Who knew man birth could be that funny?

Started the morning with Matthew at the Sundance Institute Art House Project Brunch. Although the food offering was a little lob sided towards carnivores (the only non-vegetarian option was coleslaw), the brunch and meeting was great. They did allow the vegetarians access to the salad bar so we were OK. I really like this group and look forward to participating in a major way.

I spent the mid-afternoon working on Enzian related business and then went to Main Street to try and purchase some more tickets. Missed out on buying tickets to Soderbergh's sneak preview of GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. I'm definitely wait-listing for this film and hope I can get in tomorrow. Suzie is saving me a seat so keep your fingers crossed. Jordana and I are both trying to get in.

My first film of the day was IMACULATE CONCEPTION OF IZZLE DIZZLE. This is one of the most wackiest films I have ever seen. The 'man birth' scene was one of the funniest scenes I have ever scene in a theater. The Q&A was just as wacky.

Finished my night with the premier screening of BRONSON at the Eqyptian. I got caught in a paparazzi melee right as I got to the theater and for a second I was wedged between Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson. I got a photo of Neeson's head (somebody got in front right as I took the shot). BRONSON was heavy. As I left BRONSON I ran into Sam Rockwell at Zoom. I also ordered a hot chocolate next to that guy from LOST who was buried alive in the first season, and I saw that guy from The Daily Show. Fun evening!

-Chris

The Newbie Arrives!

I’m a newbie to the Enzian and Florida Film Festival. Long-time fan and member? Yes. Long-time employee? Well, that depends. Do I get tenure after 11 days?

So you can imagine how excited I was to join the rest of my crew at the Sundance Film Festival here in Park City, UT when I boarded my 8 a.m. flight out of MCO yesterday. Just think: ME rubbing elbows with celebrities! Jordana and Chris, who had been enjoying the life of this once-quite-ski-town, now-bustling-at-the-brim adventure since mid-last week, had been telling me tales of parties with 50 Cent and fascinating press previews.

So that is exactly what I had in mind. Fast forward to my arrival at the Salt Lake City airport. And as I’m waiting for my shuttle to bring me to our condo, sitting with my overstuffed suitcase, smeared, 12-hour-old makeup, puffy winter jacket in evitably sliding the floor and shoulder bag now much heavier than when I’d left the house that morning, who do I see?

The King of Porn himself. The legend of dark long hair, raunchy sex scenes and graphically large body parts.

Ron Jeremy’s in front of me, wanting to know the best shuttle to take to Sundance.

Not quite what I had in mind as far as my first sighting. But, still slightly brag-worthy, I went on to text my parents, my boyfriend, and anyone else that I thought might enjoy said anecdote. Some wanted to know if I got a picture. (No… I’m still figuring out the best way to ask, although veterans here tell me to just do it.) Some asked me what he was wearing. (What? No leopard print thong? And he was just dressed in black, completely covered. It WAS in a public airport and it IS 30 degrees here.) And others just laughed.

Although the rest of my day was a bit less, well, ridiculous, I did enjoy the screening of Arlen Faber, starring Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham, and it WAS a unique experience having the screenwriter chatting with the audience about his film. I’m a novice when it comes to movies, especially compared to my peers in the industry. I loved her in Gilmore Girls (admittedly a guilty pleasure of mine) and he’s a man still living in my native Michigan. Although the film itself was good (not quite as artsy as I might have expected or hoped for but cute non-the-less, I’m looking forward to continuing my adventure today.

I’m still in awe of the experience. Everyone here is somebody. I don’t mean the socialite status you’d see in the tabloids. I mean I’m riding the buses with screenwriters and heads of major film companies. I’m chatting with them about subjects ranging from their background and brought them to Sundance to how they felt about the Eagles losing to the Cardinals yesterday. I’m asking the big-timers which bus takes me to the Raquet Club for my next film. It’s a surreal world. And as soon as I shower, find some coffee (I think there’s some brewing right now), and my warmest pair of socks, I’m about to head back into it to enjoy Day 2.

-Mara

Jordana and Mara Write a Porno

Tugging on long underwear and feverishly re-applying Cherry flavored Chapstick; its day three of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the elements have inspired me to try my wool-gloved hand at writing a screenplay of the more … er sensual sort.

Not only has the sea of tickling fur-trimmed boots contributed to my new found need to put pen to paper about T and A, but the randy undertones of the films I’ve attended have become my muse.

