I was supposed to be writing this posting from home, but we find ourselves still in Utah at Linda's. During breakfast this morning David excused himself and never returned. When I came up to our room to look for him, I found him balled up on the bed. He said he felt a bit tired so I convinced him to stay in bed and I would return after our morning film. I figured the pace of the festival had finally caught up with him. We had one afternoon film planned before heading to the airport.

The morning had gotten off to a glorious start before that - the first day we awoke to sunshine. This is the view from our bedroom and bed.

I saw I.O.U.S.A. without David, but Linda, Neill, and Julie (another yearly Sundance houseguest) met me there. It was a fine documentary about the fiscal crisis our country is facing - and no one is doing much about. It clearly and easily lays out the causes and situation without being too political - or boring. It was made by the same filmmaker who did one of my favorite movies, WordPlay.

A text and phone message from David had me rushing right home after the film - he had vomited and needed some help. I found the poor guy so weak he couldn't stand, dizzy, shivering, and telling me his heart was racing. It took a while before he could attempt the stairs to the car, but once in we went right to the emergency medical clinic in Park City. Coincidentally one of Nancy's theater volunteers works there and called ahead for us and we got taken in right away.

David was in more agony than I've ever seen him in before. After taking his vitals they hooked him up to an IV drip and stuck a long Q-tip in his nose to determine if he had the flu (he did not). They also gave him some medicine for his nausea, and finally some antibiotics.

He had a chest x-ray which ruled out pnemonia and the doctor said his cough was most likely a light case of bronchitis. Funny, he's hardly coughed at all today. We think because he hasn't been out in the cold air.

Bottom line he was hit hard with a killer GI bug. David is convinced it is food poisoning from a buffalo burger he ate last night. We had ordered it to go from the hotel restaurant where our last film was showing. The order was delayed almost 45 minutes and we were bugging them to hurry up because the film was about to start. Our theory is they rushed the cooking and maybe weren't as thorough as they should have been. Given his weakened immune system from his cough/crud, this wiped him out good.

The good news is he is finally starting to feel better. He slept for quite a while tonight and is now drinking some tea and Gatorade. Feels like his fever finally broke. He's on very powerful antibiotics and we have some anti-nausea medicine as well. And he has Sugar and Amber to help him get recuperate.

Despite today, we had a great festival and hope to go home tomorrow. Thanks to all of you who posted comments and wrote emails asking after David. Sorry we didn't see more celebrities (or ones you know Donna). Julie saw Glenn Close yesterday walking in the Albertson's parking lot. I promise to keep you posted when I see Sundance films get released.

Jessica

What a fabulous festival day we had today! Despite waking up to a bit of a snowstorm, we saw great films and had lots of fun on Main Street. Today was the kind of day we've been hoping for all week.

Some trivia I've been meaning to share - there are over 3500 films submitted to Sundance, and only 125 features are selected.

Our first scheduled movie was at noon so we decided to take it easy this morning and sleep in, giving David a chance to recuperate a bit - I think it worked. We were tempted with free tickets to two films first thing in the morning (which we heard were both fantastic) but decided to pass.

First stop was Albertson's for provisions since there's nowhere on Main Street to pick up a quick lunch or snack, and I knew we'd be there for 8 hours. The Eygptian theater, the festival's flagship, does in fact have an Eygptian theme but no snack bar. It does have a cocktail bar so you can buy a bloody mary to enjoy with your movie. They improvise by bringing in sodas and candy and stuff, but nothing substantial to eat.

Walking up Main St I saw Morgan Spulock coming right towards me. He's alone, no one seems to notice him. For a moment I wasn't sure it was him, but I recall the delightful conversation Alyssia and I had with him on the bus right after Super Size Me debuted and figured it's worth a shout. "Hey Morgan". He immediately makes eye contact, comes over and shakes my hand, he is a truly nice guy. I tell him that I was in the audience for the premiere screening and was offered $100 to sell my ticket; I always suspected to a MacDonald's lawyer. Tonight is Morgan's next big premiere, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? is one of the most sought-after films. It sold out immediately. Nancy begged the theater manager to help us with good wait list numbers, and were politely told to piss off. I suspect it will get distribution easily.

