You`ve seen Sundance film-festival guides before—the ones that tell you where to go, what to see, how to get from Point A to Point B, etc. And they could be useful—assuming that Sundance is a “one-size-fits-all” event.
But it’s not. There are many ways to Sundance, especially for locals. This year, City Weekly’s contributors want their decades of combined festival experience to help potential attendees customize their experience. Interested in heading to Park City just to star-watch? We can hook you up. Are you the true movie buff who wants to see as many movies in Park City as possible? Problem solved. Would you prefer to avoid the mountain altogether and stick to the Salt Lake City screenings? We’re here for you.
City Weekly’s Sundance Survival Guide 2010, like the festival itself, promises something for everyone.
You’ll wonder how you ever got by without us.
The MOVIE BUFF Survival Manual
The PEOPLE WATCHER Survival Manual
The SLC ATTENDEE Survival Manual
The ONE-DAY PARK CITY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE Survival Manual
As someone who has cavorted at Sundance parties, worked for companies that sponsored it for several years and even had the honor of introducing a ground-breaking feature from the podium of the Egyptian Theater one night 20 years ago, I can offer these survival tips: Stay home, for God's sake! Wait to hear what the picks were and go see them when they hit the indie/art theaters. Go RENT the ones that don't get product-purchased by the Weinstein's for national theater-chain release.
You will save yourself a winter pilgrimage that most years makes Frodo trying to take the Ring to the mountain seem like a trip to the local 7-11 in a jet dragster.
Since we participated for several years in the late 80's, when a local tv station or Larry Miller Toyota could sponsor a "day" at the film festival for $10,000, things have gone down hill rapidly.
Who is their right F-cking Mind wants to go stand on one side of Main Street in the freezing cold air and try to spot celebrities on the opposite side who are bundled up to the point that they are unrecognizable and being rushed from location to location. We're not talking the Red Carpet and designer evening gowns, people. "Look! It's Keanu Reeves! It's Keanu Reeves...I think...wait, nope...it's a bartender emptying the trash. Stand down! Stand down! Hey, on your 10! On your 10 o'clock! I think it's Mick Jagger! Oh my God! It's Mick Jagger...WTF is he doing here, anyway?!?! He's not an actor and frankly, I can't stand The Stones. Nevermind! At your six o'clock! Wait for it...wait for it...there she is!!! It's Valerie Bertinelli in a huge, shapeless winter coat and a fur-lined hat and boots made for a 400lb. babooshka! I got a shot of her with my cell phone camera just as she ducked into a car! Wow! This is so-o-o cool!
And if you score party tickets, do you really think the big, big celebs like...Patrick Fugit or Dermitt Macaroni... is going to take you into the corner booth and do anything other than pretend he left his wallet in his other parka and won't you please cover the tab, Cindy? Sorry, I meant Cathy, I meant Cathy!"?
Going to the less busy screening like the one's up at Sundance Resort is great.
To avoid the Park City rush, its good for locals to attend movies in Salt Lake City.