The Argentinean short, THE BLINDNESS OF THE WOODS (preceded Amy Pholer’s SPRING BREAKDOWN), illustrates the volcanic levels of libido awakened within in a human-sized puppet made of yarn. This tale told in the bleak, cold and lonely woods of the 1800’s soon turns into a kaleidoscope of hot and steamy crochet on crochet action when a cross-stitched brawny woodsman delivers chopped… er, wood to our blind maiden. Surely puts a new spin on Grandmother’s handmade quilt.

Then I zipped off to the public screening of the serendipitously titled, HUMPDAY (see review below) starring indie film emblem Mark Duplass (BAGHEAD) and Joshua Leonard (BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) in your typical hetero-sexuals-make-their-own homo-sexual -“video art piece” (porn), all in the name of pushing the boundaries of the male ego!

It was the arrival of Mara, Florida Film Festival’s newly appointed Director of Development, that set my creative wheels in motion. A business and social powerhouse as well as Sundance virgin (see above entry), Mara left the Sunshine State determined to hobnob with industry A-listers and charm ‘em back to FFF. Alas, she walked into our condo happy to announce that her first brush with the film industry’s finest was chatting with Ron Jeremy who stood behind her (watch out!) at the airport. If that wasn’t a sign from the heavens beckoning me to write my pants off (or about taking pants off) then I don’t know what is.

-Jordana

Another Rock Legend Encounter

Worked on the blog and caught up with some emails before deciding to go to Main Street to buy some extra tickets. I had tickets to WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE and ARLEN FABER, but gave my ARLEN FABER ticket to Mara so she would have something to see when she got into town. I was able to purchase a ticket to BURMA VJ but TIBET IN SONG was sold out and had to do the waitlist thing.

My first film of the day was WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE, a great documentary about The Doors. I got to the theater about 5 minutes before the film started and almost did not get in. I got the last seat in the very front row. I was literally immersed in the documentary and it worked really well (I normally loathe the front row). I was doubly glad to get the seat I got as the director brought a special guest to the Q&A after the screening - John Densmore, the drummer of The Doors. The Q&A was great. Densmore had a ton of great insight and stories to relate and I was 5 feet from him. I got a photo with him after the Q&A - 2 rock Legends in 2 days!

I successfully wait listed for TIBET IN SONG and was super glad to see the premier as the director who was imprisoned by the Chinese for making the film was in attendance for a great Q&A. Although I knew the answer I asked him why he thought the Chinese continues its oppression of Tibet in the face of so much dissent both within Tibet and Globally. His answer was enlightening and heart-felt. It was truly an honor to meet Nagawang Choephel. I hope the FREE TIBET movement realizes its mission very soon.

Finished my night with the midnight screening of BURMA VJ. Truly couragious filmmaking.

-Chris

The Day I met Jack White

First film of the day was 'Thriller in Manilla' screening at the Prospect Theater. It was a good doc about the intense rivalry between Mohamed Ali and Joe Fraser told from Fraser's perspective (see review). Sat with Dan Berger, who is in Acquisitions for Osciliscope for the film. He works with our Program Director Matthew Curtis and it was cool to get a buyers perspective of the festival and the films he has seen. On my way to my next film I ran into Jack White, chilling with his friend in a Quizno's parking lot. He's here for the documentary 'It Might Get Loud'. I saw it in Toronto - it is one of the best music docs I have seen and I got to tell him that in person - what a trip. His buddy took a great photo of us. I immediately Twittered and Facebooked the photo and the fact that White was in town and the internet was a buzz. I floated onto my next film, 'Let's Make Money". I didn't see anymore films and spent the rest of the night reading reaction to the Jack White Encounter and working on setting up our Blog (thanks Soup) - hope you all like it.