Linda joined us for our first film. Her husband Neill wasn't able to, so I sold his ticket on the bus over to the theater. I had purchased these tickets for them on my pass to ensure we'd have at least one film together. It was an Israeli love story called Strangers, and it was a beautiful and touching story of an Israeli guy and Palestinean woman who meet in Berlin during the World Cup Finals in Germany last year. I won't say any more about this original and creative story because I hope you'll get to see it. The audience went nuts for it. I'm definitely going to put in a plug for it at SIFF. I spoke to the producer after the film and he seemed very interested. Just to tempt you, this is the lead actor, Liron Levo, whom I predict will have a long and successful career.


We had a bit of break between films so we popped across the road to this quasi trade show technology area that the festival sponsors every year. David spent some time taking to the Avid guys, getting some help in figuring out his software. There was a most fascinating "factory" operation on Second Life (a 3D virtual world popularized by The Office - at least to us), where customized jeans are created by Second Life members, and then they are printed on this heavy-duty paper in a huge hp printer, cut into patterns, sewn together, and sold. The jeans won't last long, a few months perhaps, But they look like jeans and the models wearing them said they were comfortable. If you have any desire to look cool to a teenager, check out http://www.secondlife.com/

Film 2 today at the Eygptian was a Danish film called Just Another Love Story - and it was anything but. It had a strong noir influence coupled with a thriller format, wrapped in lots of plot turns. Lots of action too and figuring it out - fast moving but not to confusing - a really fun film exerience.

Me and Davey enjoying Sundance:


Our third film was an interesting bookend to the first film. Called Under the Bombs, its about a mother searching southern Lebanon for her son at the end of the war in 2006. With only 4 actors (everyone else in the film played themselves, - taxi drivers, grieving mothers, kids, journalists) and no story line, this filmmaker starting shooting 2 days after the ceasefire, and miraculously crafted a gripping tale. It wasn't necessarily a political film, it was about how war affectes real people. The filmmaker admitted to being against both Hezbollah and Israel. Deborah joined us for the screening as did Nancy. I so enjoy sharing these films with friends.

We got done about 8pm and the plan was to go for dinner at a new Vietnamese restaurant. Deborah had invited us to the Variety party, she had to go for work. But we bagged both ideas and joined Nancy for a press screening. I've never been to one at Sundance. They are in a totally different venue and not accessible to regular filmgoers like us. She knows the theater manager who was very casual about letting us in. The theater was only half full, an odd sensation after continuous packed screenings.

I was intrigued with the film because of the cast - Maria Bello, Rufus Sewell, Jason Patric. It turned out to be a very disturbing and difficult film to watch - Nancy actually left part way through. We stayed, and I had to look away several times. The main character is deeply wounded, and she has to cut herself to feel alive. She has a horrible marriage and an inept therapist. Then she meets a guy online. Enough said. We were very surprised to learn at the end that the story is based on true events.

We are back at the house now, David just took a whirlpool bath to exorcise his cough (guess we're getting desperate and he's running out of cough drops). We have two final films tomorrow and then home. What is so magical about being here is there no other reality other than Sundance (and possibly the local weather). I've not seen a newspaper or TV in a week, I can hardly recall where I work, and couldn't tell you much about my life right now - its been completely back-burnered as I'm totally immersed in the festival. I'd say it's a sign of a successful vacation.

I'm pleased to report that we saw some celebrities today, but I'll get to that in a moment. We saw 3 films today - two of them decent and one incomprehensible. I'm still hoping for a couple of transcendent, outstanding, memorable movies. Not sure if this isn't as strong a festival as previous years or we just got unlucky in our picks. We've still have 7 more to go and I'm optimistic.

The planning and picking of one's films is a laborious process. Most everyone I know has spreadsheets and lists and spends quite a bit of time figuring it all out. I take in to consideration theater location, travel time, eating time, the parking options, in addition to selecting films that sound interesting for whatever reason.

It always amazes me how things work out once we are here. Today for example, we had a 3 hour break between films 1 and 2. We had a quick lunch at the Albertson's in the same shopping center as our theater (its almost functions as festival HQ), getting Davey some soup and OJ. He's still not better but is holding up well. We may go to the clinic where Nancy knows a nurse practitioner in the morning. Anyway, we then hopped a shuttle up to Main Street in search of celebrities. Here's who we did NOT see but were spotted by others: Jack Black, Dennis Quaid, Sara Jessica Parker, Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church, Bono and U2, Robert Redford, and Al Gore. (De Niro was a no-show this morning, glad we didn't get up early for that).

