Robert Redford's annual Sundance Film Festival has sold its soul to rock 'n' roll. The week-long bazaar of screenings and parties has been overrun by musicians seeking to sell cross-over cinematic wares.

Heavy-metal icon Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath fame was at a private party, sitting on the bed in a brothel-like room with purple curtains, promoting a documentary about a concert tour. Mick Jagger blew in from Panama, wearing a long, black fur coat with an aqua-coloured scarf, to promote a film he is co-producing - Enigma, a drama based on Robert Harris's Second World War thriller.

Radiohead were at the festival, as was Macy Gray. John Mellencamp was in town to hype After Image, the new thriller in which he stars. Michael Stipe of REM promoted two pictures he has co-produced, Stranger Inside, a prison drama, and The Sleepy Time Gal, starring Jacqueline Bisset. And Courtney Love was expected for the premiere of her new film, Julie Johnson.

Doug Pray, whose documentary Scratch, which explores the hip-hop world of 'turntablism', said: 'Sundance has gone way beyond film now. It's this huge convention of culture creators.'

While some musicians came to sell movies they are either starring in or have produced, others are being wooed to write songs for films or provide soundtracks, now a significant slice of music sales. Jagger said he had noticed a growing cross-fertilisation between movies and music. 'Now it's de rigueur almost to have a soundtrack album which has some sort of music, whether it's Bob Dylan winning the best song in the Golden Globes or whatever.'

Jagger insisted he wasn't subverting the ideals of a festival designed as a showcase for independent and low-budget films. He argued that Enigma 'doesn't have a distributor. It's not from a big studio; it's made with independent money and in England'.

Asked why he thinks so many rock stars are interested in movies, Mellencamp said: 'I think all these people are very fortunate and can afford to do what they want to do. That's how I look at myself. For 20 years I've been writing and recording my own records. and I take charge of the whole business. It's nice to stick your head out and do something else.'