-Chris

My First Film at Sundance

My first Sundance film was 'William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe' screening at the new Temple Theater just on the edge of Park City. The theater was very nice (seats 267 and every seat was sat in). The filmmakers, Kunstler's daughters, were in attendance and facilitated an amazing Q&A with special guests including Kunstler's widow and also Joey Johnson, Yusef Salaam, a few other notables from the doc and quite possibly the spirit of Abbie Hoffman. Kunstler successfully defended Johnson in his 1984 US Flag Burning First Amendment case with the Supreme Court. Salaam was wrongly convicted in the infamous Central Park Jogger Gang Rape case in New York in 1989. Kunstler was vilified for his defense of Salaam and his c0-defendants and died before seeing them exonerated in the case. Salaam honored his lawyer by reciting the poem 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'. I shook both of their hands and chatted a little with Johnson. He signed his news publication for me - what an amazing first Sundance film experience.
Caught up with the "industry" at the IFC Mixer across from the Egyptian later in the afternoon. Ran into Rob Epstein, Academy Awad winning director of 'The Times of Harvey Milk'. He came to Enzian opening weekend of MILK for a special presentation of his documentary (thanks again Magaret Nolan of Kangagirl for making that happen). It was great to see him - I got to let him know in person that I thought his doc was better than MILK. Both are excellent films, but 'Times...' evoked more emotion and told the story about this tragic hero just a bit better.
Got to see Guillermo Del Toro and Gael Garcia Bernal introduce their film 'Rudo y Cursi' at the Eccles (see my review). Bernal was hilarious and in person seemed so much like his character in 'Science of Sleep'.
Regrettably I couldn't watch the Q&A - Holly Herrick had an extra ticket for Shorts Program # playing at midnight and there was little time between films. The Shorts program was good overall (see review) and I got to get a HUG from the lead actor from HUG. What a great first film watching day at Sundance!

-Chris

Back to Normal

Sundance Day 2 was much more like what we’ve come to expect in recent years: packed buses, mostly full press screenings, capacity public screenings with overflow desperate for tickets to see a world premiere and catch a glimpse of a star or two. The weather remains gorgeous, apparently warmer than many places back East, with clear sunny days in the high 30s and low 40s dropping to low 20s at night. I’ll take that over the single digits of last year any day.

It was a day of both consistency and surprises. Every film I checked out was definitely worthy, and I couldn’t have had a more diverse lineup. It was nice to see some familiar names in the credits of RUDO Y CURSI, the Gael Garcia Bernal/Diego Luna Mexican brother comedy, as apparently some of the casting was done in Miami since former Enzian staff member and Florida Film Festival vets Mark Mullen and Kimberly Mullen were listed. I had no idea they worked on this recent Sony Classics acquisition.

Oh, and the vomit quotient is back. Whether it tends to be a cyclical thing or just a coincidence with the films I’ve selected, once again barf scenes are cropping up in substantial numbers. From fried chicken binging (PUSH) to blood-barfing on the inside of an astronaut helmet (MOON, always effective with that see-through, windshield effect) to alcohol and God-knows-what during an endurance swim in the Amazon (BIG RIVER MAN), directors love to break out the upchuck for emotional impact time and time again.

-Matthew

My First Day at Sundance

I arrived in Park City on the Arthouse Project Convergence 2009 Tour Bus at about 2pm. We all got special access to NEW FRONTIER ON MAIN - a really innovative art exhibition. It was real cool but I wanted to walk around in the open air so I left after about 45 minutes and saw Andie McDowell walking down the street - my first star sighting. Jordana and Matthew got the industry badges so I didn't get to see Opening Night Film MARY AND MAX (see review from Matthew). I walked around Main Street for over an hour trying to find a veg friendly cafe to no avail. Alicia Conway (her film 'Rite' is at Sundance) and Ben Rock(Production Designer - Blairwitch) crashed with us for the first night. They both worked at Enzian 10 years ago. Jordana and I joined them for Opening Night Party. It was a blast. We met up with some Sponsors who took us to the Vitamin Water After Party - it was 6 miles out of Park City. It was a beautiful house with a lot of stuffed animals (unfortunately). We hung out there for a little - had some Vitamin Water Mojitos and got home about 4am in the morning. It was a great start to my First Sundance Trip!

-Chris

Arthouse Project Convergence

The Sundance Institute inititiaated the Arthouse Project back in 2006 as part of Sundance's 25th anniversary. Enzian Theater is one of the original "14" Arthouse Theaters invited by the Institute to be part of their Arthouse Project. Selection into the Arthouse Project was based on the quality of programming and the level of community engagement of each theater. Since 2006, the original 14 and other select arthouse theaters have met for a Convergence Conference for the few days preceding the Sundance Film Festival. Attendance has grown exponentially in the last few years with about 76 Arthouse operators at the convergence this year.

