My Favorite Movies of 2006

I couldn't do just ten. Although it wasn't the greatest year in movies, the first five are outstanding, and there are quite a few that are very good, some of which had limited or no theatrical release.

A+
Half Nelson (Ryan Gosling is a god -- if you have the stomach for it, also see him in The Believers, about a Jewish neo-Nazi)



A
Little Children (Kate Winslet is a god, too)
CSA: Confederate States of America (what if the South had won? -- terribly and terribly funny)
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (edited to great effect)
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (neo-realist black humor from Hungary)



B+
Down in the Valley, Brick (modern day high school film noir), Sophie Scholl, War Tapes (3 American soldiers in Iraq videotape themselves), Forgiven, Wristcutters: A Love Story (as funny and dark as it sounds), Neo Ned (a neo-Nazi man gets together with a black woman who thinks she's Hitler), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Khazakstan (okay, perhaps he's unfair to some of these folks, but he didn't put words into their mouths and the satire is frightening and important), Marie Antoinette (not her best, but Sophia Coppola is a master of mood)

B
Infamous (almost as good as Capote), Stranded, Volver (not Almodovar’s best, but Penelope Cruz singing Volver is heaven), Kukumi, Paradise Now, The Last King of Scotland, For Your Consideration (I for one wasn't disappointed, and the end is tragic and funny at the same time), Princesas, No. 2, Quinceaneros

Sundance 2007 -- Day 10

On the last day of the festival, they show all the award-winning movies. I had tickets to the directing award and the dramatic award. Jeffrey Blitz, who did the spelling bee documentary a few years ago, won best director for Rocket Science, which he also wrote. He must have been inspired by his previous movie because this one's about a stutterer who, at the invitation of a pretty and supremely confident girl, joins the high school debate team. It's funny and kept me guessing all the way through.

The big winner, dramatic jury, was Padre Nuestro, a United States film noted for being in Spanish. A young Mexican thug steals an immigrant youth's letter of introduction to the father he's never met. The thug pretends to be the son while the real son looks for the father. All three main characters have plenty to dislike about them, which distanced me a bit from the film emotionally. Also, the thug was played by a weak actor, who is a star in Mexico. Still, I was fairly engrossed. Writer-director Christopher Zalla explained that this isn't an "immigrant" movie, that he wanted to show these characters as real, multi-dimensional people. One man in the audience said he rather found the characters' often unsympathetic portrayal to be a put-down to immigrants. I'd have to side with the latter's view.

So the award-winning movies weren't my favorite. I saw 17 movies, all pretty good, and they didn't make my top 10:

1) The Pool (18-year-old boy in India dreams of a simple life)
2) Snow Angels (divorce and tragedy in a small town)
3) Teeth (h.s. girl's anatomical uniqueness is empowering; scary, funny, thought-provoking; award-winning performance by actress Jess Weixler)
4) Grace is Gone (the always natural John Cusack can't bring himself to tell his daughters their mother died in Iraq)
5) Ezra (France/Nigeria; child soldier recounts his experience to a truth and reconciliation commission)
6) Expired (Emily Watson falls for a difficult man, both humorously and frighteningly played by Jason Patric)
7) Little Chenier (Park City Film Music Festival; young man looks out for his younger, mentally disabled brother in rough Cajun country)
8) Eagle vs. Shark (New Zealand; young woman chases a self-absorbed nerd -- Napolean Dynamite meets Little Miss Sunshine)
9) Joshua (Vera Farmiga's son may be evil)
10) Broken English (Parker Posey looks for a man but needs to find herself)

There are a slew of Sundance 2007 films I still want to see:
Drained
Enemies of Happiness
Fay Grim
For the Bible Tells Me So
Interview
Waitress
Good Life
The Ten
Adrift in Manhattan
Away From Her
Banished
Black Snake Moan
Delirious
Hounddog
Legacy
Longford
Manda Bala
The Nines
The Savages
Save Me
Smiley Face
Four Sheets to the Wind
The Good Life
Starting Out in the Evening
Blame it on Fidel
Once
An American Crime
King of California
Angel-A
The Go-Getter
Red Road

