The earlier part of Day Six, I caught two films, the Dramatic Competition contender, "Obselidia," and the World Dramatic Category and beautiful, "Contracorriente," which is my favorite film to date of the festival.  Director, Javier Fuentes-Leon's portrayal of a forbidden love story set in a tiny Peruvian village, is haunting, sexy and strikingly photographed.
 
Afterwards, I stopped by The New York Party held in the Park City Museum, where it was strange to be having cocktails amongst ancient mining artifacts.  What was even more surprising was the fact that I met Jim "Shotgun" Kelly, former quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, who apparently has a new career in movie development. The Kodaker's in the crowd were excited about the photo op with Shotgun!
 


 
Kodak has been throwing their famous "Kodak Party" at Sundance for over 10 years at the Riverhorse on Main Street.  It is one of the more popular parties to go to as witnessed by the long line that reaches far down Main Street.  It's a great way to bring filmmakers together to network and catch up with old friends, and have some great food and drink and boogie down to the live sounds of the band, Voodoo Box.  It is traditionally held on the Tuesday night of the festival, which means this is a very long day of both films and socializing!
 


 
Both Sundance and Slamdance filmmakers were in attendance at the Kodak party, along with several representatives from Laser Pacific, cinematographers, and other partners in the industry.
 


 


 


 


 


 
Day Seven marks the beginning of the second half of the festival, ticket packages for the second half begin on Wednesday, and new people from Kodak arrive in to cover the rest of the activities.  By now, the crowds in Park City have cleared out a bit, and it's more about movies than parties.  The die-hards, like myself, continue on.
 
I started the day with the Premiere, "The Romantics"—sort of a "Big Chill" ensemble love story generational comedy, and then went on to host a lunch for FILM INDEPENDENT's Project:Involve fellows at Café Terigo.  Project:Involve is a mentorship program that focuses on minority filmmakers to help with building careers in the film world. "With Project:Involve's Industry Track, we're able to open more doors for filmmakers by increasing diversity in the ranks of the entertainment industry's decision makers" said Josh Welsh, Film Independent's Director of Talent Development. "These are the film leaders of tomorrow, and they will be deciding which writers and directors to represent and hire, which films to buy for release, and how to market cinema in a changing distribution environment."
 


 
 

The days are starting to blend together here in Park City. Concurrent to the festivals, a variety of film organizations hold events in town to encourage people to network and promote their member's projects.  Kodak is a sponsor of both Outfest and Women In Film, and was present at their events to show support to filmmakers.  This morning, I attended Outfest's annual Queer Brunch at the Grubsteak Restaurant, an event that highlights films with lesbian and gay content at both the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals.
 


Sundance and Outfest Progammer, Kim Yutani, addresses the crowd at the Queer Brunch.



 
Producers of the "Four-Faced Liar," Samantha Housman and Louis Runge pose with Maria Lynn of Wolfe Distribution at the Queer Brunch.




Director Javier Fuentes-Leon and Editor Phillip Bartell of "Contracorriente,"enjoy the Queer Brunch.

Meanwhile, over on Main street, Kodak's Michael Zakula, attended the Women In Film panel, "Choosing Artistic Freedom: How Singular Vision Can Lead to Heroic Filmmaking," that included several women filmmakers with projects at Sundance.  He had the honor of presenting a Kodak Film Grant worth 5,000' of Kodak motion picture film stock, to 2010 recipient J.J. Adler, for her work on "New Media," chosen by the jury of WIF educators, filmmakers and artists.

I was off to see "Blue Valentine" at the Eccles theater, a portrait of two people falling in and out of love, starring the captivating Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, shot on Kodak s16mm by Andrij Parakeh.  The performances were remarkable and the filmmaking quite strong, editorially shifting between past and present to show the disintegration of the marriage and how they came to be together.



The cast of "The Runaways" on stage before the film at the Eccles Theater.

Afterwards, I was excited to be at the world premiere of "The Runaways," the true story of Joan Jett's first all-girl rock band, set in the 1970's, also shot on Kodak s16mm film by Benoit Debie.
As a rock and roll movie, shooting s16mm gave the film the gritty look it needed and was also perfect to represent the 70's era.  Totally fun and entertaining, "The Runaways" has been, by far, my favorite film of the festival and quite a guilty pleasure.  Both Joan Jett and Cherie Curie were there, as well as Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning to answer questions about the making of the film.