I represented Enzian this year at the Convergence which was held in downtown Salt Lake City from Tuesday (1/13) through Thursday (1/15). It was a great conference - topics discussed ranged from marketing to surviving the current economic climate to fund raising to alternative distribution to digital exhibition to education. I met some wonderful people - hung out with the Mainers quite a bit. John Cooper, Program Director for Sundance, opened the conference with a great speech. Ted Hope, Peter Broderick and Bob Berney sat on an interesting panel about alternative methods of distribution. Ted Hope (producer of many successful films including 21 grams, Towelhead, Happiness etc) closed out the Convergence with an awesome speech - can't wait to re-read the transcript. Overall I was real pleased with the time I spent at the convergence and the people and connections that were made. Look forward to attending again next year!

-Chris

Review: JOHNNY MAD DOG

JOHNNY MAD DOG (3-Stars): No Good Advice, Butterfly, Chicken Hair, Johnny Mad Dog. These are just some of the names in a band of rebel killers fighting a civil war in an unnamed African nation. Oh, and they’re all kids. Shot in Liberia and incredibly authentic with its cast of convincing young actors and mass mayhem, this is powerful but brutal stuff, well-made and way too unpleasant for mass consumption.

-Matthew

Review: HUMPDAY

HUMPDAY (4-Stars): Can you say bro-mance? The first “buzz” film of the festival, this frequently hilarious comedy is about two old college friends at wildly different points in their lives who are reunited. Ben (Mark Duplass of THE PUFFY CHAIR) has settled down and is ready to start trying to have a baby with his wife, while Andrew (Joshua Leonard, BLAIR WITCH) is an artist-type with no ties who has just returned from Mexico. Andrew’s visit and a night of drunken revelry leads to a mutual dare that neither wants to back down from: as two straight guys, they decide to make a gay porn film as an art project for “Humpfest.” Filled with wonderfully natural performances, awkward silences, and clever dialogue, this one got the first ovation at a press screening so far.

-Matthew

Review: MOON

MOON (3-Stars): The always excellent Sam Rockwell stars in this good looking but derivative philosophical sci-fi film. He plays an astronaut working alone on a lunar mining base, and his only interactions are with his station’s robot computer (voiced by Kevin Spacey) and transmissions from his wife and baby on Earth. As he gets within a couple of weeks of his scheduled return, things start to get a little weird. Throw in some apparitions or hallucinations, a clone or two, and a government conspiracy for good measure, and you’ve got an OK mash-up of 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY and SOLARIS and probably a couple of other titles I can’t think of at the moment.

-Matthew

Review: LOUISE-MICHEL

LOUISE-MICHEL (3-Stars): A jaw-dropping, politically incorrect revenge comedy from France that’s inspired in its lunacy but eventually goes off the rails. The day after getting new smocks and a pep talk about their company’s future, the female work force of a small-town toy company show up to find the whole building’s been cleared out and their employers are nowhere to be found. For revenge they decide to hire a hitman to kill the company owner, but the person they choose isn’t quite what he says he is, nor is the illiterate worker that finds him. Brutally funny in spots, unfortunately the film just can’t sustain its momentum.

-Matthew

Review: MARY AND MAX

MARY AND MAX (5-Stars): Audiences were mixed on this claymation feature from Oscar-winning Australian Adam Elliot (the short, HARVEY KRUMPET) but I loved it. Beautiful, dark, funny, and surprisingly moving, the story follows the 20-year pen pal relationship between a lonely 8-year-old Australian girl with a drunk of a mom and a severely obese, mentally unstable, even lonelier 44-year-old Jewish man living in NYC in the 1970s. The characters are voiced by Toni Collette and an unrecognizable Philip Seymour Hoffman, and their performances are terrific as the ingenious stop-motion animation.

-Matthew

A Quieter Sundance

Well, so far at least. Crowds are definitely smaller, press screenings less packed, and our post-Albertsons shopping cab driver up the hill said she thought hotel occupancy was down by as much as 20%. Main Street was dead yesterday, but Thursday is more like a pre-festival day, and I’ve yet to hit a public screening. But I’m curious to see if this trend continues as the festival heats up.

Major kudos to the festival for the improvements to the dreaded Yarrow Theater. No more Yarrow 2 and no more uncomfortable chairs on risers where you’re screwed if you’re not in the first row. Instead they’ve expanded the main auditorium by going further back (where the 2 used to be) and installed stadium seating with real theater seats—what a nice surprise! And even the pre-show music is improved—I actually heard Kevin Ayers’ “May I” before a film this morning.

-Matthew