A recent e-mail blast related to Sundance housing offered up hotel rooms at the Yarrow for $399 a night--holy crap! If you think that's reasonable, have I got a bargain for you. Somewhat surprisingly, we're still looking for someone to share our condo at the Three Kings on Three Kings Drive off of Silver King Drive and Empire Avenue. It's less than a 10 minute walk to the Library, Albertsons, the shuttle buses, the Yarrow, and the Holiday Village Cinemas, so it's a real good location. There's two other Florida folks besides myself, and we've got the place for the first half of the festival, Jan. 17 - 22 (six nights). What's available is an upstairs loft with a king size bed, and the rate is $200 a night. Anyone interested please get in touch as soon as possible (mcurtis@enzian.org). And if I don't get another chance to say it before offices start closing for vacation, best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday to all.

--Matthew

Now that I'm back in cloudy, rainy F-L-A, I can emerge from my layers of winter clothes, finally put on a pair of sneakers again, and reflect on my last couple of days in Park City. By some strange quirk in the schedule, a nice chunk of my movies in the second half of my Package "A" happened to be music docs. Stewart Copeland's Super-8 video diary of the meteoric rise of his little trio, EVERYONE STARES:THE POLICE INSIDE OUT, was fascinating even for the casual fan. Co-produced by Brit Marling and co-edited by Mike Cahill (BOXERS AND BALLERINAS, FFF 2005), the film features some amazing, rough versions of key songs ("Demolition Man!") and reminds us of this supergroup's punk roots. But I still wanted to ask him about the "Clark Kent" single ever coming out on CD.

GLASTONBURY is the latest offering from Julien Temple (THE FILTH AND THE FURY), an exhaustive portrait of the summer solstice music festival that's been going on in the British countryside for 35 years now. Rather than identify artists and years and dwell on statistics, the film jumps back and forth through time to create a total experience of British eccentricities and incredible music (including the likes of the reformed Velvet Underground, Terry Reid, David Bowie, Black Uhuru, Steel Pulse, Pulp, Coldplay, and dozens of others both famous and obscure). In his introductory remarks, the director described the music festival "like a Woodstock that's never ended." Throw in a little FESTIVAL EXPRESS and a lot of "Burning Man" and you get the idea.

NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD is another exquisite concert film directed by Jonathan Demme (STOP MAKING SENSE, STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK). Shot at the wonderfully sounding, world famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville by the likes of Ellen Kuras and Declan Quinn, this presentation of the recent "Prairie Wind" material and assorted acoustic greatest hits (along with one Ian Tyson cover) elevates them to a whole new level. Young looks fit after his recent medical issues and sounds great (as does his band of assorted Stray Gators, Emmylou Harris, his wife Peggy, and others), providing witty and poignant anecdotes throughout the two nights of filming in front of a packed house. A gentler, beautiful entry in the canon of concert films produced by this legendary musician, this probably won't convert any non-believers. Genuine fans however, will be in heaven.

Short cuts: OPEN WINDOW - another terrific performance by Robin Tunney, but this aftermath-of-rape drama is overly melodramatic and features a lackluster male lead; ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL - not quite GHOST WORLD, but an often hilarious and wickedly barbed satire about celebrity, college life, and the subjective nature of art; THE FOOT FIST WAY - absolutely hysterical North Carolina comedy about a deluded karate instructor, his troubled relationship with his trashy wife, and the body of students at his school. One of the funniest things I've seen in a long time; SUBJECT TWO - a somewhat gory but unscary modern spin on the Frankenstein legend set in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado. The need to keep murdering the med student-turned-immortality experiment subject over and over again was a nasty bit of business, but I saw the final twist coming a mile away. Still, a fairly cerebral indie horror flick does earn some points and admiration from this fan of the genre.

Finally, I'd like to give kudos to Sundance for coming up with an incredibly cool series of trailers this year. The whole Icarus and storytelling theme rendered in paper cut outs was very effective and colorful, and I can't say I grew tired of them even after 18 viewings...remarkable.

--MC

When we got home Wednesday night at 2:45 am I still had to pack. Bright and early the next morning, Kevin from Sundance Channel came and picked me up for a breakfast meeting at the Stein Eriksen Lodge. A thousand feet higher than Main Street, I was winded just walking from the car. The Lodge and it's views are gorgeous and breakfast was incredible. The meeting went well too.

