Once upon a time, film festivals were the great equalizer for independent filmmakers, where anonymous artists could walk into Park City, Toronto, or Berlin with their labors of love and walk out with a distribution deal in tow and a bright future ahead.

If that sounds like a fairy tale, last month’s Sundance Film Festival seemed to confirm that fairy tales don’t really exist, at least not anymore. Sundance dealt mostly in frustration — frustrated studios didn’t like much of what they were seeing, and frustrated indie directors watched most of the attention drift toward big-name, big-budget projects. In the end, a few big deals emerged from Park City, but a fair number of works were sold to smaller distributors on clearance.

During the festival, Variety printed a “Sundance Report Card” that hinted at just how bleak it has become for film festival acquisitions in the mainstream movie marketplace. The report reconciled the major titles bought at Sundance in 2007 and tracked how well the films had performed on the art-house circuit in the year since. With the notable exception of John Carney’s “Once,” which was bought on the cheap but went on to make nearly $10 million in New York and elsewhere, 2007 was not a pretty year.

“Dedication,” starring Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore, was purchased at Sundance for $4 million, then brought in a meager $93,000 at the box office. John Cusack’s war drama “Grace Is Gone” was bought for the same price and turned into $37,000 at the ticket window. In the documentary realm, the spaceflight saga “In the Shadow of the Moon” made back about half of its $2 million price tag, and the art scandal film “My Kid Could Paint That” brought in $216,000 on a $1.8 million sale price.

If Sundance is the premiere American film festival, then these figures point to bad times for independent filmmakers and independent distributors alike; in terms of attracting and selling high-profile projects, they point to hard times for film festivals in general. After all, if Sundance, with all its glitz, glamour, and buzz, can’t produce more than a single hit, then what chance do smaller festivals stand?

Last year, this was precisely the sort of criticism leveled against New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, which will kick off its seventh year on April 23. In addition to jacking up its ticket prices and losing its downtown focus, critics alleged, Tribeca has failed to deliver that big standout work — a calling card of sorts, proving to the industry that yes, Tribeca can vault a hitherto unknown artist or film to major success. But if this year’s Oscar race is any indication, Tribeca has Sundance in its sights.

With the Academy Awards three weeks away, two major Tribeca documentaries have raced to the front of the pack. The first, Alex Gibney’s meditation on torture and war, “Taxi to the Dark Side,” currently screening at City Cinemas Village East, is considered one of the two leading contenders for this year’s documentary Oscar. The second major documentary from Tribeca 2007 is Tricia Regan’s uplifting “Autism: The Musical,” which has yet to open theatrically but was singled out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for this year’s hyper-competitive documentary shortlist.

“We did receive a good deal of attention, and it was great that people were talking so much about the film,” Mr. Gibney said of his Tribeca debut during an interview at this year’s Sundance Festival. “To be honest, we applied to Tribeca because [‘Taxi to the Dark Side’] wasn’t accepted to Sundance. But that said, it was probably a blessing, because we worked on the film between the deadline for Sundance and the deadline for Tribeca, and I think the movie changed a lot as a result.”

Mr. Gibney’s experience reflects that of many other filmmakers, who raced to make the Sundance deadline but then allowed themselves more time to refine their projects by the later Tribeca deadline. “The one disadvantage may be the timing of the festival,” Mr. Gibney said of Tribeca. “Since you need to get your movie out there by August, or before the Oscar rush, there wasn’t much time after Tribeca [in May], so we held it until early this year.”

Beyond the Oscar heavyweights, last year’s Tribeca Fest also helped launched a considerable cult hit: Seth Gordon’s documentary “King of Kong,” about the two-man competition for the world record in “Donkey Kong.” After making its premiere and securing distribution at the Slamdance Film Festival (which is staged each year in Utah at the same time as Sundance, ostensibly as a truer representation of independent filmmaking), the film used Tribeca as a springboard, riding a wave of critical and audience approval to a $700,000 theatrical gross and a large DVD rollout.

“Autism: The Musical,” “Taxi to the Dark Side,” and “King of Kong” are merely the latest in a long line of prominent documentaries to emerge from Tribeca — a list that also includes Oscar nominees “Street Fight” and “Jesus Camp.” And while none have become bona fide financial hits, the festival has come to see itself as a destination for documentarians, where true stories can get the exposure they need to connect with the right audiences.

Nancy Schafer, Tribeca’s newly named co-executive director, said the festival is gaining a reputation for its annual crop of documentaries and pointed to the general upswing in acquisitions; 28 world premieres were purchased in 2007, she said, versus 16 in 2006. “One thing people are embracing about Tribeca is our New York audience, which really wants to dive into these subjects at the festival,” she said. “At some events, documentaries and fictional films aren’t on the same level, but here we have audiences that want to see the film and investigate the topic, and they want documentaries that push the envelope and advance the conversation. That’s why I think many filmmakers are starting to bring their work here first.”

ssnyder@nysun.com