A few words from guest blogger Amotz Zakai, Vice President, Echo Lake Productions, who`s coming to the festival with Away From Her, which his company produced, and his client's film Waitress.
~Tamara Krinsky
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DOCUMENTARY magazine

The Night Before Sundance

It's way too late at night and the wind is howling like I`m on the Baltimore Pier and not in cozy West Hollywood. The night before Sundance is always the worst. Even though you`ve done it so many times you still don`t know what to bring, you`ll of course forget the cell phone charger, and Delta will lose your luggage so best to carry an extra pair of underwear in your carry on. Maybe in that clear plastic bag they now force you to use for your skin cream and toothpaste. Who in the US government decided that 3oz containers are ok but 4oz are not?

The night before Sundance is that quiet time before the battle. It`s actually not the noise, it`s the intense energy that wraps around you when you arrive and doesn`t exist anywhere else. Even at the Cannes Film Festival with those enthusiastic Europeans running around, the energy is not the same. At all.

Ok, almost done. CNN just reported that China fired a missile that shot down a satellite. Doesn`t matter. The world slows down during the night before Sundance. This year I am trying something new. In previous times I scheduled my meetings one after the other. 45 minute intervals all day long. All on Main Street. One at Cisero`s, the other at Bistro 412 then back at Ciseros. Sipping sparkling water with a touch of cranberry juice. Getting upset when the producers from New York have to suddenly reschedule.

Not this year though – I am going Zen style. If a meeting is meant to happen, it will happen. If I can`t get into a screening even though I have a ticket then so be it. I`m not going to stand in the cold for hours waiting for that horrible bottle-neck to open up so I can get into a party and then sweat in my coat with the same people I was just freezing to death with. Yeah right.

The US has bunker busters and China has satellite busters and global warming is not happening. I am going to Sundance and mumbling what Gerald Ford always said "Tell the truth, work hard, and come to dinner on time." Oorah.

-Amotz Zakai