Back at the condo before everyone was even packed and gone, I met up with Suzy for one last lap of Main before we connected with Matthew at the Three Kings condo offices and headed down the mountain to the airport. It was sunny and warmer than the past few days. We had a ton of fun this year, but it was nice to be going home. The plane was full of golfers going to the PGA show here in town...ahh, Florida.

Tuesday I skipped my first two screenings in order to get caught up on the hundreds of emails flooding my Outlook. Mornings at the Starbucks are always an adventure. The person that wi-fis their condo is a genius, unfortunately that person doesn't exist...yet. I then ran around and picked up our tickets to the Sundance Channel and Kodak parties. God love the volunteers at the Marriott...twice we got sent on wild goose chases through the hotel looking for the right place to pick up credentials, tickets, etc. If you want to have fun, you gotta work for it.

I dropped off the merch I bought while wondering around the hotel and headed all the way up the hill to the Egyptian for OLD JOY. Easy to see why it was in the frontier section, it is more of a poem than a narrative. No story to speak of, but very beautiful and very real. I met Suz at Java Cow beforehand to give her her party tix and we decided to check Chimayo on the slight chance we could get a dinner reservation...and score! We did.

The Sundance Channel party was hopping when I arrived after my screening. Everyone was in a frenzy because BOB was there! Always a great event the party was full of familiar faces and new friends. I met the gang from GA (and formerly of GA--Brian Newman now with National Video Resources). The ladies from Women Make Movies were there, as was Jeff Dowd, and the indieWIRE gang.

At six Suzy, Matthew and I headed to Chimayo having fun with our schwag from Sundance Channel on the way. Matthew was going on about having to get to a screening and only sitting with us for a few minutes until Paul Devlin (POWER TRIP, SLAMNATION) joined us. Sure, Matthew. Once he saw the food and the menu, he wasn't going anywhere. Paul joined us and we had a lovely, leisurely two-hour dinner of elk, buffalo, and a butterscotch flan to die for.

We shopped up and down Main as we waited for the Kodak party at the Riverhorse to begin. BTW, the bathroom at the transportation center is the best kept secret of Sundance. So clean it even smells good! At about 9:45 we got in the ever-growing line for the Kodak party. As we were waiting there I saw a small woman and a few filmmakers get in line behind us...could it be? was it? PHONE SEX GRANDMA! We are going to play the short doc that premiered at Slamdance in the Fest this year. Suzy and Matthew were thrilled and had to say hello. Get any pointers guys? More on Grandma later...

The party was fun and we met lots of nice folks. Lucy Liu made another appearance in Matthew's life. So close, but so far away. Around 11:15 we took off to get to our midnight screening of THE FOOT FIST WAY, a hilarious spoof about a cuckolded martial arts instructor getting his revenge. Suzy bought a ticket from the stand-by line after about 30 people passed...we couldn't figure out why they passed on a ticket but wanted to wait in the stand-by line, but whatever. Now on my third midnight screening, I finally crashed and despite the fun of the film my head nodded more than once. I woke up cranky and dreaded the final 2:30 am, five degree, one mile walk back to the condo.

Enzian Theater was chosen as one of only 14 art house theaters across the country to participate in the Sundance Institute’s 25th Anniversary film series, so Matthew and I were invited to a brunch Monday morning with staffers from the other 13. All nice folks, it was great to meet them and get excited about a project that we could collaborate on together. More to come on that soon…

Matthew and I then shopped a bit on Main Street before heading off to our first films of the day. FACTOTUM is a compilation of Bukowski starring Matt Dillon and Lily Taylor. Suzy is starting to call this the “self-loathing” festival due to the high number of films with self-destructive characters. Taylor is strong as always, but was surprised by the strong performance turned in by Dillon. He manages to keep his usual charisma and charm while ultimately creating a character for whom we have no sympathy. Drugstore Cowboy twenty years later?

I didn’t get to stay for the Q&A because I had a half hour to get to the next theater and the next film. RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR is a thriller about smart bombs being dropped on LA. The concept is clever, the acting by Rory Cochrane and Mary McCormack solid, but the dialogue is completely flat at times. Just because characters scream and cry the words doesn’t make them interesting. I ducked out without staying for the Q&A for this one either.

