JUST AS YOU GET USED TO IT, ITS ALMOST TIME TO LEAVE

It seems as if we have been here forever. Even those I have never seen before are now familiar faces, going to the same movies, hanging at the same parties... after days at Sundance the film community here of thousands of filmmakers had become a family...and soon it will be time to go...

At this point I have seen a good number of films and have heard a lot about many more. As always, much of the buzz revolves around the documentaries. Buck, The Last Mountain, Sing Your Song, When a Tree Falls, Front Page, Project Nim, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold... the list goes on and on. Those that I did not get the chance to see here I'll make sure to see soon after.

In the meantime the narratives are also strong and diverse, with many finding homes with distributors almost as soon as they have world premiered here. Some of the acquisitions I'm excited about include My Idiot Brother, Martha Marci May Marlene, Homework, Margin Call and more. Other films that have gotten great reactions and will hopefully get acquired soon include Higher Ground and Salvation Boulevard.

Its interesting how many films this year deal with religion, cults and individual's relationship with those cults. I can count at least 4 - Salvation Boulevard, Higher Ground, Martha Marcy and Red State. I wonder what it says about the state of independent filmmaking today, and more importantly, about our society today. Usually current trends of filmmaking are a reflection of the current state of our society...


When Kevin Smith's Red State premiered a couple of days ago there were demonstrators outside the Eccles theater who lined up hours before show time; some against the film and its subject, others for it and for the protection of freedom of speech (and those were high school kids! It was great to see them!). Smith announced right after the screening that he will distribute Red State himself (sending some angry distributors out of the room while generating cheers from many of the filmmakers in the 1300 seat theater…). With that Smith joined the independent filmmaker's growing trend of self distribution. And so according to what he said the film will have its first screening in NYC's Radio Music Hall this coming March.

Of course, there wouldn't be Sundance without the endless amount of parties and dinners - some are great ones, and some that aren't the best... but its always this way. There are always some parties where so many of those you have been wanting to talk to are there, and the food and drinks are great; and other parties where you're not sure what you are doing there and you leave quickly...Among my favorite parties so far have been HBO, Cinetic, Higher Ground...I look forward to BMI's dinner, NY's party and couple more.

Until next time