SUNDANCE 2009

DAY 1

My 8th annual Sundance experience! A chance to get away and get inspired, to watch great films and write about them, to meet other filmmakers and film lovers, to hand out my postcards, and to work on my new script.

But I missed my annual 3-hour wait to get into the opening night movie, so I headed over to the big Eccles theater first thing in the morning and got into the follow-up screening of Mary and Max. It's the first time they've opened Sundance with an animated film. While surely the human face captured on film can carry more nuance, the claymation here is extremely expressive partly because of its context, an involving and intimate story. It's actually based on the Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot's own childhood pen pal relationship with an autistic adult.

Chatted with some chatty Australians while waiting in line for my next film. They're two young men who have been traveling all over the world and happened to land in Park City for skiing at Sundance time. I easily managed to get a ticket so that I could join my old high school friend Lauran for The Anarchist's Wife, an eye-opening tale of the Spanish Civil War. I always forget how recently Franco died (1975). Again, real life -- the story is based on the passionate marriage of the grandparents of writer and co-director Marie Noelle.

Next came my political thriller Inside Darkness at the Park City Film Music Festival, one of the handful of simultaneous festivals up here. The festival was just getting started, but by the end of the screening the small room was filled. I didn't miss the chance to hand out my postcards.

DAY 2

The commute was quite easy this morning. The short but dangerous walk across the highway took me to the brand new Jewish temple, which has been dressed up as Sundance's newest venue. Once again, I had absolutely no trouble getting into the film. I was confident enough that I'd get in that I turned down a $20 ticket from a festival go-er. Ultimately, the poor woman returned to sell me the ticket for the regular price of $15. Supply and demand so rarely works in favor of the person without a ticket at Sundance.

The Missing Person was a terrific contemporary noir starring the ever-inventive and mysterious Michael Shannon. (I think you'll know who he is before long.) He plays a drunken private eye who slowly, suspensefully, and humorously unravels the mystery behind his task of following a man without a name. And by the end, he confronts a fascinatingly murky moral challenge that removes his amoral mask of gin and jokes. Director Noah Buschel was enticingly evasive in the Q&A. (Postscript: You didn't have to wait long to hear about Michael Shannon. He was just nominated for the best supporting actor Academy Award for Revolution Road.)



Not such an easy commute to the heart of things. Sundance is in full swing now, and packed buses slowly navigate their way through Park City's congested little streets. But I just made it to the panel on distribution media of the future. The founders of YouTube and Netflix, and the head of Hulu.com, the new NBC company that streams already-broadcast studio TV shows and movies for free. These kinds of seminars at Sundance are always a bit mindblowing. The panelists envision a future that increases the consumer's power to find what they want to watch and to watch it when they want it on the device they choose: mobile, laptop, "TV." Oh, even movie theaters and DVDs. Hopefully, viewers' access to films, etc. will translate into filmmakers' access to viewers. That is, it's one thing for Hulu.com and Netflix to be providing studio stuff and YouTube to be providing clips of puppies, but it will be another thing for people like me to be able to more easily make our films available to niche audiences.

This evening, I preached at St. Mary's, the Catholic Church where I stay every year. Quite a weekend: the beginning of Christian Unity Week, followed by MLK day and Barack day. I reminded people that electing a president is the beginning, not the end, of our responsibility to effect change. I had some modest success with my DVDs and email list after the service.

DAY 3

Sunday morning movie worship at the Egyptian. Oskar Rohler's Lulu and Jimi was a wild, musical, and sometimes fantastical ride with a lovesick white German girl (the glowing Jennifer Decker) in the '50s and her African-American heartthrob (the charismatic and suave British actor Ray Fearon). Thoroughly enjoyable if sometimes arbitrarily plotted. Dark humor mingled with just plain darkness. (One time I was the only one laughing. Oops, was this supposed to be one of the serious moments?) Once again, the director couldn't be there because the film is opening in Germany next week, but actor Fearon was there and was quite charming, even confessing that his daughter talked him into doing Britain's Dancing with the Stars.