Back up on Main Street, most of our evening was spent at the Full Sail party, co-hosted by Suzy and Avid. Great food and nice folks made for a pleasant and relaxing experience. The FilmThreat boys were there enjoying a Full Sail Lager (really!) and we got to chat with Sterling VanWagenen whom Orlando misses desperately. His next project is a doc about Al-Jazeera. What a great man.

At about 11:00, Suzy, Matthew and I ducked out to get to an 11:30 screening of EVERYONE STARES, Stewart Copeland’s home movies about the early days of The Police. A childhood idol, Stewart was there with his brother Miles. Suzy and I were almost reduced to being giggly schoolgirls in his presence. The film was like watching home movies, but was still fun and insightful. Stewart’s Q&A was funny and charming and proved to me why he is a musical genius. Loved it.

One more day to go…
SL

Though the last two nights have been bitterly cold, some fine movies and my favorite film of the festival thus far--the excellent WORDPLAY--have helped keep the soul warm and toasty. This incredibly entertaining, cleverly constructed look at the institution known as The New York Times crossword puzzle, has just enough of everything you’d want in a doc of this nature—historical perspective, star editor Will Shortz, the “constructors” of the puzzles, a National Championship tournament with a great assortment of characters, wonderful music, and commentary by fans such as Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton, Ken Burns, NY Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina, and The Indigo Girls. The first film worthy of an unequivocal “5!”

THE PROPOSITION is a terrific and brutal western from Australia, written by musician Nick Cave and starring Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, and Emily Watson. Set in the savage1880’s bush frontier, the story combines British soldiers, an Irish gang of criminals, and native aborigines into a violent and haunting story of family bonds, racism, and colonization.

PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS , the first feature in a decade from Maria Maggenti (“The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love”), is a sweet, funny romantic comedy that pays homage to the screwball comedies of the past. Perhaps turning on one too any coincidences to keep the story percolating, the attractive cast of Elizabeth Reaser, Justin Kirk, and Gretchen Mol make this triangle-with-a-twist and its “Sex in the City” caliber dialogue a probable crowd pleaser.

13 TZAMETI is the unusual title of one of the most gripping films I’ve seen in years. Filmed in B&W widescreen (yea!), this is a thriller unlike anything you’ve seen before. A young Frenchman unwittingly gets involved in an underground gambling ring where the contestants engage in group Russian Roulette—intense, economic, and highly original, this ain’t no cockfighting flick.

Running into legendary folk singer Judy Collins (“Both Sides Now”) at the way-fun Full Sail party last night, condo mate and Metro Orlando Film Commission’s Suzy Allen swore to me that the famous musician was Joan “Dynasty” Collins’ sister. Though I explained to her that "Alexis Carrington’s" sister was a bestselling trash novelist (and not mentioning that the Collins sisters are British), Suzy wanted to bet me on the accuracy of her pop culture knowledge. I am way too nice to take advantage, but we did have a good laugh at her expense.

--MC

Sunday I slept in a little bit since our Exhibitors brunch got moved to Monday. Suzy ducked out for a screening while Jesse and I waited for Matthew to finish his thesis paper on the films he saw the day before…I will now try to keep my blogs somewhat short in preparation for his novellas.

Jesse and I met his friend Susan at the Morning Ray Café for a wonderful brunch, then met up with Suzy for the Chrysler reception. They are doing a cool new version of the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Fest that involves a video game called The Movies. I also chatted with Matt from SXSW, everywhereman as I call him. Here is Suzy and Jesse with Dave Franco and the gang from Full Sail out on the balcony.

Next we were off to the indieWIRE party and Suzy and Jesse were gracious enough not to get mad at me after I took them on a wild goose chase around Main Street. The food was great and Suzy was able to get her one meal of the day in before we left for our 6:00 screening of THE ILLUSIONIST, an intriguing period piece set in Vienna and shot in Prague starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel. Good stuff.

Suzy headed back to the condo to meet Jesse for dinner and I went to see THIN, a doc about an eating disorder treatment center in Boca. Very powerful, the film gives a variety of perspectives on the disease from patients, their families, staff, doctors, nurses, and psychiatrists.

