livefromsundance Tagged Articles at Cinematical

This morning, I got up and picked up my press pass at the Headquarters Marriott with a friend of mine, a fellow member of the press; after, we had a sit-down breakfast. And we talked -- about movies, sure, but about apartments and life and buffet etiquette and mutual friends and mutual enemies and their life in New York and my life in California. I laughed; I had a good time, a real conversation with someone I don't get to see often enough. And when it was done, I thought, Well, that was the last time you get to do that for the next ten days.

Because after that I had to double-check my interviews and double-check my screening times and cross-reference the schedule I'd made back in L.A. with the one here in Park City and call PR firms and then go back to the Marriot to pick up the hard ticket I needed for a public screening -- the public screening's on Sunday, but since I knew I had the time to go over there and I knew the PR person was there, better safe than sorry -- and do some writing before getting over to the Eccles for the opening night film Mary and Max and then heading over to the opening night party to shoot TV stand-ups with The Travel Channel and then head back here to write a wrap-up of the first day of Sundance.

Several days ago I wrote a lengthy little rant in which photographs were promised. (More than the ones Kim posted already, that is.) And since I'm actually back home* in Philly right now (and therefore clearly lying about the "live from Sundance" part), I figured now would be a good time to put together one of those nifty little "galleries" that all my colleagues love so much.

So here you go. Click on through for pics of me, Snider, Voynar, Rocchi and Davis -- plus some shots of our movie-nerd pals from around the interwebs. Even more pics will soon be available at the Fantastic Fest blog, because that's where Tim League plans to house all the goofier snapshots.

(* Oh, and my first movie after returning home from a fine (if unspectacular) visit to Sundance? Freakin' Meet the Spartans. Thank the lord for film festivals.)

Prior to coming out for the Sundance Film Festival, I had always wondered about Slamdance -- held at the same time, in the same snowy town. Where was Slamdance? How did you get there? Was it as spread out as Sundance? Luckily, I was fortunate enough to take in a few Slamdance films this year, and the best way to describe the fest is that it's like the indie version of Sundance -- the fest that doesn't try to impress, doesn't have a big budget; the fest for the common man. Not that Sundance isn't a treat in and of itself, but Slamdance is a tad more personal.

Everything is held in one building (Treasure Mountain Inn), and like any smaller festival, you have fliers and posters everywhere -- on boards, on tables, on chairs. People hand out pins, hats -- anything they can do to push themselves through the crowded Sundance marketplace to say, "Hey, check out my film too! It's just as good." Honestly, my favorite film from this entire week was a Slamdance documentary called Dear Zachary. I had a chance to meet the director of that film last night, and he thanked me profusely for my review of it. He said, "It's funny, but that will probably be the best review I get for any film I ever make." He also noted that because of my review, they managed to get a bunch of buyers into a screening for the film taking place today.

While we may all be ants running around a major festival like Sundance, it's times like that -- when our words truly impact the future of a film -- that make these sorts of trips all the more worthwhile. If you can connect with one film, and subsequently have a hand in getting that film in front of millions more people -- then nothing else really matters. The snow, the cold, the lack of sleep, the a**hole who wouldn't let you into a party, the high-priced meals ... the everything. It all just goes away. And you can fly home with a smile.

Check out our Slamdance gallery below to get a sneak peak out how they roll here in Park City.

No, not that Elvis. Former New York Times film critic, interviewer and all-around smart guy Elvis Mitchell is in town for his movie, The Black List, directed by renowned photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. I sat down with the filmmakers this afternoon for a cozy chat at the EW Cafe down at Kimball Art Center to talk about their film. A panel discussion got out just as we were starting, and Greenfield-Sanders amused Mitchell and me by going into director mode and redirecting a crowd of talkers away from us so we could do the interview. He did it so nicely that I'm not sure they even knew they'd just been told where to move by a stranger. I'll have the interview written up as soon as I can; for now I'll just tell you that they were charming and engaging and we had a great conversation that ranged from politics to segregation to what it's like to live in the Bible Belt.

In other Sundance news: Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to be that person who complains about the free shuttles here, but what the hell is up with them this year? There seem to be fewer shuttles running, they aren't on any kind of predictable schedule, and the traffic is way worse than last year too. I had to wait 45 minutes for a shuttle to Main Street this afternoon ... last year I never waited longer than 10-15 minutes, max. If you're here at Sundance, make sure to allow lots of extra travel time, because a bunch of people on the shuttle I was on this afternoon missed a screening because of the shuttles and traffic.

Celeb spotting today: Passed by Mary -Kate Olsen on my way to The Black List interview. The two older women behind me were all kinds of excited at their spotting. "Omigosh, was that an Olsen twin? I think that was an Olsen twin! But which one was it?" I told them it was Mary-Kate, and then one of them said, "Mary-Kate, now is she the skinny one or the less-skinny one?" Also, Erik Childress and I are 99% certain we saw Kirsten Dunst checking in at the front desk when we walked back into the hotel a few minutes ago.

The place to see and be seen last night was the Alamo Drafthouse/Magnolia party celebrating Nacho Vigalondo's Timecrimes. In Vigalondo's honor, the ubiquitous meat-on-a-stick was replaced with gourmet nachos that were truly fabulous. I'm talking nachos topped with giant prawns, and crab, and various other meats, all paired with other toppings. The beer and scotch was flowing, the disco ball was glowing and the karaoke machine was getting one hell of a workout.

Vigalondo was on hand and all fired up -- he and Michael Lerman treated the crowd to song after energetic song, complete with dancing -- I particularly enjoyed Lerman's rendition of "It's Raining Men." SXSW head honcho Matt Dentler was a hit with "Common People." Not to be outdone, Cinematical was well-represented, with James Rocchi tackling Liz Phair, and former EIC Karina Longworth rocking the house with some "Rock Lobster."

