Sundance Journal 2007
Jan. 21, 2007 Jan. 24, 2007
Part One - I'M STILL STANDING
I'm here at Sundance for my 6th fun-filled year as a
volunteer and this is the first (and at this lazy
rate, possibly my last) installment of what the kids
are calling my 'blog.'
I have to admit that
I'm less than inspired by the goings-on here and
that will surely make for a very boring blog. To
quote Elvis: 'I used to be disgusted, now I'm just
amused.' So
stop reading here if you have something more
interesting to do. You've been warned.
Not that much has changed
from my last time here in 2005 except that I don't
have a wrist-to-shoulder cast on my arm and the
t-fracture in my elbow has healed. Thanks for
the inquiries, by the way, about the current state
of my bones - no I haven't fallen on the ice (yet)
and yes all my joints are still intact (so far).
I wish I could say the same for my brain -
post-traumatic stress syndrome doesn't begin to
cover how I feel. I expect to
slip and fall at any second, despite the fact that
the ground is bone dry on the streets and sidewalks.
Our house is at the very top of a giant hill - it's
a 15-minute walk down a mountain to the nearest
transportation. I am wearing my
one pair of boots - my sensible Timberlands - but
still every
step I take sends tremors up my legs.
The condo itself is very nice - four levels with a
hot tub at the top (which I haven't even set a toe
in yet.) I have finally reached the private-room
seniority level and I can't tell you how different
the Sundance experience is with a queen size bed, no
snoring roommate and a door that locks. It's a co-ed
house so three of us gals have private rooms and two
seniority-deficient guys share a room on the main
floor. No shenanigans or tomfoolery in this house,
just lots of stereotypes in action: tons of beer in
the fridge, pistachio
shells on the floor and football talk surrounding me
as I write this (Go Bears!)
There seems to be an abundance of free food this
year. Our sponsors have food for us at every venue:
Larabars, Pepsi drink products, Krups coffee, Stella
Artois beer, Turning Leaf wine and water of a brand
I can't quite recall (so much for that sponsor.) I
heard a rumor that Stella, being Belgian, was
offering frites at their tent, so I ran down the
hill as fast as I could (post-traumatic stress be
damned!) but to no avail. The tent
was closed until that evening.
What about those jackets, you ask? Sundance jackets
are like bridesmaids dresses - you grudgingly wear
them because you have to look like everyone else,
but alway ask yourself: 'Will I ever wear this
again?' This year, our personal tailor Kenneth
Cole, has
outfitted us in a rather chic dark gray ski jacket
with a
burgundy-ish lining. The jacket is short, stopping
right at the hips, with the customary too-long
sleeves for us gals since it's ALWAYS the men's
jacket for all. I'd love for one year to have
everyone wear a ladies jacket and see how the guys
like wearing something never intended to be worn on
their bodies. Anyway, we also got gray fleece vests
that the volunteer staff delusionally expect me to
wear every day, as well as a rather ugly computer
bag with a honking big AOL logo, a thermal mug, a
baseball cap and a fleece scarf. Look for most of
these things as prizes at my next Oscar party.
Park City is allegedly crawling with stars, none of
which I
have witnessed with my own eyes, because as you all
know I have celebrity-blindness. Oh wait, I did see
Brenda Blethyn who was very cool. And Buzz Aldrin
and Dave Scot - real live astronauts!!!! at Q&A for
'In the Shadow of the Moon,' a brilliant doc about
the Apollo missions with interviews with all the
surviving astronauts intercut with mind-blowing NASA
footage. Very moving stuff because I remember all of
this from when I was very very very young. These were
pre-VCR days and I remember my father setting his
camera up in front of the TV to take pictures of the
moon landing.
My friends however have seen all sorts of famous
people (if Wynona Ryder & a lesser Baldwin count in
this category),
mostly outside the Premiere Magazine lounge, a
little Main Street store front where the stars are
limo-ed in for a photo op and then whisked away as
quickly as possible. Adam Brody (don't swoon MB) was
spotted in a lounge somewhere standing around
looking lost and once saying f**k. Wild and crazy
stuff, I know. Still
on the lookout for perennial Sundance favorite Jake
Gyllenhaal (did you know people who google his name
end up on my Sundance journal pages???)
Other film highlights:
"The Future is Unwritten," a documentary
about The
Clash's Joe Strummer that literally - yes literally
- took my breath away with is awesomeness. The
stupendous sound system belting out the tunes didn't
hurt.
"Everything's Cool" a doc about
environmentalists,
which is the latest film by my hero Judith Helfand,
who has yet to take out that restraining order on me.
Two dramatic entries with exceptional performances
by young girls
- "Grace is Gone" starring
(KF's
husband) John Cusack trying to tell his kids their
mom was killed in Iraq (weep weep weep);
and
"Blame
It on Fidel" a tres charmant and profound French
film about a young bourgeois Parisian girl who is pissed off because her
parents have become radicals.