David and I ambled up and down the main area a couple of times seeing no one. It was a warmish day today (mid-twenties) but decided to ride the Main Street Trolley as a more efficient and warmer way to star spot. We had a perfect view of a second floor balcony where press interviews were being conducted. First we saw Colin Firth; then Dave Chappelle.

I think we'll employ this strategy again tomorrow. We also saw Colin Farrell from the trolley but I couldn't get my camera out quick enough. And some teenage girls we were riding with pointed out Casey Straus from High School Musical. Let me know if you want to see that photo.

After our Main Street jaunt we saw our second film, then hooked up with Nancy and Jeff and Pat who we met last year at Linda's. We had a nice, casual dinner at a pub just outside of Park City (to avoid the crazed crowds) and made it back in time for a 9:30 screening at Eccles - this big performing arts theater that seats 1200. We saw our first premiere tonight, called Incendiary, it stars Michelle Williams and Ewen McGregor, neither of whom showed up. I thought it was pretty good, David wasn't so impressed. It takes place in London after a terrorist bomb hits a soccer stadium.

Our favorite today was a documentary about the Yangtze River and its impact on the folks who fell through the relocation cracks. A beautifully filmed and lovingly told story. Our last film of the day was a Swedish coming-of-age story which was billed as a gentle comedy. There was nothing funny in this movie, in fact it was missing a plot too. We have no idea what was going on. We stayed for the Q&A with the director in hopes of getting some answers, but were told there wouldn't be one because they had to clear the theater for the next screening. So we'll never know.

11:57pm Saturday

Sadly I've no celebrity sightings to report - yet. The closest we got today was passing a place on Main Street where U2 and Bono were supposedly performing. This is our view from across the street. Pitiful, I know. They have a film screening tonight at Ecceles twice, back to back. Never saw that before. Nancy had a ticket and was very, very excited.

Other houseguests of Linda's were on a flight here today with Alan Alda, and they saw Woody Harrelson in town. Tomorrow morning at 8:30am is a screening of Robert De Niro's film and he is supposed to be there. It's at Nancy's theater and she promised I could get up close and personal with before the screening for a photo, but I doubt we'll be up that early. We had a long day today for someone still sick, and should probably sleep in a bit. Poor Davey doesn't seem to be getting well yet, but he's soldiering on. Bruce Willis and Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, John Tuturro, and Stanley Tucci are his costars. I wonder what Sean Penn looks like first thing in the morning.

I suppose one reason we haven't seen many stars is that all 3 of our films today were documentaries, although the third was narrated by Colin Farrell and I thought he might show since he was in the opening night film too.

Film recap

1. doc about Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, focusing on the continued racial segragation of having 2 parallel celebrations. solid film but didn't rock my world.

2. doc about Vanessa Beecroft, a slightly deranged, manipulative, yet highly talented performance artist, goes to Sudan to ostensibly adopt twin orphan babies. Our impression was that she was really directing the film - manipulating the director, and the director was along for the ride. Never really gave us the full scoop on the babies. Disappointing.

Before the third we had a terrific dinner at the best Italian restuarant in Park City, thanks to the generosity of my friend Deborah from Microsoft. Every restaurant is completely booked during the entire festival and its a madhouse scene. Luckily we got in early and the service was fast for a 3-course prie fix meal. The lobby was so jammed when we left it took them 10 minutes (literally!) to find our coats. We then had the use of the Microsoft van to drive us door to door to our next theater. With transportation being the biggest logisitical challenge at the festival, this was like winning the lottery. especially because the cold air is very hard on Dave's lungs. He starts coughing the minute he goes out. The good news is the temperature was above 20 just now.

3. Kicking it - about the Homeless World Cup of Soccer. I know, I never heard of it ever, now I'm going to contribute to them. http://www.homelessworldcup.org/ A great film with a great message. Take homeless lads all over the world, give them a change to do something they love, and see how it improves their lives (i.e. gets them off drugs, gets them into housing, gives them self esteem etc.) The story followed American, Afgani, Kenyan, Russian, Spanish, and Isrish teams in their work up to the big contest in Capetown in 2006. ESPN bought the worldwide rights this evening and plans to distribute it globally.

