Sundance Dispatch #1

Welcome to Sundance, via these humble dispatches anyway

Time for my annual pilgrimage. Met so many great folks, beginning with the journey itself, on the plane. Then, my van driver out to Park City, about 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City, turns out to be an Assyrian, which basically means he's a Roman Catholic from Iraq. The Assyrians have no homeland anymore and are scattered throughout Iraq and the rest of the world as well. Calvert has been in the U.S. for 30 years.

So, anyway, somehow he's suddenly telling me that Nineveh, where Jonah goes in the Sunday's first reading, was Assyria. Actually, the city is now called Mosel (?). Apparently, the Assyrians, people and animals alike, still fast for several days in memory of "evil" Nineveh's all out conversion at Jonah's preaching. I think I have a homily for the old church in downtown Park City on Sunday.

Like last year, I get in line for four hours for the opening night film, which I didn't necessarily care that much about (it's a star movie that will come out in the theaters), but I didn't have anything else to do. So I see two different groups of people I waited in line with for opening night last year! A couple behind me in line live two blocks away from me back in San Diego. Only this time we didn't get in, except for the weeping young woman at the front of the line who'd been in line for 10 hours.

The next morning, I met on the bus a fella from the line. He's spent the last 13 years working at various resorts all over the U.S. Park City is his regular winter gig. I think there are some scripts or homilies there.

Behind me in my first line of the day were 7 young female undergrads from my alma mater, Chapman University film school! I was really impressed with them. Several were even prepared with their business cards.

Didn't get into that movie either! Finally saw a movie at 5:30 in the
Library: "Special," with Michael Rapapport, a lonely guy who enrolls in a drug trial and discovers he has super powers. Or does he. The ambiguity about that was masterful!

Then got really lucky and got into the next film, "Open Window," with Robin Tunney. A tough film, involving rape. I liked the ending a lot (don't worry, I'll say no more), but I think she could have tightened the drama by cutting out her parents. But maybe it's kinda hard to cut out Cybill Shephard and Elliot Gould from your independent film.

-dominic, 1/21/06, 11 a.m.