The first item of the day was New Frontier on Main. This is where they show a bunch of new technology and how it can be implemented for movies and storytelling. Some cool stuff, movie-wise, but nothing incredible technology-wise.
Next up was the opening press conference with Robert Redford and Geoffrey Gilmore. They talked for a while and then took questions. Redford wasn't sure if this year was the 25th anniversary of Sundance, or 24th or 26th, or what. He reiterated several times the difference between the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival. He mentioned that they have had international labs in the mideast (Iran and Jordan) for some time, and there has been talks about a festival in Abu Dhabi.
They talked about the wall between art and commerce, distribution issues for independant films, they touched on proposition 8, and someone asked Redford if he would serve on the NEA board if he was asked (he said no, he wouldn't).
A couple of hours off and then it was the opening film - Mary and Max, a claymation movie about a 40 year-old obese man in New York and his 10 year-old pen pal, a little girl living in Australia. The movie was funny and charming, but I thought it would have worked much better as a short. Halfway thru the movie I was ready for it to end.
The last item of the day was the opening night party. I quickly realized that it doesn't matter how cool a party is, its no fun if you are there alone, and don't know anybody. I did bump into a couple local critics that I chatted with, and met a few other people, but nothing interesting happened. They had a DJ, free food and free drinks, and there were so many people in there it was a nightmare trying to move around. And no, I didn't see anyone famous.
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BTW....if you ever need a tag-along so you can have company at any cool party-you know where to find me (stars or not)!!!!
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