Random Sundance thoughts- the traffic is worse this year, parking a huge nightmare (I'm so thankful for Nancy's driveway), the crowds in line not as friendly as in years past, a more subdued atmosphere overall. A few films had empty seats, meaning everyone on the wait list got it. That is promising for the few films we'd like to see that way. I thought my blog last year was boring (http://sundancefilmfestival.blogspot.com/) so I'm feeling real pressure to deliver something interesting this year. It wil have to wait until tomorrow - goodnight.

p.s. Juan and Donna - thanks for the comments!

Our first film today was Slingshot Hip Hop - a documentary about Palestinian rappers. I had tough time at the beginning because it is heavily biased against Israel. But once I saw what these young people are trying to achieve for peace, I was able to open myself up and appreciate them. They are not growing up to be terrorists, but rather to share a message of pain - and hope - with their people, and teach young kids there's another way.

The anticipated problems at the screening never materialized but there were definitely a lot of Palestinian sympathizers in the audience. My friend Nancy who is the theater manager said they had brought in extra security just in case.

Our second and final film for the day was a dramatic narrative called Love Comes Lately. David said a more apt title would have been Mr. Magoo Falls in Love. It wasn't very good.

We spent the evening at Linda's having a big Shabbat dinner party. Nancy joined us for for the second time, and we saw some great folks we met last year.

My friend Deborah from Microsoft is here with some customers and gave us some of their unused tickets which fill out our schedule quite nicely. Tomorrow we plan to see 3 films. Hopefully also see come celebrities. Nancy has the list of expected stars and said she'd show it to us tomorrow.

9:45am Friday morning, first full day here

We are here! David and I arrived late Thursday afternoon and our first hint that things are different this year was the 45 minute wait to pick up our rental car. It was madness at the airport - they say 50,000 Sundance visitors are expected coupled with people flying in to ski for the long MLK weekend.

We quickly headed out and up the mountain to Park City. So far this is the coldest Sundance I've experienced, it was in single digits last night and snowing lightly. David is trying to recover from a flu/crud thing and the cold air is not helping his lungs. Couple that with the altitude and the poor guy is working hard to rally. But he's a trooper and excited to be joining me this year.

Our first stop was the supermarket to stock up on supplies - water, lots of water, and some food and snacks. We then picked up dinner at a local restaurant to share with our hosts, Linda and Neill. I drove David down Main Street which is where most of the festival action takes place, to give him a sense of where we'll be the next 5 days. Main Street was pretty quiet last night, the calm before the storm.

This is my second year as a houseguest of my former boss and friend, Linda Brownstein. She and her husband have a magnificent home on the top of Deer Valley. It feels like we are staying at a luxury hotel. We have the "Fall Room" - each room has a theme. We had a lovely dinner with them and had an opportunity to chat and catch up. They have a house full of friends and family arriving today and tomorrow, so this was our only opportunity alone together.

Because the process of buying tickets ahead of time has gotten so difficult and complicated (don't ask!), I was only able to purchase 1 pass. A pass has 20 tickets, so I got tix for 10 films for me and David. Today we only have 1 scheduled, but of course that is not enough so we will wait in line for more. One of the hotter films is a documentary about Palestinian hip hop artists. Conveniently playing this morning at the theater my friend Nancy is the manager of, we just popped in there and got the first two numbers for the wait list. This just about assures us entry as I've never seen everyone with tickets actually show up to any screening.

Nancy says there will be extra security at the screening and it is supposed to be a bit of a zoo. Nothing like jumping right in with a controversial documentary.

So we are waiting and relaxing in the festival lounge. David is having some tea and we are reading the daily festival newspaper. I like it here because all the filmmakers and attendees hang out here and it feels like we're all sharing something wonderful. Plus there's free beverages, lots of publications, and a good buzz.

Welcome to Sundance 2008! My plan is to post to this blog at least daily while at the festival. We arrive Park City on Thursday, January 17 and leave on Tuesday evening, January 22.

If you're interested in the lineup of films this year, go to www.sundance.org/festival where you can read about all the films and shorts and get all the festival info firsthand. You can even buy a t-shirt now online.

I'm very sad my long-time Sundance buddy Alyssia isn't able to join me this year, but happy to report that my husband David will be accompanying me for the first time. My friends Linda and Neill have graciously invited us to stay with them again at their home in Deer Valley. I had such a great time with them last year, I'm sure it will be wonderful again this year.

Signing off until the festival, your intrepid festival reporter,
Jessica