More
info by clicking here!
OK that's way more than enough for you all. Write me
with questions and I'll do my best to answer them
amusingly.
Part Two - MOONSTRUCK
Some questions from the mail bag:
You saw Buzz Aldrin????? Can I touch you? KG
YES and I saw him AGAIN
having breakfast next to me
and Lisa (producer/partner-in-crime) yesterday
morning. We chatted (gushed) like a couple of
space groupies with him and the director of the
film "In the Shadow of the Moon.' But I think I
kinda chilled the air when I
asked him why it was called the Apollo mission and
not the Artemis
mission (she being goddess of the
moon and all). Buzz just stared at me for a while,
seemingly confused/annoyed by the question.
His
polite answer: "It was such a big project, Apollo
seemed the right name." As Lisa whispered 'You just
can't help yourself, can you?,' I decided there was
really no good reason to raise the consciousness of
the second man on the moon.So I regrouped, shook
his hand and I told him what an honor it was
to meet him AND called him 'sir,' but I think he's still
filing the restraining order as we speak.
Darling, you are the inspiration, the call of the
wild, throw caution to the wind, and get in that hot
tub! SH
I finally did last night! And this is really the sad
but true quintessential Sundance experience: Warm
water bubbling
all around, chilled bubbly
swigged straight from the bottle, huge starry Utah
sky...and a long debate about whether poetry is a
viable narrative form for a film, as opposed to the
more common prose form. Yep. Had to be there.
How about adding some gay content for those of us
on the visiting team? You've been there for days,
haven't you connected with the gay scene yet? JW
OK - Sundance IS the gay scene. Gayer than Elton
John's fanny pack, as they say. Even the straight
guys act gay here (make of that what you
will). But interestingly enough, there's no strong
gay trend in the films like there has been in every
year past. They don' even have their official 'Gay'
venue any more. But I'll do my best to track it down
- if I stumble into a
fully-outfitted den
of Sodomy, I'll take notes and as many cellphone
photos as I can.
What about the Uggs? Are they gone with the
buffalo? What are the Starlets wearing? SH
It's a bland year for Sundance style. Not so much to
report, partly because it's insanely freezing here
and everyone is bundled up in layers of
fleece (a material that physicists have found to
create a style vacuum.) The ladies ARE wearing
Ugg-like boots with
very narrow pants tucked in. But the guys' style is
so unremarkable, it almost makes me miss the
bushy-bearded
Unabomber look from two years ago!
Actually, the most prevalent guy-style is that
they're all sounding and acting REALLY GAY! What's
up with that??
When are you going to Sundance with a film?
PH
I have a couple of films here at Sundance with me.
But through some sort of horrible clerical error,
neither were scheduled for screenings! But seriously
folks,
our next attempt will hopefully be for Sundance '08
with a new doc I'm working on called The
American Virgin. (I love doing films about words
heavy with
cultural baggage.) In the last couple of days, my
producer Lisa and I have pitched the film to HBO,
Showtime, Discovery, Sundance and PBS among others
and people seem enthusiastic, so keep your fingers
crossed. I have pitch fatigue, so I can't bear to
write another word about it, but the postcards are
really cool and have a virginity quiz on the
back. Did I mention that Artemis was a virgin?
What is your favorite Festival swag thusfar?
MM
Ummm....the free water? Although Adobe has been
giving out some very cute fleece-lined wooly
hats.
I heard all the good films this year are heavy in
sexual content. Seen any sex scenes yet? If so, were
they in the hot tub or on screen? HT
Yes.
Do you think maybe your elbow now has special
abilities? Like a water dowsing stick? HT
I'm hoping it starts doing a better job as a free
booze dowsing stick. I refuse to pay for any more
microscopic Utah-sized
shots of vodka!! It's
impossible to get drunk in this town if you're
buying at a bar.
Do you think one can live off sponsored foods
without being constipated?
No. And in a related side note, I seem to be losing
weight. Is it the diet of Larabars and water? Or the
15-min. uphill hike to get home at night?
What's with the Dustin
"Screech" Diamond vs Gary Coleman
controversy? SH
This is a job for Access Hollywood. Every time I
hear about this, my eyes glaze over and then roll
back into my head.
There is an added spice of maturity, no more
wide-eyed wonder for all that Sundance has to offer,
more jaded, more looking at it from a distance.
Subtle but fascinating change. What does it
mean? MS
Hmmmm....let's see. The week is young? I haven't had
enough free liquor? Have no fear. There's still
plenty of time for my innate immaturity to
surface.
So with a special warm thought for
the late Raccoon, I bid you farewell until next
time...