Sundance 2007 -- Day 9

Enjoyed a slow morning before getting in line for Waitress, written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, who was murdered just after finding out her film was going to Sundance. 40 years old, with a husband and 2-year-old, Shelly broke onto the indie scene together with filmmaker Hal Hartley, starring in his first two films, The Unbelievable Truth and Trust. She came to be a significant presence in independent filmmaking, as an actor, writer, and director. They say she directed with a really clear vision, knowing just what she wanted. Waitress star Keri Russell says that often actors who direct aren't intimidated by what they think is a mysterious art and can speak directly to the actors: "Don't do that thing you do with your hands."

I found most of my address book on my computer and last night found some of my new addresses in the garbage, so I fixed my address book again. Then lost it all again. And I didn't get into the film. They were even turning away ticket holders. This happens occasionally because they can only guess how many passholders will come -- they can go to any movie they want. Hard to complain, though. This was the first time this year waiting didn't pan out for me. I also ran into Grant, my Canadian Sundance friend who works at the library theater each year for the festival. Plus I got to eat the Prospector Square soup for the first time this year.

I headed over to the library theater at 2:30 to wait for the 8:30 show, sort of, and I didn't even know what the film was going to be. The Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema was scheduled, but they wouldn't know who the winner would be until minutes before the start time. I found wireless access inside the actual library and once again fixed my address book. I think I understand finally not only the necessity of backing up constantly but also the proper way to do the backup. When I got kicked out of the library at 6:00, I noticed that the waitlist line for the 8:30 movie wasn't long, so I waited for a number.

Once I got my number, I went over to the 7:00 awards ceremony for the Park City Film Music Festival, thinking I probably wouldn't make it back for the film. But at 7:30, they still hadn't started, so I decided to go back to the movie. How could I go a day at Sundance without seeing at least one movie? But before I went, Leslie, the director of the Film Music Festival, informed me that Last Notes red won a Silver Medal for Excellence in Film Music! And the Cajun film I liked, Little Chenier, won the audience award.

While waiting to get our waitlist tickets, and waiting to hear what movie we were going to see, I chatted up my Canadian friend Grant, who was finally able to announce that the Jury Prize winner for World Cinema was Sweet Mud from Israel, written and directed by Adama Meshugaat. It's about a 12-year-old boy growing up on a kibbutz in 1974 (precisely how old I was in '74). The film had some really simple and fun moments, especially in the first part, but by the end it felt unfocused to me. And unfairly judgmental of the kibbutz.

Sundance 2007 -- Day 8

Today was mostly about trying to get people to my screening tonight. But first I had another Sundance ticket to us. I've seen all but three of my 14 movies here by waiting in line. Pool is a beautiful movie, superseding Snow Angels as my favorite so far. Pool was directed by Chris Smith and written by Smith and Randy Russell, based on Russell's short story. I believe the short story wasn't set in India, but Smith, after having spent a week there, wanted to go back and do a film there.

They spent five months in India, soaking up the setting and way of life and shooting. The two leads are non-actors, but the filmmakers finally had to resort to professionals for a couple of the other roles. After seeing forty-five minutes of the film already edited, Bollywood star Nana Patekar agreed to be added to the cast. The film follows a poor, 18-year-old man/boy's tentative quest for a better life. The story is so simple, the acting so natural. Even a surprise ending. And none of it maudlin.

I noticed a couple guys putting up posters, over everyone else's, at one of the few kiosks around town. They had posters from several different movies instead of just one. I asked them if they were hired. They said they were advertising all the HBO films, that is, the Sundance films HBO either helped finance or bought after completion. When they left to get more posters, the crew from Tromadance (one of the side festivals) came and papered over the HBO posters, and everyone else's, with their flyer. I tipped them off that I'd overheard the HBO duo say they were coming back, but the Troma crowd said they could always come back and do yet another papering over.

