pcskigal's Blog

The way I see it,Sundance is really three festivals. There's the film part. You go up to Park City have a movie marathon until your butt can take no more, then you take a couple of pain killers and keep watching. With screenings from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. you can be scheduled out the entire time. There's the party part. This is not an all day thing but rather an all night thing starting at around 4 p.m. each day. Every movie has its premiere party; every production company like IndieVest hosts a party, often, companies like Kenneth Cole, Gen Art, and Vitamin Water do it up big- usually at private homes where they can go till 3 a.m. Hence, you are wasted for any of the daytime activities; and then there is the gifting part. Sundance organizers frown on gifting as they see it disrupting the creative process and turning their event into something of a corporate commercial enterprise. Plus, those doing the gifting are outside the sponsor realm. Marketing firms set up "houses", "lounges" and "suites" around Park City and rent out booth space to boutique companies, promising their products exposure from A++ celebrities and media attending Sundance yet they don't give any money back to support the Festival itself.
As I sat next to Jeff Best at the MySpace Cafe in the Sundance Village, I heard him lament about the transformation of his brain child. Best Events took the Town Lift project and turned it into a mini Hollywood gifting village for four years dubbing it the Village at the Lift. After the same number of years of contention with festival organizers, Best caved for the greater good. After all, his number one plan all along was to show support for the film industry and if it helps everyone get along, he's willing to play along.
While we sat munching on scrumptuous burgers, and the paparazzi angled for a better shot of Paris Hilton in the booth behind us, he lamented about the financial hit he took. "I had sponsors in line for this year but when I told them they also had to be official Sundance sponsors (and pay the official pricetag and no gifting allowed) they backed out," he said.
They found other places to go- Fred Segal joined the Village at the Yard and continued their gifting of products you typically see in their store- Retro Brand, Hurley, George Gina and Lucy bags, Undun Denim and more. The usual suspects still turned up on Main but Sundance succeeded in ousting at least their main 'infringer' and captured a prime location at the bottom of Main Street. The ASCAP Music Cafe with live music from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily, bailed on the Star Bar at the top of Main and relocated to the Sundance Village in a giant tent in the middle of the street, Entertainment Weekly took the Crown Royal tent on the plaza for their press junkets and celebrity lounging and MySpace continued to serve up lunch and breakfast daily for celebrities and lucky credential holders while they logged onto cute little red HP laptops and checked Facebook updates.
In order to try to get a little taste of all that is Sundance, I find myself like a chicken with its head cut off; running in all directions, not sure where to go next and just missing someplace I 'should have been.'
I've set small goals for myself. Two suites a day, one movie a day and one party a night. So far so good. And lucky me, each movie has been noteworthy- Moon, Humpday, Max and Mary, September Issue. Both Moon and September Issue had been flukes. I showed up at the theater expecting different films but they had been switched last minute. September Issue about the making of Vogue's Fall Issue impressed me with its storytelling, infusing warmth into Editor Anna Wilson a compact woman with a cold as ice reputation. Moon, with Sam Rockwell, was supposed to be Castaway in space but instead turned out to be a compelling sci fi tale about a man who's last weeks on the moon turn into a nightmare of diabolical discoveries and thoughts on the humanity of man and machine.
Tonight, I'll try to see Adam but not before visiting the Style Lounge. Gotta jet!