A party just isn't a party until the fire trucks show up and some fireman are trooping up the stairs; who knew that the fog machine set on overdrive really could set off the fire alarm? Yeah, the fire marshal was loving this party. The taxis were lined up down the block dropping people off. We heard later on that some poor guy wandered out onto the deck in search of a beer and a smoke, and promptly walked right into the hottub, coat and all. I think half of Sundance showed up for this party. In addition to all the aforementioned party animals, I saw the indieWIRE gang, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, and then Morgan Spurlock showed up too! That house was rocking. Eric Snider, EFilmcritic's Erik Childress and I bailed at 1AM, and the party was just warming up. I bet a lot of people are gonna be missing those early morning screenings today ...

Check out the gallery to see all the action!

On the shuttle and in the press lines today, I've been hearing nothing but love for last night's Opening Film, In Bruges. Hearing everything from "It's way better than I expected from the trailer" to "I love (director Martin) McDonagh's plays, and this film was fantastic" to Jeff Well's praise over on Hollywood Elsewhere, where he called it one of the best opening films at Sundance ever. I, of course, skipped out on the film last night to go hang at the indieWIRE chili bash, and now I'm gonna have to try to get into a public screening later to see it. That's what I get. It doesn't feel quite as nippy as it was yesterday, but maybe I've just succumbed to perma-frostbite. There was some absolutely gorgeous snowfall this morning, though ... big, fluffy, flakes. Trying to persuade the team to do group snow angels, but so far, no takers. Wimps.

I've caught my first two films here at Sundance this morning. First up was Stranded: I come from a plane that crashed in the mountains, a well-crafted doc about the 16 members of a rugby team from Uruguay who, stranded high in the Andes for 72 days after a plane crash in 1972, survived by eating their friends who were killed in the crash. Before the film started, the gallows humor in the press screening room was in full force, with speculations about which of our fellow film critics might taste the best, should we all be in a plane crash together and be forced to eat each other to survive. The mood got more serious once the film started, though, and was downright somber and teary by the end. Had to run from that screening next door to catch The Black List after that -- I'll have a review up of that film later today, I don't want to shortchange it on the fly. James will have a review of Stranded later as well. Right now, have to fly to catch another film ...

The fest officially kicked off today with the press conference and opening night film, In Bruges and, most importantly, a this-is-not-a-party gathering at the indieWIRE condo, with homemade chili, beer, and a great mix of film fest folks. Erik Davis and I trekked over to hang out and talk about the fest. We're missing some of our friends who won't be coming this year, and wish they were here. Tomorrow things really kick into high gear.

We'll be kicking it bright and early for Stranded: I've come from a plane that crashed on the mountains. Also on my calendar for tomorrow: The Black List, Recycle and Up the Yangtze, plus two parties that happen at the same time. So either the guys need to invent a cloning machine tomorrow, we're gonna have to go for the carefully synchronized attending of both. Busy day, good thing I brought proten bars. Cold tonight, but the snow is pretty in the moonlight.

P.S. And Erik, don't forget to drink some water.

Stopped by the New Frontier on Main space for the press lunch this afternoon. New Frontiers is a newish thing here at Sundance that they first set up last year. The space has several art exhibits going on -- there 's this very cool rotating digital tree thing that I want for my house to project on my living room wall. You can see a pic of the pretty trees below, but they're way cooler when you can see them rotating on the wall. The DJ stand and a bunch of the lights are covered with recycled plastic bottles, which actually look pretty with the lighting they have -- I had to look closer to realize they were bottles! That's the DJ stand below, augmented by the guy behind the bar wearing the most awesome gold-sequined jacket ever.

My favorite exhibit was the laser tag graffiti being demoed by the Graffiti Research Lab. They'll be set up around and about Park City, letting fest goers "tag" the sides of buildings (heck, maybe even a mountain) with their innovative laser graffiti pen. Check out their website for some videos of the laser graffiti in action. I really like how Sundance is working hard to bring other forms of visual art and music to play here at the fest alongside the film. Heading out now to a gathering at the indieWIRE condo (chili and beer, yum!) and then to a party for the opening night film, In Bruges. We'll be bringing you a review of the film and an interview with the director, Martin McDonagh, shortly, as well as pics from the parties and the Sundance scene. Stay tuned!

Sundance kicked off this afternoon with the Opening Press Conference, featuring Sundance Film Festival Director Geoffrey Gilmore, the President and Founder of the Sundance Institute, Robert Redford, and In Bruges director Martin McDonagh (not pictured). Redford's opening remarks spoke to the Festival as an agent of -- and subject to -- change. Redford cited the Festival and the Institute's efforts to "create product that is different," while Gilmore noted that in 2008, Sundance has "... more new film makers this year than any since our first."

Gilmore also spoke to the New Frontier and Midnight programmes of the Festival, noting how they, in many ways, represent "the most innovative aspect, the most risk-taking aspect of the Festival." The trio took questions from the audience, including Eugene Hernandez from IndieWire's point-blank question about whether the WGA strike will be putting an added focus on this year's Festival as a possible source of new films for distributors. Redford demurred to Gilmore, who noted how "the film people come to Sundance talking about isn't the film people leave Sundance talking about" and suggesting that over the next ten days, anything could happen. Redford was asked about the politics of the Festival, and if 2008's role as an election year would shine a new light on the films here. Redford pointed out the Festival's long-standing commitment to documentary films as an alternate form of political discourse, and when asked if he was endorsing any specific candidate in 2008, Redford simply answered with a drawn-out and slightly exhausted "Nooooo ..." And with that, Sundance began -- so keep it here at Cinematical during the next ten days for all the coverage you need from Park City.