I treated myself to a real meal this afternoon instead of my usual string cheese and fruit on the run. I was waited on my a young woman from Lima. There a ton of college-age South Americans who come and work really really hard here during the ski season, their summer. I've met others on the bus, some who said they might come to my screening. I hung out a lot at the Film Music Festival venue this afternoon talking to people about my movie. I told Jeffrey from the New Frontier on Main that I thought there might be 50 people at the screening. But that I'd be happy if there were 20-30. No, if I survived. He said he stopped making films because screening his films for an audience was so painful.

I found myself recommending people watch Little Chenier, the Cajun thriller, before my movie. So it was really cool to meet the brother and sister filmmakers, Beth and Jase. They confirmed their film's Cajun authenticity for me. They grew up near Little Chenier at the nearby metropolis of 200,000. Their actors, including some pretty well-known actors, came to the bayou and lived together for awhile to soak up the culture, which is now in danger because of Katrina devastation. The closing credits of their film even show horrific before and after shots of the place where they shot. I wanted to watch their film again but finally relented to the demands of last-minute work at inviting people to my screening.

Well, we started my screening with probably 30 people, some of whom I'd invited to stay after the preceding short and to feel free to leave after getting a taste of my film. And leave they did. And I think some who came just for my film left, too, although they weren't necessarily very committed viewers, just people who had just happened by. Still...

There were 11 people left at the end, mostly from the church. Also Margaret, whom I met here last year. A very short Q&A followed the screening. They were either drained by the movie, confused, disappointed or combinations of the above. One of them signed my email list on the way out. But I already have her email. A huge success. And I finally got the inevitable Sundance cold. Oh, and I lost a ton of work on my email address book this afternoon, including the addresses of people I've met here this week. As I walked to the bus stop, I saw that even the poster kiosk war had been lost, by everyone.


Seriously, though, I do think Last Notes red green blue or black are pretty interesting and evocative. And I think some people could really get into the mystery of it and comparing all four films. Now it's time to think about the next step with them. And to go dig through the garbage to try to find my new email addresses.

Sundance 2007 -- Day 7

Eagle vs. Shark, New Zealand, written and directed by Taika Waititi, starring Loren Horsley, who also helped with the original story. A kind of Napolean Dynamite for twenty-somethings. Very funny. Also touching at moments, especially the animated interludes, which evocatively amplified, without having to resort to words, the themes of loneliness, longing, not belonging, and love with a parallel, wordless story about two apples. Also, some cool pixilation (stop motion with real people).

I keep up in a small way on digital advances with the annual panel about new cameras. Even Directors of Photography (DPs) can't keep up on everything and need to rely on experts they can trust. Sundance regular Nancy Schrieber, DP for the popular The Nines at Sundance this year, shot each of the three parts in a different format: Super 16, Standard Def, and 35mm 3-perf. Andrew Wagner, director of Starting Out in the Evening used HD. He found that not using expensive and time-limited film allowed him to concentrate on the performances, especially by continuing to roll between takes. One director claims that digital saves him and hour and a half every day because people get coffee when you say cut and reload. Lynn Hirschman, director of Strange Culture, says a third of her finished film comprises footage from between takes. Thomas Kist, DP of the remake of Interview even likes to shoot on a disk instead of a tape so that with a push of a button you can go back one take and show the director. He also feels there's less pressure about time w/ digital, the actors don't feel like the film's always going to run out any second (although Nancy says the number of shooting days is the more important factor regarding feeling rushed). And he lit so that the actors were free to move around. Lisa Wiegand, DP of Chasing Ghosts, likes all of this freedom, yet she also likes that film forces you to make choices while you're shooting, especially versus multiple-cameras on a digital shoot.

