Sundance

So, enough people have expressed an interest in hearing about Sundance at different times, that instead of telling the same story over and over, I thought it reasonable to condense my accounts. The full story is as follows:

Background (Boring):
I work for The Concord Coalition, a non-profit focusing on balancing the federal budget. Our major project right now is running the fiscal wakeup tour, something we do with David Walker, the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office and lots of other organizations.

There is a movie, IOUSA, written and directed by Partick Creadon, who was behind the documentary Word Play. This movie focuses on the issue of the federal fiscal imbalance, and follows the works of Concord and General Walker on The Tour. IOUSA got "nominated", or whatever the word is, to go to the Sundance Film Festival. This is big news. To celebrate, our executive director, Bob Bixby, decided to bring much of our office to Sundance.

Going to Sundance:
Arriving in SLC, Utah the evening of Friday the 18th, I spent Saturday morning negotiating shuttles to neighboring Park City, sharing one with an Australian couple, who turned out to have co-produced Made In America, a documentary about gang warfare in south-central LA. The ride itself, on interstate 80 through the snow capped Rockies, was nothing short of breathtaking.



The weekend was, first and foremost, a cultural experience. As far as the movies themselves go, I only saw two, IOUSA and Paul Schneider's Pretty Bird. But the real treat was seeing the mindless masses crushing to catch a glimpse of movie stars and pop icons. At one spot a crowd formed in front of a rope line, waiting for something or someone to happen, though know one knew what or who. The crowd remained for several hours, and to my knowledge nothing ever actually happened, except the likes of Kevin Sorbo walked unnoticed behind them.

IOUSA was excellent. A documentary on the scale and of the quality of An Inconvenient Truth, it was very well received by the audience. To my knowledge it was the first documentary to sell out at Sundance, and it was the first time I've ever seen a policy wonk and an accountant enter a crowded theater to a standing ovation. It was a great opportunity to chat up the Concord Coalition and distribute our materials, but in the end the public's enthusiasm was my personal dismay, since if this movie does as well as it looks like it might, (they're negotiating with distributors) the pressure is on me to have a 5-star website ready to match the millions of new fans.

Other highlights of the weekend included seeing old friends, staying at the Giamatti's house, riding the bus with Jodi Foster, and dancing at arms length from Paris Hilton.

The Takeaway:
In short, Sundance was an experience well worth having. It was the highest concentration of ostentation and fur I've ever encountered. The town was full of pouty-lipped 20-somethings who would spontaneously strike poses in the streets and generally look like this. And all were desperately trying to peer past each other's sunglasses to determine if they were passing someone worth pawing at. The whole dynamic was ridiculous and I had a wonderful time only because I felt so splendidly disconnected from it all. Friends who work in "The Industry" and live that culture were less amused and more disgusted by the adulteration and general debasement of the independent film showcase Robert Redford originally envisioned.

But in any case, I had a great time, slept for 4 hours over 3 days, and would gladly go back if someone were willing to send me again.