The panel on experiments in indie distribution included Lance Hammer, writer-director of last year's Sundance hit Ballast. Hammer canceled his deal with IFC to pursue theatrical self-distribution. He is planning for the distribution of his next project even as he writes the script. Cora Olsen, producer of last year's Good Dick, has been negotiating a variety of deals, including working with one of the aggregators that works with Itunes. Also on the panel was Indiewire blogger Matt Dentler. Scott Kirsner from www.cinematech.blogspot.com moderated.

Emily Abt's Toe to Toe might sound like an attempt to do a lacrosse Bend it Like Beckham, but it was an intense experience of the relationship between a wealthy and troubled white prep school senior with her out-of-her-element, Princeton-aspiring, African-American teammate. The drama tried to cover a bit too much territory, but it was very engaging and provocative, exploring problems of parenting, sexuality, racism, sexism, and educational opportunities. The film was inspired by the fact that 87% of American interracial friendships end at age 14.

I haven't been disappointed with any of the films yet, but Endgame is my favorite so far. Pete Travis quite suspensefully directed screenwriter Paula Milne's political thriller, based on the nonfiction book The Fall of Apartheid by Robert Harvey. William Hurt's South-African accent seems a bit off (I might be off though), but he managed not to rely too much on his trademark, multi-purpose smirk as he played a professor who risks participation in peace talks with ANC leader (and later President) Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki is played brilliantly by the always convincing Chiwetel Ejiofor. It's very moving and inspiring to watch these characters slowly gain each other's trust. Mark Strong plays the nation's chief of security, who moves from trying to force Hurt to work only for the government's interest to trying to convince the new President to negotiate. Yet the most compelling character of all is the public relations officer for Consolidated Gold who initiates and organizes the talks against all odds. He all but drops out of the movie during key moments, and Johnny Lee Miller plays him in a self-effacing way. But that's the point. He is a man who began the talks with stated financial concerns but obviously has deeper concerns by the end of the film at least. It's an apparent conversion but so subtly portrayed. In fact, the real person quit his job to work in politics.

DAY 4



After taking a quiet morning to work on my new script, I went to a couple seminars. Where Are the Big Ideas for The Small Screen? gave Craig Brewer (of Sundance Hustle and Flow fame) a chance to talk about his new web series about Memphis musicians. More interesting to me was discovering Cory McAbee, a multi-faceted artist who did Stingray Sam for big screen (it's at Sundance) and web both. Moderator Suzanne Stefanae of AFI talked to us filmmakers as if the people on the panel were the only people in the world who were making things for the web besides homemovies. Still, it was encouraging, and it was also good to be reminded once again that blogging is the best way to create an audience.

Editor and USC professor Norm Hollyn plugged his book The Lean Forward Moment and moderated a discussion with a few Sundance filmmakers about how they worked together with every department to tell their stories in a clear and focused way, to create lean forward moments. To illustrate the possibilities of orchestrating all the elements to serve each moment, he showed the scene from The Godfather when Al Pacino has dinner with the man who tried to kill his father. The use of the train noise to express Pacino's inner turmoil is terrific. Stories of discovering shooting opportunities on the set and discovering unforeseen ways to use the footage in the editing room are always inspiring.

Did you notice that all my movies yesterday dealt with black/white relations? Well, today, Martin Luther King Day, found me using my first advance-purchased ticket (I actually got lucky this year with tickets) to see a brutal drama about child soldiers in an unnamed African country. For Johnny Mad Dog, French writer-director Jean-Stephane Sauvaire went to Liberia to interview former boy soldiers, and they talked him into letting them play the child soldiers in the movie. He worked with them for a year before shooting and established a foundation to help them continue to re-integrate into society. He says the process was therapeutic for them and that their work together was mostly funny (I think he meant fun), yet it still sounds like an awfully precarious venture for them. At any rate, their acting was terrific. The lead girl was less convincing but had a seriousness that made it work just fine. The movie, which actually premiered at Cannes back in May, was expertly crafted, with mostly hand-held close shots. I would have like to have seen more about how they're taken from their families and forced to fight, as well as more moments of interaction between fights, yet the fighting was hardly gratuitous and continuously revealed character.

