Sundance Dispatch #2

After my Nineveh preaching at the old church downtown, an entertainment lawyer named Lorin introduced himself. A really interesting man who's worked with the Paulist priest filmmakers. He's at Sundance with small international distributors. I'm definitely looking forward to keeping in touch with Lorin.

After preaching at Heber, a town about a half hour away from Park City, I saw a really touching New Zealand film, "No. 2," about a Figian matriarch who wakes up one day and orders her grandchildren to prepare a feast for her so that she can name her successor. The matriarch was played by American Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis' widow. He died the first day of shooting, but she faithfully returned to the shoot two weeks later. Ruby Dee was there for Q&A after the screening! I sat next to Margaret, an extremely warm and outgoing lawyer (legal services to the poor, not entertainment law for the rich).

Talked to some great folks while waiting in line for "Puccini For Beginners": a group of high school TV students from Florida, a schoolteacher from smalltown Kentucky, and my San Diego neighbor Laurie again! The film, about a very complex hetero-homo-bi love triangle, was slight but quite fun and funny. Nice performance from Elizabeth Reiser.

This morning, a woman saw me trying to flag down the bus to get into town, and she kindly stopped and took me in out of the cold. Turns out she was in my high school class in Concord, California!

While waiting for the excellent panel of editors, I had a nice chat with Hila, whom I'd met the other day. Although she's now a permanent U.S. resident, she's an Israeli who grew up on a kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee. We talked about her two years of mandatory military service packing an M-16. She complained that, with the glamorous commercials and the very restricted educational benefits, Americans have no idea what they're getting into when they join the military. She also says the Israeli soldiers are much better trained, including emotionally.

-dominic
1/23/06, 1:00 pm