Digging In At Sundance

Well, a year has past since my first visit to Sundance, and I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity. I realize how lucky I am to be sent to this grande event by my fellow Film Festival Board members. So I begin "digging in" to what Sundance has to offer. After a farely carefree trip from Allentown to Cincinnati, and then on to Salt Lake, I again ran into a snafu... my luggage again did not arrive with me (that makes two years in a row for this trip). After being assured by the airline that my baggage would arrive within the next 24 hours, I picked up my rental car and headed off to Mel Halbach's.

We spent the evening socializing and drinking, but mostly just catching up with my friends Mel, Clayton, and Mel's girlfriend Deb. A good time was had by all on this Sunday evening.

I awoke on Monday mornig, fighting hard the urge not to hit the snooze for a third time. To my relief my luggage was delivered before I headed out for Park City, which is Sundance Central. It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny Utah morning. The trip quickly became familiar and second nature, as I wound up through Emigration Canyon and headed up I 80 to Park City. What an incredible country out here, nothing but mountains and vast blue skies. Did I mention all the snow covered hillsides and valleys???

Finally I arrived in Park City and was fortunate to find a good on-street parking space. My day began at the box office where I picked up my stack of pre-ordered tix and started looking for more to fill my already busy schedule. I was fortunate to get a ticket outside the door of my first film, only after standing in the "wait list" line for more than 30 minutes. The film was a fun little romp called "The Science of Sleep". The film was imaginatively crafted, utilizing standard imagery blended with animation and CGI. It kept the audience rolling from gag to gag. It was somewhat of a mix of Svankmajer's "Little Otik" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". I was truly happy to have caught this film!

After that screening I went back to the Box Office to see if anybody had tiz available for an afternoon screening. Having no luck, I decided to just stroll up and down the hill on Main Street, poking my head in on various Sundance venues and special events. There were some minor "stars" on the streets, but most of them sleep all day, and come out at night to make appearances and party their Hollywood asses off (have you seen how thin the starlets are these days???).

I departed Park City and headed back to Mel and Deb's for some relaxation before my evening screening in Salt Lake. The film for the evening was "TV Junkie", which came highly recommended by people in the "Industry". This documentary reveraled the darkside of TV personality Rick Kirkham. Much like Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man", which I screened here last year, itwas created utilizing footage actually shot by Richard throughout his destructive life. There was no "bright spot", no retrospect, and not much in the way of fresh thought. Scene after scene, we watched this man smoke crack, drink in excess, and above all, do everything possible to destroy his life and those around him. Sadly, this film just didn't deliver. Mel and I left the theater disappointed, wanting more, wishing for some focus or a conclusion.

Tomorrow, Tuesday is a busy day with 3 films on the schedule. I should close this entry, as I need to be well rested in order to sit through 3 films in one day. I leave you for now, but will return after tomorrow's activities, dancing in the sun here at Sundance.