After the panel, Jeffrey Winter, the director of the New Frontier at Main, which hosts all the digital-oriented panels, and remembers me from year to year, wanted to chat with me a bit after the panel. He asked me to help him get the word out to Dominicans and San Diego churchgoers about one of the films his distribution company is putting out, about Jesus appearing in a tortilla. He's a really nice guy. I'm happy to help.

In the evening, I saw Zoe's Cassavette's film Broken English. It was funny but slight. However, Parker Posey, who was in perhaps every scene but two, lifted the film to indie heights of quirk. She's amazing -- there's constantly something happening on her face. I was really disappointed Parker wasn't there for Q&A.

Sundance 2007 -- Day 6

I actually had tickets today -- no wait list lines. Before my morning film, I met a literary agent who works with "emerging" writers and writer-directors. She seems real nice and called me honey. Never Forever is written and directed by Gina Kim, stars Vera Farmiga, and is produced by my contrarian friend Andrew Fierberg (who, by the way, I saw up at the Film Music Festival last night and handed him a card). The film is about a woman who secretly gets pregnant with another man to please her suicidal, impotent husband. Yes, of course she falls in love with the other guy. No, this isn't going direct to Lifetime as far as I know. There was a sophistication to the film, especially Farmiga's subtle performance and Michael Nyman's interesting, sparse, and beautiful string music -- and some cool, artsy songs -- a nice change from the ubiquitous use of pop songs in movies.

So I was really involved in the movie, but I also found myself frustrated. I couldn't really buy her actions and motives, her husband was a bad actor, I didn't know why she was married to him, and I didn't know what she saw in her lover except the sex. And the ending was a bit facile. The writer-director is brilliant and said some really interesting things after the film, but I didn't see them on the screen. I got to chat briefly with the composer, though. And when I asked Vera if I could take her photo, she pulled me into the picture with her.

One of the most interesting -- and frustrating -- things about the morning was that senior programmer John Cooper introduced the movie by saying that he left it on the floor of his office for a long time because he didn't recognize the writer-director's name. So much for expecting a fair shake at Sundance. Of course she did get her film in the festival, but ironically it turned out to be pretty mainstream.

Joshua was written by David Gilbert and George Ratliff, directed by Ratliff, and stars my new friend Vera and Sam Rockwell. The simple premise: their son may be evil. Vera goes crazy (what a busy morning for her) and Rockwell is beside himself. Once again, the music was really interesting, simple strings and piano, sort of in Bartok's style. And it was incorporated into the film really well. The boy plays some of the score on the piano, including a really creepy version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. The movie was really suspenseful and sometimes funny, but again, what is such a mainstream type of film doing at Sundance?

Ran into twenty film students from San Anontio and invited them to my screening Friday night. Saw Little Chenier at the Park City Film Music Festival. What a charming and suspenseful little movie by Bethany Ashton, about a young man (Jonathon Schaech) looking out after his mentally disabled brother in Cajun country. It felt so authentically Cajun, and the music was really integrated well. Great surprise. Three excellent musical scores today.

Sundance 2007 -- Day 5

I always love the case study they do each year. This year's was on Broken English, written and directed by Zoe Cassavettes (yes, John and Geena's daughter) and starring the always interesting Parker Posey. I haven't seen the film yet, but I'm going to try to get in later in the week. On the basis of her first film, a short, shown six years ago at Sundance, Zoe got an agent. The agent found Zoe scripts to direct, but she wasn't interested in them and realized she didn't want to direct someone else's script.

Six years later, she's finally got her first feature completed. Andrew Fierberg, the contrary producer I liked from the panel the other day, teamed up with Mark Cuban's HDNet, which has $2 million budgets for its films. They did just a 20-day shoot, had rain most of the time (it's supposed to take place during the summer), and had plenty of other obstacles. But Zoe and her team are impressively easygoing. I really like her straightforwardness. She's very down-to-earth.

