Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
Emanuel Levy
David Poland
Doug Pratt
Ray Pride

JANUARY 20, 2005

11:49p - It's been Dave's Film Fest tonight at the Sundance house. We just finished watching Hal Hartley's new film, The Girl From Monday. The film manages to achieve both the pretentiousness and the barely competent production skills that make this a true Sundance movie from a veteran filmmaker who should have known better. The fact that it reportedly cost only $70,000 to make doesn't really excuse it.

The image above is not from DavidFest. It is the Sundance press lounge with computer access. One has to wonder what Entertainment Weekly is selling to the media here.

Tomorrow is the first four or five movie day... right now, we're watching Steve James' delightful Reel Paradise... only 15 minutes in or so, but it has all the charms of the late great IFC series from Peirson, Split Screen.

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2:50p - The first walk down Main Street, before the festival begins, is a joy. People are just getting their things together… the first guerilla marketing filmmakers show up… you can actually see the wood on the tri-sided kiosk designed for postings…

It took me all of no seconds this year to run into familiar faces. Elizabeth Carmody of The Reel Roundtable turned up inside of the Morning Ray. Sean Jordan, now with Femme Fetale magazine was just around the corner. A pal was 50 feet away, getting the Volkswagon Lodge together… seeing Todd Oldham actually lift furniture (he's designing the space) was an amusing surprise. Etc, etc…

The Volkswagon Lodge is hosting a live performance by Pete Yorn on Friday and has room for 150… how many Sundancers can you get in a Jetta?

VW is giving out the very amusing "The Very Responsible & Totally Sensible Adult Activity Book." (You can see photos of that and more Main Street on The Hot Blog until we figure out a better way of running them.)

Starbucks Corporate shut down the long familiar Starbucks in Cow, an ice cream joint on Main Street. So now, there is a festival-only Starbucks across the street. The folks were very nice, but any threat of a discount was dashed… and they seem to have a reduced menu. Meanwhile, Cow has its own non-'Bucks coffee bar going.

And I am going to try to get to a local stage version of Lar Von Trier's Dogville, which a local troupe is putting on in the lat days of the festivals. A live show about a film that pretends to be a live show… the perversity is just too tempting.

More latte…

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12:45p - The mountain is quiet now. You can see all the barricades and traffic jams to come on the sides of the roads. The locals are already sneering as we speed past them or drive sluggishly into dangerous looking intersections.

The Albertson's was quiet at midnight last night, only the aisles themselves unaware that they will be the site of more schmoozing and recovered memories in the next 48 hours than any venue in Park City.

There are six tables taken at the Morning Ray, including mine, sitting around. It is 12:45pm here… but that won't matter tomorrow. The busboy is still relaxed and the waitress sweet.

Over at the Park City Marriott, festival HQ, things are bustling, but only MPRM has their sign on the door, open for business. Ironically, they don't have a full-on screening to deal with until Saturday.

Having seen the opening night film, Happy Endings, and preferred a Tivo'd episode of Arrested Development, I will not be rushing to get to the film tonight. However, the festival is kind enough to have the facility to get screeners to the press for a 24 hour period. This is how I finally got to see a gem like Los Angeles Plays Itself. It is also a quicker way of getting through junk than sitting in a screening room. Not every film is available at the desk, but in the few hours since they opened, I can tell you that Wolf Creek has a waiting list, 5 copies of Shake Hands With The Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dellaire are out and no luck with Cronicas either.

Back in a bit…

JANUARY 19, 2005

Welcome to the start of Sundance coverage. For the next ten days, I will be writing throughout the day - as long as the gods of wireless coverage are supportive - as I get to movies, parties and trouble of whaatever sort I can. Updates will remain on one page a day, kind of blog style, each day of the festival. So keep refreshing that page!

If you want a place to start, I've done a two day preview at The Hot Button, which started yesterday with a look at all the films from "celebrity" directors.