I hung out in the lobby close to David Fenkel from ThinkFILM so I didn’t have to go back out in the cold before getting into the midnight screening of AWESOME; I FUCKIN’ SHOT THAT, the Beasies concert doc shot in Madison Square Garden by 50 of their fans who were given Hi8 cameras. Awesome indeed! Adam and Mix Master Mike did a Q&A after the film that was hilarious. Sweet Matthew was waiting for me when I got out to walk home in the five degree bitter cold. On the way, I called Orlando’s number one Beastie fan, Drew Garabo at 4:30 AM Orlando time and filled him in on the movie. Thanks for the plugs Drew! Sweet sleep here I come…
SL

Day #2 took a darker turn subject-wise, bookended by powerful, honest tales (both fiction and non-fiction) of drug addiction. But first a couple of comments about DESTRICTED, the supposedly 80 minute collection of porn shorts that was scheduled to begin at 11:30 PM—NOT!! This two hour mixed bag got rolling around midnight, and by the time the credits rolled on the interminable Gaspar Noe piece that brought the program to a grinding thud, a good portion of the audience had already fled. The Matthew Barney film, HOIST, brings new meaning to the term “man vs. machine” with typically some of the most unusual and twisted images and execution of a concept one could ever imagine. SYNC, by Marco Brambilla, effectively sets incredibly quick edits from scores of porn movies to a drumbeat track, while BALKAN EROTIC EPIC had some amusing renderings of scenes from Balkan folklore, where male and female genitalia seem to have mystical powers. But the provocative and highly entertaining Larry Clark film, IMPALED, was clearly the best of this bunch. Young men are first interviewed by the filmmaker about porn and their own sexual experiences, eventually asked to strip while competing to star in their own mini-porn film and the right to pick their professional co-star. The “winner” then interviews a series of porn actresses, has them get naked, and makes his selection. The film of their sexual liaison follows, not without a mishap or two. This part of the compilation is worthy of further exposure—no pun intended.

SHERRYBABY features an excellent ensemble cast and a great lead performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal as an ex-junkie, released from prison after serving three years. Out on parole, she tries to stay clean, find a job she won’t despise, and connect with her young daughter that her brother and sister-in-law have been raising. This is a remarkably tough, honest, and sexually charged performance for a film that packs such an emotional wallop that the first question asked during the post-film Q & A was by a woman bawling while singing the film’s praises to the director, Laurie Collyer (who made the unusual leap of a doc feature in competition five years ago, NUYORICAN DREAM, to such an accomplished narrative feature).

Turns out the right side of the Racquet Club venue is a little less noisy from the metal steps , something to remember for the rest of the festival.

Heading over for a bite at The Broken Thumb in between films, I run into the A HAWK IS DYING team, including director and FFF veteran and Ft. Myers native Julian Goldberger (TRANS), producer Jeff Levy-Hinte (WENDIGO, LAUREL CANYON), and star Paul Giamatti. With so many Florida connections (director, source material of a Harry Crews novel, the Gainesville setting, Kim and Mark Mullen’s casting help), this is top prospect for this year’s Florida Film Festival, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens with distribution plans post-Sundance. The film itself is a unique story of a man obsessed. Giamatti plays the owner of an auto upholstery business in Gainesville, FL, who lives with his sister and her emotionally handicapped teenage son. Everything in his life however, seems to revolve around training hawks, and a tragedy sets him off on a downward spiral of exhaustion and delirium. This is challenging and deliberately paced material, much of it filmed at night or in darkness, and the cast, including Michelle Williams, Michael Pitt, and many authentic lesser-knowns, does a fine job with it.

ONE LAST DANCE is the new film from Max Makowski, creator of the extraordinary THE PIGEON EGG STRATEGY, which I saw at Sundance 7 or 8 years ago. This comedic gangster thriller from Singapore revolves around “T”, a classy and intelligent hitman tracking down some kidnappers for “the boss.” Constructed like an intricate cinematic puzzle, this visually stylish action film is punctuated by odd bits of wacky humor and digitally created gore effects. Unfortunately, I had to leave with about 5-10 minutes left to head to another screening because the film started 15 minutes late, a common occurrence two days in.