Fr. Willie Raymond, Fr. David Guffey, and Tony Sands from Family Theater Productions are also staying at the church rectory. They bring their Angelus Student Film winners to Park City every year during Sundance.

DAY 5



The Inauguration was on large screens up and down Main Street. I found a warm and intimate spot inside the Filmmakers Lodge, where someone from Sundance asked if there were any filmmakers he could interview about the arts, politics, and the inauguration. Sniffing a chance to promote my films, I volunteered. I don't know what I said, and I haven't been able to find it online, but the bottom line for me is that the arts are as important as breathing. In fact, it was when Aretha sang ("Land where my fathers died" means something a bit different out of a black American's mouth than my mouth) that I was able to momentarily let go of my fears that we're not going to turn away from war and finally open to this great moment in our nation's life. I cried. Joe the Cellist and his companions also made me weep, at least until the art-deaf TV announcer started talking during the music. (By the way, did you know that our great Americana composer Aaron Copeland was gay?) I was brought back to my war fears by the image (at least on CNN) of a black sailor who looked all of fifteen.

The theme of child soldiers continued with Ross Katz's Taking Chance, a true story in which a Marine Lieutenant (played by Kevin Bacon) inexplicably volunteers to escort a 19-year-old Marine's remains home. The overbearing music notwithstanding, the movie was a deeply beautiful and moving ritual. I went to the screening because I wanted to give the Marines a chance to show me something positive about themselves, and I was floored by the ritualized and deeply-felt respect given by the Marines to their dead. And there was just enough questioning of our war in Iraq to take down my defenses. I wept throughout, at least until the falsely-written climax. In one insightful moment, the dead Marine's commander wrote to the parents that it was ironic that if the world had more people like their son we wouldn't need a Marine Corps. If we took half the care with the living that the Marines take with their dead, there would be no war at all. More specifically, are there rituals we can create for diplomacy and peace that rival our rituals for the dead, a cult of life rather than death? (Postscript: A former Marine tells me he gave the filmmakers a hard time for not playing "Taps," which he says is played at all military funerals.)

Perhaps I was still recovering from Taking Chance, but Lee Daniels' Push (written by Damien Paul) didn't grab me as fully as it seems to be grabbing so many others. I suppose many people have it even worse than Push's teen protagonist, but the unrelenting parental abuse seemed almost like a caricature. Bizarrely, Daniels asked us before the movie to view it through the protagonist's laughter. But I don't remember much laughter. There were her occasional fantasies in the midst of the worst abuse, but I found the technique a bit distracting and distancing (perhaps the point). Mo'Nique's climactic monologue was brilliant and gave us the opportunity to forgive her. But the other characters (and the filmmakers) miss the chance. Push is powerful, but it could have been more so if it hadn't shied away from the depth of pain and humanity in the "wicked" characters. (Postscript: Mo'Nique was given a special jury award for her performance.)

Steven Soderbergh was supposed to talk tonight but instead showed a rough cut of his new film, The Girlfriend Experience. I was disappointed he didn't talk the whole time, and even more disappointed in the movie. His little 1.7 million dollar experiment involved all fairly capable non-actors except for the bland porn star lead "actress." The movie has unscripted (and often inane) dialogue and a nonlinear editing scheme (which he invented after the first day of ?mediocre shooting). But I'm just jealous. I wish I had his talent and money and cache so I could be so prolific and experimental.

DAY 6

No problem getting into the movies today. It's B-Day. People with A packages, tickets for the first half of the week, have gone, and people with B packages are just arriving. Besides, it's less crowded this year overall. I suppose individuals are watching their expenditures, and perhaps films distributors are watching their cash as well. Perhaps the inauguration has even cut into the crowds.