I was blown away by the visual quality of both films on the big screen, a testament to Kodak's improved Vision3 technology in the super 16mm format.  It's great to see so many selections at this year's festival shot on s16mm, a format that is perfect for the low-budget indie filmmaker.

Day five of Sundance brought, well, more parties and more movies.  And the arrival of my good friend, cinematographer Xavier Grobet, ASC, for the premiere of his film, "Mother and Child," directed by the incredible Rodrigo Garcia.  Before the premiere, I went to see the charming, "Four-Faced Liar," a romantic comedy at Slamdance by the up and coming dynamic duo producing team of Samantha Houser and Louise Runge.  Set in New York City, the film follows a group of 20-somethings that get involved in lies, games and heartbreak.  In between screenings, I stopped by the Technicolor Party at Bacchus Wine Bar to catch up on some industry gossip with Technicolor's Diane Upson and Tim Knapp.  I also ran into the lovely Nancy Schreiber, ASC, who was mingling with other filmmakers.  GLAAD was having a party to celebrate the "Four-Faced Liar," down the street and Film Independent had their annual party to celebrate their Fellow's work in both festivals.  Too many parties, too little time.



Cinematographer, Xavier Grobet, ASC and his agent and I pose before the premiere of"Mother & Child."

I was privileged to be in the company of the filmmakers of "Mother and Child," Rodrigo Garcia's latest film about the story of three women whose pasts intertwine, inform and evolve to reveal their innermost desires.  Rodrigo is a master of writing and directing strong female characters, and both Annette Bening and Naomi Watts deliver with wonderful performances.  "Mother and Child" is a lovely film, complimented by Xavier Grobet's beautiful and transparent cinematography that captured the character's lives and inner psyche without bringing any attention to the camerawork.  Post-screening celebratory drinks with a handful of the cast and crew was held at Jean Louise.


 
Director and former cinematographer, Rodrigo Garcia and I pose before the premiere of his film "Mother and Child."  He strategically lit us for this shot

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It's been a juggle covering both the Slamdance and Sundance Film Festivals this week, between panels, screenings and parties, there isn't much time left to sleep.  On Day Two of the Slamdance Festival, I moderated Kodak's Fireside Chat, "Shooting Film on a Budget: The Advantages of super 16mm."  This was a panel I put together with filmmakers screening 16mm projects in the Sundance Film Festival, all shot on Kodak film.  We engaged in a lively discussion both about the creative and financial reasons of why they chose to shoot s16mm on their projects.




The New York based Safdie Brothers have been able to shoot their last two films on super 16mm with budgets apparently under $150,000.  They are huge proponents of shooting film, and worked with cinematographer, Brett Jutkiewitz on "Daddy Longlegs." Co-director, Josh Safdie loves the discipline that comes with shooting film and the "precious" quality of working with film.  "As filmmakers, isn't that what we are striving for - a precious quality?" I posed the question, 'How do you weigh the decision of what format to shoot as a producer' to Heather Rae, who has produced projects on both digital and film and is at Sundance this year with "The Dry Land." She said, "It really depends what format is best for the project, aesthetically. Every project is different and you have to decide what makes the best sense for the story."  Alex Orlovsky, producer of "Blue Valentine," mentioned that they used both s16mm and the digital on the film to differentiate the past from the present in his movie.

Gavin Kelly, cinematographer of "The Dry Land, said the director had a vision before he was even attached to the project and knew he wanted to shoot s16mm.  He mentioned the format was a great choice because it was non-invasive during the actor's performance, and he was able to follow the characters in a very intimate way.  Cinematographer, Benoit Debie, conducted tests to compare super 16mm and digital before deciding to shoot "The Runaways" on super 16mm.  "The producers wanted to shoot this on the Red, but because it is a period piece set in the 70's, with a very stylized and gritty look, super 16mm, in my mind, was always the best choice for the project."



Later in the day, I saw Nicole Holofcener's new film, "Please Give," at the Eccles Theater, shot by Yaron Orbach on s16mm.  I also caught another film that Benoit Debie has in the Sundance lineup called, "Enter the Void," the new experimental narrative by controversial director, Noe Gaspar, who said he "wanted to make a film that would give you a legal drug experience."  Benoit combined both Kodak 16mm and 35mm film, with CGI techniques to create a psychedelic palate that took you on an incredibly beautiful and cinematic trip.

