40 Years of Sundance: A Look Back With Photographer Jeff Vespa

TheWrap’s creative director reflects on his time at the festival with photos of young stars Ryan Gosling, Naomi Watts, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

2024 marks the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford’s winter refuge for actors, filmmakers and indie studios who flock to Park City, Utah to celebrate cinema away from the franchises and nine-digit budgets of Hollywood.

It is also, apparently, a place for those celebs to have some snowball fights.

This pic of a 29-year-old Ethan Hawke slinging a fistful of frozen water was taken back in 2000 by photographer Jeff Vespa, who now serves as the creative director of TheWrap.

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