One Day in a Life deftly deepens from entertaining frivolity to revelatory authenticity. Director Stefano Tummolini co-wrote with lead actor Antonio Merone. In one day at a Roman beach, a man meets a variety of people who free him from his isolation and pain. The Italian title translates as "Another Planet," perhaps as in "men are from Mars, women are from Venus, straights are from Jupiter, gays are from Saturn, and everyone is their own planet, revolving around the same sun of life." I asked one of the actors if Italians are generally as open and direct as these characters, and she said that, yes, Italians aren't as polite as Americans. Their directness was quite pleasing and humorous. My deepest impression, though, was that the filmmakers made even the most annoying characters likable.

Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar's Pomegranates and Myrrh is an enlightening though somewhat earnest depiction of a young Palestinian woman's move from Jerusalem and her family to her new husband and his family, who own an olive grove. When her husband is imprisoned for resisting Israeli confiscation of the land, she struggles to maintain her fidelity to her husband and to the land. A stronger performance (including dancing) from the lead actress would have elevated the film. The Q&A got intense a couple times, with one man calling the film self-pitying and an Israeli woman reacting to an American man's suggestion that American news depicted the Palestinians as the bad guys.

The big guys hosted a panel. "How to Talk to the Big Guys" had representatives of Panavision, Kodak, and major post-production facilities encourage low-budget filmmakers to apply for grants and other special consideration. I've been told of this generosity all along but never so clearly, especially by the powers that be. I suppose the big guys want to make sure they have the business of future high-budget filmmakers. Also, Kodak wants to make sure HD and Fuji don't take all their business.

Called it an early day and went home to rest and write.

DAY 7

Peter and Vandy stars two actors I really like, Jess Weixler (who won an award here a couple years ago for her performance in the wickedly funny Teeth) and Jason Ritter. But Weixler especially was hampered by the script's episodic, nonlinear, and stage roots, all of which contributed to a lack of dramatic focus for her character. It all seemed a bit "acty" to me. Still, some funny and insightful moments, including the chance to see early parts of their relationship while already knowing that they break up -- an interesting and sometimes poignant experience. Also, there is the Thanksgiving scene, with the dysfunctional and wildly different responses to the little girl's questions about the missing boyfriend. Jay DiPietro adapted his own play and directed.

John Hindman's Arlen Faber was a more standard romantic comedy, starring the reliable Jeff Daniels and charming Lauren Graham. Daniels plays a fantastically successful self-help author (God and Me) who has inexplicably isolated himself for 20 years until he's literally brought to his knees by back trouble. Enter chiropractor Graham. Endearing and much less preachy than you might expect, the only real fault I experienced was the inconsistency and unbelievability of Daniel's character. Sadly, Olivia Thurlby and Kat Dennings didn't have very big roles. I got my picture taken with the terrific 7-year-old supporting actor Max Antisell.

I went to the wrong theater then ran in the thin mountain air to the right theater for Alberto Cortes' Heart of Time, another romance, this one in the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico. A good look at the life of the Zapatistas, who are struggling to preserve their way of life. Unfortunately, afternoon fatigue, the run over, and the front-row seat all contributed to some napping during the movie. The nonprofessional acting didn't help either.

Had a real meal finally -- split an expensive and bloody steak with my acting/directing teacher Deb Lemen. Then we saw An Education, a highly-pedigreed film that includes Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson, and Peter Saarsgard, as well as a script adapted by Nick Hornby. Saarsgard offers a cultural and worldly education to the much younger Carey Mulligan, a high school student. Of course, she gets much more of an education than she bargained for, as do her blindsighted parents. Extremely well-made by Danish director Lone Scherfig. But the star is the newcomer Mulligan, who brilliantly combines sophistication and innocence, passion and intrepidation.

DAY 8

Spent the morning writing, then just walked across the highway for a waitlist ticket for Chris Rock's doc Good Hair. Then I was able to come back to the rectory for an hour and a half before the movie. I was the last waitlist person to get in. I would have liked a deeper and more hard-hitting discussion of the pressure African American girls and women feel to have un-African hair, but it was quite entertaining and enlightening at the same time: toxic relaxers, outrageously expensive weaves, hours of care. In the Q&A, Rock said that it's not uncommon for a woman with a $30K salary to spend $6K annually on her hair. Maybe it's not so bad to be balding.