Checked out a couple shorts at the Film Music Festival. Goalkeepers is a sweet film about Israeli and Palestinian boys brought together to play soccer (coached, at least a bit ironically, by a young German man). Sustainable Table shows the horrors of pesticides and mass-produced livestock. The film comes from Chapman (my film school). Nobody but a couple of the festival staff came to these films. I've got my work cut out for me getting people to my screening Friday night.

Back on the Sundance side of the street, I saw Ezra, about a child soldier recounting his experience before a truth and reconciliation commission. His testimony turns into a kind of trial. The film was not obvious or sentimental. There are some 300,000 child soldiers in the world today.

Sundance Special -- Internet Communities

Time to reflect on the two panels I've gone to about how filmmakers can use the internet to find audiences. One of the panels was moderated by Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson, who is known for using the term long tail to describe the many smaller, niche markets on the web that together often do more business than the large markets. For example, a large proportion of amazon.com's business comes from selling relatively esoteric titles. So even the individual filmmaker, who may have one or two main niche audiences, can hope, with plenty of (web) networking, to reach a respectable audience.

I personally am not so interested in viewing clips online, except when I miss Jon Stewart of Stephen Colbert. And probably no one, especially me, is interested in viewing feature-length works online. But I can and should get some clips from my four-feature cycle Last Notes red green blue or black online beyond my site, beginning with youtube, myspace, and facebook.

But how do I get people to view my clips among the millions of other clips? I can first of all build and use my email list. I can also communicate with some of the most powerful (well-linked even if not the most popular) film blogs and see if they'll recommend my clips.

And what do I want people to do then? Come to my site? Regularly? Jeremy Lair of brightcove.com and Rick Wong of dave.tv help people put together their own online tv station with community profiles like myspace.

Do I try to really go for my "vote for which movie you want to come to your area" campaign? Do I go ahead and start selling the films? Sell DVDs? Sell downloads so people can make their own DVD? Rent the films online, such that the download expires in a couple weeks? Probably all of the above. But only 5% of online users buy. Give the rest something for free. For example, I can also have extended clips on my site.

In addition, people could be directed to Steve Starr's company revver.com, which shares revenue with filmmakers and even enable some to earn their living entirely online. Revver is the company that made lonelygirl popular (created by a fellow Occidental College alum). Revver also pays people who share my films. There may be other collections or collectives to be part of. What about a Chapman collective? A religious one? Catholic? Dominican?

I might even consider creating works just for the web, perhaps even a daily serial like lonelygirl. That would certainly allow me to practice the craft of filmmaking regularly. Not just practice, but share my work.

But I also want to use the net to invite people outside the net, to come to screenings. For example, I can work a deal with a theater in a particular city: if I can guarantee so many seats filled some morning or late night, then they give me the screens and sell their popcorn. Or I can have house screenings all over like documentary activist Robert Greenwald. I could tour with my films, which would be a great way to build an audience for future films. Jon Alpert, who has been taking social action films around New York City for thirty years, has a cool van with a large tv screen on the side.

Also on the panels were Ken Rokowski, who has a regular newsletter and podcast on the subject, Katy Chevigny of artsengine.net (watch A Girl Like Me, a 16-year-old girl's re-do of the old experiment showing black kids preferring white dolls), Michael Turpin, who does social media marketing, and Mark Jeffrey of popcurrent.com. I also met the self-described viral queen, Paula Silver of Beyond the Box. She was interested in my movie.

Sundance 2007 -- Day 4

Saw Grace is Gone in the morning, starring John Cusack as a pro-war veteran who can't bring himself to tell his young daughters that their mother just died fighting in Iraq, so he takes them on a road trip to an amusement park. Other than his funny walk and makeup, Cusack gives his typical, natural performance. Shelan O'Keefe is very touching as the 12-year-old daughter who knows something is wrong but hopes she's wrong. The father's liberal brother provides some brief discussion of war politics and morality, but I wanted a bit of struggle over the meaning or meaninglessness of the mother's death. The movie encourages me to make sure Sounds of Darkness, my own wartime script, allows the characters to feel deeply.