On Day three of the Sundance film festival, the snow continued to come down on Park City, totaling a 49" accumulation over the last week.  If you weren't taking advantage of the powder in the local mountains, the theater was the second best place to be.


 

I woke up and headed over to the 8:30am screening of "Happythankyoumoreplease," a delightful romantic comedy written and directed by actor Josh Radnor.  Set in NYC, it had a fresh spin on relationships and friendships and straddled the line between feeling mainstream and indie, but at the core focused on the main character's interesting conflict between having to decide what to do with a young boy he found stranded on the subway.  This was definitely a crowd-pleaser.

I then went to see Debra Granik's new film, "Winter's Bone," about a young girl's struggle to take care of her family while her missing father is on the run cooking crystal meth. With outstanding performances, Debra really captured the naturalistic feel and look of this incredibly challenged rural life in the Ozark mountains.

One of the highlights of the day was seeing Jennifer Arnold and Patti Lee's documentary, "A Small Act," about how one Kenyan's man life was changed forever when an anonymous Swedish woman sponsored his primary and secondary education. It is a testament to how one small act of kindness can really make a difference in the world we live in. Lots of buzz around this documentary that has already been picked up by HBO Films.




Later in the evening, I attended "The Runaways" VIP Party and the Joan Jett concert with "Runaways" producer, David Grace.  I have to admit, I was a huge Joan Jett fan growing up, as she was the inspiration for me to pick up and learn how to play guitar.  As a teenager, I embodied her rebellious rock and roll attitude and played her albums over and over again.  Therefore, it was both incredibly nostalgic and wildly entertaining to be front row center to see my childhood idol and musical, punk-rock inspiration rock out just as if it were 20 years ago!  I saw her play several concerts back in the 1980's, but this was the first time she actually sang some classic Runaways tunes that included, "Cherry Bomb," "School Days," and "You Drive Me Wild."  Super, super fun!

After a turbulent flight out of the Los Angeles monsoon yesterday morning, I arrived to Salt Lake City welcomed by an incredibly peaceful vista of the Wasatch mountains, blanketed in several feet of newly fallen snow.  One of my favorite things about attending the Sundance Film Festival is being able to be a world away from the urban sprawl of Hollywood and live in a small mountain town for a week and a half.  Despite the fact that Hollywood literally takes over Park City for 11 days, I am still able to enjoy breathing in the crisp and clean mountain air at 7,000', and watch the quiet snowflakes fall out my condo window onto the beautiful surrounding hills.  The other advantage of the festival being in such a remote location is that it allows filmmakers and industry folks to connect with each other and conduct business in an intimate, personal and unique way.
 
Kodak arrived in Park City and hit the ground running.   After several hours of errands from supermarket runs to the liquor store (for a case of celebratory champagne) to picking up our ticket packages at Sundance Headquarters, the Kodak team was ready to head up to Treasure Mountain for Slamdance's Opening Night event:  "Kodak's Filmmaker Lineup."



Peter Baxter, President and Co-Founder of SLAMDANCE
 
It's been a tradition over the years as part of Kodak's sponsorship with Slamdance, to host a champagne toast at the opening night filmmaker's reception.  Peter Baxter, President and Co-Founder of the Slamdance Film Festival, expressed many kind words of gratitude toward Kodak for their ongoing sponsorship and introduced Kodak's Anne Hubbell, Account Manager Independent and Studio Features in NYC, to say a few words about Kodak's support of the independent filmmaker. After we raised our glasses, the Slamdance filmmakers introduced themselves and gave a description of their film, in an effort to build a community around the filmmakers of Slamdance for the week to come.  Later that evening, Kodak hosted a private dinner at Café Terigo on Main Street, with several of the panelists from the upcoming "Fireside Chat," to be held at Slamdance on Friday, January 22nd.
 

 
This year, opening night at the Sundance Film Festival was a little different. In a break from tradition, Sundance presented one narrative film, ("Howl") a documentary ("Restrepo") and a shorts program as separate screenings to make up Day One. Being busy hosting and toasting filmmakers, I wasn't able to catch any of the films, but tomorrow is another day.  And this, I have to remember, is only Day One.