AND THE MARATHON GOES ON

Another day in Park City, another marathon of screenings and extra curiculum activities. First thing in the morning I headed out to Headquarters (mind you I get up at 5 am in the morning, so heading to headquarters at 8 am is not first thing really, but rather the first thing I do when I go out...) to secure new tickets for public screenings at the press office. Managed to get tickets to Kevin Smith's new film Red State, a film that EVERYONE here is dying to see, and Salvation Boulevard. Soon after I headed to the Eccles to see the 9 am premiere of Tom MacCarthy's (who did Station Agent and The Visitor) new film Win Win. I saw the premieres of his previous films in Sundance, and was looking forward to seeing this one as he's such a wonderful director. Thankfully I was not disappointed. The film was fun, warm, quirky, smart and extremely well crafted and acted. The cast was excellent and I especially enjoyed Alex Shaffer, a new comer who reminded me of Paul Dano a bit. I have no doubt that this young man will go far.


Walking back to headquarters following the screening the snow was coming down, gently at first, then heavier and heavier, and pretty soon I was covered with the white stuff. Strange how it does not bother me here the way it does in NY...There is something about being in a ski resort that allows me to enjoy the cold and snow rather than suffer from it...

Hanging at Headquarters here, as well as the various other filmmakers and industry gathering venues throughout town is always fruitful as you are bound to run into old and new colleagues on every corner and at any given time. Its always good to reconnect as it is to make new contacts, and here in Sundance its easy to do both.

One of today's good afternoon parties was the NYU party. Great drinks, great food and good industry presence. Later on at the Sundance Channel event I was glad to see Jonathan Sehring, head of IFC Entertainment and a former honorary recpipient of our Trailblazer Award.

Later on I was able to catch the film Tryannosaur, a terrific British film, dark, intimate, emotionally charged and extremely well acted.

Soon after I headed back to the Eccles to see the premiere of My Idiot Brother, a charming family comedy that was truly entertaining endearing and should do very well in the box office. But first I hope it will do well with the buyers here, we'll soon know.

Back in Main Street my colleagues and I hit the parties again, always with the goal to promote WFF and HVFC and the Hudson Valley in general. And so we stayed out there until we could do no more, our eyes were closing and our bodies began to freeze as the temperature outside dipped well below freezing. And so we ended up going back to the hotel. Hopefully I'll be able to catch a couple of hours of sleep now as tomorrow, Sunday, is going to be the busiest day!

Good night for now.