic mix of designers, stars and artists to create pieces inspired by the Utah utopia. Our picks: Anna Sui's bag featuring recycled vinyl and suede bag and Susan Sarandon's dessert plates that feature pictures of pies. See the whole collection here.

MORE:• Never-Before-Seen InStyle Portraits from 2013 SundanceSundance Film Festival 2013 Kick-OffSee Inside All of the 2013 Sundance Parties

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