Karina Longworth, the Editor Emeritus of Cinematical, is taking advantage of her mostly-meaningless title to post a diary of her experiences at Sundance. Your new editor wants her to do this every day, but in case she, uh, doesn't, it's because her real job got in the way.

Reading Eugene Hernandez' blog whilst waiting the for the cab to arrive to take me to La Gaurdia this morning, I learned that David Poland and Jeffrey Wells have declared that Sundance 2007, which officially begins tonight, is, in fact, already over. You see, they arrived in Park City a good 48 hours ahead of me, took turns inserting their thermometers in the rectum of the festival, and rushed to their computers to report the reading: cold. In fact, according to Wells, EVERYONE is saying that this year's line-up looks "flat, so-so, nothing to write home about material...a couple of almost-but-not-quite- as-good-as-Half Nelson flicks, and apparently nothing even close to a Little Miss Sunshine-type breakout waiting to happen."

Though tempted to reach for my phone to cancel the car -- a Sundance without a Sunshine is no Sundance for me! -- my more rational self prevailed. Instead, actually invigorated by the prospect of attending a film festival in which an over-hyped (and over-priced) Vacation retread steals headlines (and potential aquisition dollars) from ten or twelve films more deserving of market share, I zipped up my laptop and went downstairs. I went to the airport, got on the plane, and landed a little while ago. I even had my first Chik-fil-a in the Cincinatti airport during my layover. It was good. I ate too many waffle fries, though.

Christopher Quinn's doc God Grew Tired of Us, narrated by Nicole Kidman, tracks three young Sudanese boys as they immigrate to New York City. It's one of the most highly acclaimed films at this year's Sundance, and news broke yesterday that CAA have brokered a deal with TF1 International to distribute the film in all non-English speaking territories. TF1 is a big-time French sales house, and they've been trying to expand into the international arena. In slightly more amazing news, Steve Rosenbaum relates the following anecdote: last night, after a screening of the film, a stranger who was particularly moved whipped out his checkbook and donated $25,000 to the charity started by one of the film's stars. We're assuming that the film will be a hot contender at Saturday's awards ceremony.

Gossip in the press lounge: everyone's talking about the reported $10-12 million that Paramount has allegedly plunked down last night for Little Miss Sunshine (no deal has formally been announced yet). The received wisdom is that the deal was half-done before the festival even started – and that Paramount, afraid that another studio would come in and best them, offered way too much money. A behind-the-scenes indie film legend was overheard saying that a certain Hollywood reporter had already branded it "this year's Happy, Texas" – that is, the film that will be acquired for way too much, and then fail to do the kind of business that could even recoup its investment. But the indie legend disagreed – he's a fan of Steve Carell's performance in the film, and he said that, if anything, Sunshine could be this year's Napoleon Dynamite - that is, Paramount probably payed to much for it, but commercial prospects look very, very good. The film was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, first time feature makers perhaps best known for their video for The Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight, Tonight, which was inspired by Georges Mellies' A Trip to the Moon. Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear star, but neither is here to promote it – I was told by someone who tried to get the two together for an interview that the actors "hate each other's guts."