Went to an interesting panel of some of my favorite writer-directors at the Filmmaker Lodge. David Gordon Green sounds like he really has fun and enjoys all parts of the process, even pitching to money people. They all said it's hard to get money for each project, even though their films have been very successful. They all found it important to work with people they like, or at least that are easy to work with.

In the evening I went to a local church for a screening of The Power of Forgiveness, by Martin Doblmeier, who also used the local churches a few years ago during Sundance to show his film Bonhoeffer. His touring with the movie is an interesting distribution model that I'd like to consider. Though inconsistent, the film has some powerful moments, including the friendship and activist partnership of a man whose son was murdered and the grandfather of the 14-year-old murderer. Holocaust survivor, writer, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel is maddening with his strict calculus of forgiveness. Compare that with the now well-known, unconditional Amish approach.

Sundance 2007 -- Day 3

Finally saw David Gordon Green's movie this morning. Snow Angels is a really touching film about a separated couple (Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell) and the son (Michael Angarano) of another separated couple who face tragedy on top of their already-existing struggles. Interestingly, the movie starts with gunshots then takes us back three weeks. Green just has a real knack for finding high drama in very realistic situations. A good place to be on Sunday morning, since I'd done church Saturday night.

I met several interesting people today, a National Geographic digital media producer, and a Cal Berkeley professor who runs undergroundfilm.org, and a development researcher, who helps projects already in pre-production to use public response to the script and other aspects of the film.

Also finally made it over to the New Frontier on Main (formerly the Digital Center) for one of the free noon panels: a very challenging look at the possibilities for filmmakers on the web. Old fogie that I am, I didn't realize everything that's going on -- more about his after I chew over it some more. Ultimately, a good panel devolved into a commercial by the reps from You Tube and My Space. I realized they should probably have sophisticated users and not company people on these panels.

Then to the Filmmaker's Lodge for the free panel about how movies aren't free. Some pretty good insights into how to make a film on a low budget. I appreciated producer Andrew Feuerberg's contrarian spirit, putting the desire for name actors in perspective (it doesn't necessarily bring financing) and encouraging us to make our movies instead of waiting forever for everything to line up just right. The others on the panel often myopically talked as if we were up in the mid-range of indie budgets like them.

I saw my Brooks students again before my next movie. One was even wearing my IChooseRed.org armband and said lots of folks asked him about it. They're driving back to California tomorrow (or was it late tonight?) and say they might actually come back next weekend (and maybe see my film).

My last event of the day was Hot House, a documentary about how Palestinian prisoners in Israel become more educated and committed to their cause while in prison. Some come to embrace diplomacy, while others are drawn more deeply into violent resistance. On woman who planned a "successful" suicide bombing and has four young children at home, is serving 16 life sentences. She could only smile when told that she killed eight children.

Sundance 2007 -- Day 2

This morning's movie, Tuli, is a rich view of village life in the Philippines. There is much ado about traditional pre-pubescent male circumcision. But it turns out the real story is about Daisy, who dangerously resists pressures and looks for love her own way -- with her childhood girlfriend. I'm glad I saw the film, but its inconsistent and unfocused script, the occasional flatness of the digital photography, and the frequent use of tie-her-to-the-railroad-tracks, Dudley Dooright, melodrama piano music were no small flaws. Still, director Auraeus Solito has made a nice rural complement to his superior inner-city Manila film from last year's festival, The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros.



After checking out the casual scene at Slamdance (by far the most prestigious side festival here), I checked in with the gang at the Park City Film Music Festival, which is located in a prime spot on Main Street. The festival continues to grow. I'm really glad to have Last Notes red playing there. And I've got all week now to gather people in to my Friday night screening.