Yesterday was the “Techno Bus”, today it’s “Mr. Paranoia.” My bus trip from Main St. to The Yarrow for my final screening of the day featured an old driver who had his doom and gloom schpiel about driving in Park City during the festival down pat. He also refused to let a group of kids on the bus since they were eating ice cream cones, and according to a fellow passenger, had earlier refused to let someone bring a cup of coffee on the bus since the hot liquid was a “health hazard.” OK…

My final film of the day and first doc of the festival was the much anticipated TV JUNKIE. Skillfully compiled from more than 3000 hours of home video tapes, the film tells the dark and often disturbing tale of Rick Kirkham and his struggle to control his demons. A one-time national correspondent for TV’s “Inside Edition,” with a pretty wife and two small kids, his compulsion for video diaries provided a treasure trove of material to create a fascinating and sometimes harrowing narrative of what addiction can do to a picture-perfect life. A crying child has never been so ominous…
MC

At the end of the first night, Suzy, Jesse and I went to dinner at Oishi for some amazing sushi. Aaron Eckhart came in completely alone and ate at the bar and quietly enjoyed a dinner to himself. Huge brownie points in my book. The temptation to talk to him was there, but ultimately respecting his privacy was much more satisfying. Jesse saw him on day two, blessed him when he sneezed and chatted with him for a few. He was checking his email, no entourage in sight. Refreshing.

After dinner we did the Main Street lap, up the hill one side and down the other. It was cold, but watching people clamoring to get into parties is almost as much fun as getting into parties…by the way, did you know your ass can actually get frostbitten? It’s true.

Jesse and I left the condo at the crack of dawn on Saturday for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, one of the biggest belly laugh movies I’ve seen in a long time. Alan Arkin is priceless. Suzy loved it the night before so I didn’t mind the hike up to the library. Jesse was left out in the cold again, but caught a shorts program in the afternoon and hooked up with his old AFI buddies. The traffic from the weekend warrior snow skiers was already piling up. The fresh powder on the mountains, that continued to fall through the day, had the slopes packed.

At noon Suzy and I went to A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS at Eccles. A bit long and not completely focused, the powerful film was held firm by the incredible performances of Chazz Palminteri and Shia La Boeuf. Produced by Sting and Trudy Styler, she was in attendance up on stage for the Q&A. As the cast was leaving the stage, Robert Downey, Jr. said the magic word, “Sting!” he called. We (and about 500 others) turned to see the slender rock star climbing over seats to get to Trudy. There is no solace at Sundance…maybe he should talk to Aaron Eckhart to find out what his secret is?

A brief stop at Starbucks so I could blog, then a quick stop back at the condo to drop my computer off, Suzy and I headed to Main Street for a late lunch at Main St. Pizza and Noodle. We met lots of nice folks along the way. Waiting brings people together. After we ate I had to rush back to the Eccles for THE NIGHT LISTENER. Intense and tricky, I’m not sure the seven year old behind me picked up on all of the intricacies…what a child was doing in an adult thriller, I’m not exactly sure. A first for me at this Festival.

I went back up to Main for a little necessity shopping (OK, so I didn’t have a pair of gloves, I’m from Florida, sue me). I met Jesse who had eaten a second dinner at Oishi with his old pals and we headed back to the condo for some much needed rest before our crazy day Sunday. TTFN…

A 4:00 AM alarm in January can only mean one thing—it’s time once again to pick up Shannon before the crack of dawn and head to Sundance. With our traveling buddies in tow, I try to supplement my meager three hours of sleep last night by catching some z’s on the plane. No such luck, but I at least get a promising Florida Film Festival entry from Mexico watched on Shan’s laptop during the rest of the flight. Between the excitement over the microwave breakfast platter from a vending machine (classic!) and Lucy Liu (sans “Angels”) being nice and friendly to one of our men in uniform, baggage claim at Salt Lake City was not entirely lacking in entertainment value.

After a picturesque shuttle ride to our usual condo at the Three Kings (the snow covered mountains never fail to impress), we get registered with a little fuss but no real mess that’s ultimately taken care of in a caring and professional manner by the office staff and Cooper himself.

The first shuttle ride to a flick finds me in familiar company—FFF jury veteran Stephen Garrett, covering the festival for indieWIRE, Time Out, and Esquire, and IFP New York head Michelle Byrd, who got to hear about some of the projects I discovered at the IFP Market this year that will be appearing in the upcoming Florida Film Festival this March.
My movie watching kicks off at the new and improved (?) Raquet Club with SOMEBODIES, a funny and authentic African-American comedy set in Georgia that overflows with lots of local flavor and focuses on “Scottie” (well-played by writer-director Hadjii), a college student dealing with friends, family, religion, women, and life in general. Overall quite the crowd pleaser and an impressive debut. Regarding the new seating arrangement at the Racquet Club, the risers are a great idea for sightlines but the metal steps going up to the rear of the theater are awfully noisy. And the fact that the film started over 20 minutes late and some idiot’s cell phone rang about 8 times behind me didn’t help matters.

