Matthew and I head to the airport in a heavy fog (and not just in our heads) at 5:00 am to catch our 7:15 flight to Salt Lake City. Still groggy, we check in and get coffee and make it to the gate as they begin boarding. The fog followed us to SLC, but we land safely and get a taxi up the mountain. Lots of folks are sidetracked by the weather and don’t make it in until later that day or the next. There is no traffic, little snow on the ground, and the sun comes out by the time we get to Park City.
Finally at the condo, we meet Darren and his friend Ari who are sharing the condo. Darren is programming the dMAC in Orlando and it is his second year with us here. Ari plays Darren in his film “Essence of Irwin” and works for the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Matthew and I drop our stuff in the loft and I blaze into Hank Blumenthal’s room, not realizing that he and his girlfriend Mia are sleeping. Oh, those lumps in the bed are people… Hank woke up and came down to say hello. Sorry, Hank!
They didn’t even notice. Matthew and I are starving so we head over to Sundance HQ at the Marriott to pick up our tickets and grab a bite. In the restaurant, we run into the filmmakers from ??? who will be in Orlando in April. It is nice that they are so excited.
My first film is The Talent Given Us at the Library. The fictional film stars the director’s real life family on a cross-country journey to resuscitate their ailing relationships. A strong film that kicks reality tv’s ass. From there I went to the Egyptian at the top of the hill for Unconscious, a fantastic Spanish farce about Freudian psychology. Loved it.
Meanwhile, Matthew was at Murderball and the party afterward at the Spur Bar before seeing Brick at the new Racquet Club venue. We met Darren and Ari at Main Street Pizza & Noodle for dinner, but MC had to jet before eating if he wanted a good seat at New York Doll. I ate faster than I have since I was a lifeguard on a 15 minute break, and ran back up the hill to see Brothers by the Danish director of Open Hearts. I liked the film, but there were slow points and it was already 1 am to my body so I caught myself nodding once or twice. I ducked out as the film ended and headed back to the condo to crawl up into my top bunk bed and rest up for my five-film day on Saturday. Yet alas, I failed to make it safely back on the first day without having to listen to some tweens high on a Paris sighting for the entire bus ride home. Ah, Sundance…