I got a chance tonight to invite a whole lot of folks, since I preached at the Mass at St. Mary's, where I stay every year -- the best Sundance lodging there is. Usually I preach about one of the Sundance films, but I didn't think the folks would appreciate vagina dentata, even if it is Latin. Still, the second reading is 1 Cor 12, many parts, one body.

I'd go back up to the festival tonight but it means standing in the snow to catch a bus, then paying for a taxi to take me home, if I can even get one on a Sundance Saturday night. Things are crazy on the weekends during the festival. Jim, one of the priests at St. Mary's, spent a good hour on the road today to make the 6-mile round trip to pick me up. I'll stay home and work this festival from my laptop: blogging, trying to get press attention, planning which movies to see, and maybe even developing my primitive, 2-day-old, extremely late-in-coming MySpace page.

Sundance 2007 -- Day 1

Hours before leaving for Sundance 2007, I found out my feature Last Notes red was accepted by the Park City Film Music Festival, one of the unofficial Sundance sideshows. So it was off to Kinko's for a late night run of some slap-dash flyers to go with my IChooseRed.org red armbands, IChooseGreen.org stickers, blue buttons, and black yo-yos.

I also ran off a few copies of my Sounds of Darkness script, which I'd just finished earlier in the day -- three presidential candidates trapped by an unseen captor (I want Jane Fonda to be the Republican incumbent). Thought maybe I'll find someone who knows someone who knows someone...

On the plane, I met Shawn Barry, a white funk and reggae musician who's playing Park City during the festival. Also, Alex, who I found out late in the conversation, went to my alma mater, Occidental College in L.A. She just started with a post-production company in L.A. I'm missing her company's party right now because I'm trapped in the wait-list line for David Gordon Green's new movie.

Speaking of wait-list lines, though, my first wait-list line story began at 7:30 this morning in the twelve degree weather. You see, this year they're passing out numbers two whole hours before the show so that you can go eat or something before the show, just so long as you're back and lined up, in order, a half hour before the show. So I thought maybe people might line up two hours before the two hours before the show. Needless to say, I got number one...

...and I got in. I ran into an old Sundance friend Barbara and her entourage, who helped me cause a minor stir with my giveaways. Expired was written and directed by Cecilia Miniucchi and stars Samantha Morton and Jason Patrick. A sweet meter maid falls for a difficult, to say the least, co-worker. The movie was very real and raw, and at the same time had some really nice humor. Jason Patrick played his part with such charm you just can't bring yourself to hate him. Very touching. The ending was open-ended, which I'm ashamed to say annoyed me. But the director, when asked what happens next, invited us to decide for ourselves. Isn't that the approach I go for -- inviting people to think for themselves? Mmm...maybe I'll change the ending of Sounds of Darkness.

Since I mentioned that second wait-list line, where I met some lively young students from Brooks School of Photography, I actually had a ticket in my hands. But I was waiting for my friend Daniel. Poor guy, he drove the hour in from Salt Lake City, found parking, then walked half a mile in the cold, only to have me tell him it was too late to get him a ticket. But I'd already sold my ticket. I didn't want to repeat the near divorce I'd witnessed a couple years ago when husband and wife were temporarily split by the vicissitudes of the Sundance wait list -- she got a ticket, and it looked like he wouldn't.

Daniel kindly waited in line while I got a number for myself for the next film, then he had to drive on back to Salt Lake City. But we were able to scheme about yet another great opportunity suddenly before me. I am going to be able to sell my DVD of short films at the huge annual Catholic gathering in Anaheim in March. A real coup. And our hope is that Daniel, also a Dominican priest, will be able to do his magic at the booth and advertise his touring show.

The movie: Teeth. The leader of her high school's purity campaign is horrified to discover her anatomical uniqueness (Google vagina dentata -- misleadingly rhymes with akuna matata). But maybe she can turn this to her advantage. Very funny and provocative. The symbolism invites repeated viewing and meditation. I think (and hope) this will become a cult classic, though it probably won't see the light of theaters. A terrifically clever performance by actress Jess Weixler.