I was also the last person to get in to The Greatest, another accomplished and engaging performance by the young Carey Mulligan. Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan are also in Shana Feste's grief fest about a family and pregnant girlfriend grieving a young man's tragic death. It seemed so well done, but I didn't cry as much as I would have liked. I think what kept me at a bit of a distance was the filmmaker's challenging goal of not focusing on one character. Also, it didn't help that I stood most of the time in order to see the screen well. Still, there were some very moving moments, especially Sarandon crying each morning when she wakes up and remembers, and Brosnan finally crying after so much denial. Some funny moments, too.

DAY 9

Sundance king Sam Rockwell stars in Moon. He plays a solo engineer at a lunar mining plant who starts seeing things two weeks before his three-year contract is up. I'm tempted to say more but don't want to spoil a nifty twist that comes halfway through. Let's just say Rockwell gets to use his full range. A very good, low-budget sci-fi that raises some great moral questions. I hope Duncan Jones (director and story) and Nathan Parker (writer) make another low-budget sci-fi.

Took a break from movies this afternoon to have lunch with my good friend Daniel from Salt Lake City. He's the "magic" part of our Torch3M: Dominic Movies, Music, & Magic.

After preaching about Jonah and the whale and Sundance, I saw David Russo's Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle. It's a sometimes funny, often raunchy, frequently visually dazzling movie about addictive cookies that make men poop blue fish. How's that for a logline?

After a week of sunny and relatively warm weather, it's turned to rain. Did you know when water freezes it makes ice? And that ice can make you fall on your rear?

DAY 10

Camped out at Eccles for three award-winning films on this last day of the festival. Sebastian Silva's Chilean film The Maid won the World Cinema Dramatic Jury Prize. I loved it. Catalina Saavedra is terrific as the live-in maid whose emotional immaturity leads to her confusion about her role in the family. And, one by one, she sabotages the maids hired to help her out. But things don't turn out the way I thought they would.

The rain has turned to snow, which covered the people in the waitlist line for Ondi Timoner's We Live in Public, which won the Documentary Jury Prize. It's about "the greatest internet pioneer you've never heard of," Josh Harris, who cashed in on the dot com explosion then blew all his money on wild experiments, including living with his girlfriend on a perpetual internet video stream. The director sees these as anticipatory of our current life with Facebook and other internet phenomena. Yet it's hard to watch what may have been revolutionary but what's as tiresome as the worst reality TV. I don't quite grasp Harris' genius. Surprisingly, he was present at the screening (no, after the screening -- he says he can't watch) and participated in the Q&A. He now lives in Ethiopia but says he wants to create the "wired city" with Microsoft.

Push won both the audience and jury prizes. I had a ticket, so I watched it again, hoping I'd find more in it this time. It's still not one of my favorites, but it no longer seems over-the-top in its depiction of Precious' life of abuse. And I realize now how accomplished the film is visually and in its acting. But I still didn't feel as emotionally involved as I'd like, and I think it has mostly to do with the fantasy sequences. It's a bit troubling to realize more and more just how much my new script has in common with Push: an overweight, African-American girl pregnant through rape. Really, though, it can also be encouraging -- such stories are important. And Push challenges me to be as real and creative as I can.

So that's another Sundance. The only films I really didn't like were Soderberg's new experiment and We Live in Public. My favorite films, in order:

1) The Maid
2) The Missing Person
3) Endgame
4) Push
5) Johnny Mad Dog
6) Taking Chance
7) One Day in a Life
8) Mary and Max

Films I still want to see:

1) Sin Nombre
2) The Killing Room
3) Prom Night in Mississippi
4) World's Greatest Dad
5) Amreeka
6) Cold Souls
7) Five Minutes of Heaven
8) Stingray Sam
9) 500 Days of Summer
10) La Mission
11) Paper Heart
12) Lymelife
13) Adam

Links of some folks I met:
Movie blogs: www.cinemastrikesback.com, http://wearemoviegeeks.com
Film composer: www.zeltiamontes.com