Shuttle buses are already taking forever to get from place to place, but at least I got on “the Techno Bus” to my next screening. Instrumental electronica played through the whole trip, and it didn’t sound like the format was changing anytime soon but I wasn’t complaining. SPECIAL was my next film, and Michael Rapaport is excellent in this unusually thoughtful and often humorous tale of a lonely, comic-book reading parking enforcement officer who believes the clinical drug trial he’s participating in has given him super powers. And the bad guys in suits are trying to stop him from fulfilling his destiny and doing good. Comic book fans should really dig this! I’d also like to congratulate Justin Hayward for DIVORCE LEMONADE, the terrific and visually striking comedic short that preceded SPECIAL. Well done—I just wish it had been submitted for this year’s FFF.

Closing out Day #1, it’s time to put on a few more layers and head out to a late show of DESTRICTED, the arty porn omnibus featuring short films from the likes of Matthew Barney, Gaspar Noe, and Larry Clark. More on this later…

--Matthew

I woke up at 4:45 AM this morning. 45 minutes later than I planned. As usual in my life the one day I need to get up early, my alarm doesn’t work. I leapt out of bed after rolling over and looking at the clock, knowing that Matthew would be knocking on my door any minute. I threw on my clothes, dumped odds and ends into my bags just in time for his arrival. And the Sundance adventure begins…

At the airport we are so sleepy we get on the wrong tram, laugh, get back on the right one. We meet up with Jesse (who is wrangling special guests for the Festival), Brian and JD (from indieWIRE). Coffee filled and deliriously sleepy we board the plane.

At the Salt Lake airport Brian discovered the ultimate novelty…the Tombstone Pizza vending machine, from which he proceeds to buy an omelet and sausages. The machine spits out his breakfast without utensils and JD declares it “not organic in any way.” I still love technology….

Star sighting number #1: Lucy Liu at the SLC airport getting her luggage, surrounded by her peeps.

We part ways with the indieWIRE folks and take a taxi up to Park City to check in to our condo, which is about a quarter mile further down the road than we usually are. Not too bad except the temperature is in the 20s and by tonight it will be in the single digits.

Suzy is waiting for us at the condo and we all go over to headquarters to pick up our credentials, which turns into a wild goose chase, ending up with Cooper from Sundance helping us out. After a quick lunch, Matthew bolted to his first film and Suzy, Jesse, and I went to the Eccles for our first. Jesse got shut out and decided to do the grand tour of Main Street.

Star sightings #2-4: Nick Cave eating lunch in the same restaurant as us, Peter Coyote at the busstop with Matthew, and Jesse saw Patrick Dempsey on Main Street (“great head of hair on that guy”).

Suzy and I enjoyed OFF THE BLACK, but admittedly nodded once or twice. Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, and Sally Kirkland were there, but I only stayed for half of the Q&A and left for my next film, STEEL CITY at the Racquet Club. John Heard, America Ferrara, et al were there, but I was hitting the wall and didn’t stay for that Q&A either. Bad Shannon.

Matthew is susstaining on less than five hours of sleep a night as we go into final the final stretch of scheduling the programming for the 15th annual Florida Film Festival. I may have to carry him on the plane tomorrow. I am getting a bit more sleep so I went to two planning meetings the other night, one for our gala celebration (which may have the coolest theme ever) and one for NextArt. I am really excited about NextArt this year and the best thing is that you can play along from anywhere! Stay tuned to indieWIRE online for more details next week.

This will be my fifth trip to Sundance in as many years. I have seen it warm (ok 45 degrees), cold (zero degrees-- and by the look of Eugene's weather reports this will be another cold one!), less crowded (right after 9/11), and extremely crowded (three years ago, no idea why). I have been captive on a runaway bus and have met some of the most fascinating people. The festival remains a stalwart event that is always interesting and an adventure.

Now 25 years old, the Sundance Institute has selected Enzian as one of a handful of venues across the nation to help celebrate with a series of indie classics launched from the festival. Enzian is already working with the Sundance Channel on such a series so we were thrilled to oblige. Matthew and I will find out more at a brunch on Sunday, so more on that later.

For now, stay tuned as we plan to blog more about our trip, the upcoming Festival, and NextArt. I promise!