SCREENING AT THE EGYPTIAN

Today's screening at the theatre on Main Street was another packed house. A quieter response, but after the show someone told me that our film had made her cry. Which was nice.

I then popped over to the New Frontier artspace on Main, where there was some terrific work on show. Below are some images I captured, and you can read more about it on the Sundance website.





Then lunch with our friend An from Arri - whose cameras we used to shoot the pic, so it felt good to see them up here.

ONLINE INTERVIEW

As part of the Online efforts of the festival, they are broadcasting short clips called SUNDANCE LIVE - interviews, coverage of events - shot here at the festival. We are part of these! I was interviewed early one morning, and am happy that it's at least a little cohesive. Check out:
http://festival.sundance.org/2007/watch/live.aspx

And look for CLIP 12 - there you'll see both Robert Redford and I (and some others) and behind one of the filmmakers, Tze, is our poster!

VW INSIDER

Today we're on the back page of the Daily Sundance Insider... but, very annoyingly they massively edited my entry so it makes no sense at all. Sponsors of the festival or no, I'm cross with VW today. But the picture, thank you Alexa, looks good!

MONDAY

Having not seen any movies for two days, today we saw two: PADRE NUESTRO by Chris Zalla and THE POOL by Chris Smith. Both massive accomplishments, and for me, I've now found my favourite film of the festival. Go and see THE POOL - any chance you get.

In the evening we had the Shorts Party - best food yet, and then onto The Pool Party where we were served Indian Rum and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, bringing together the Milwaukee and Goan themes deliciously.

Celebrity sightings were low for me but Jeremy saw Steve Buscemi and Goose from Grease 2. And I've lost him to Vera Farmigia, whose name he can't say now without sighing. Jenn, much to her excitement, saw Harvey Weinstein. I did see Troma's Toxic Avenger, but didn't know who he was, so not so excited.

THE BEST EMAIL EVER

From my inbox:

Hey, I am a 22 year old aspiring director. I am currently in school, but in my free time all I do is make short films. Anyways, I just watched your film on the sundance website and I wanted to let you know how great I thought it was. I loved your story, thought it was extremely creative. It was also shot very beautifully. I loved the lighting and depth in your shots. I watch a lot of these films online, and I have never felt compelled to email anyone before. Anyways, really nice job. Good luck with your future projects.

Michael Viapian

GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE

Back at the CHASING GHOSTS arcade today, we spent the early evening hanging out with our new friends Mat Kirkby and Miranda. Mat's very funny movie, HARD TO SWALLOW is part of the same shorts programme we're screening in. The computer games are open to all and free, so it's hard not to get sucked in.



This morning, instead of church, we had our 3rd screening of the movie. It went well, and we had a wonderful Q&A with interested audience members. Then onto the Columbia Brunch, with more fried food and mimosas, and tone of the day was set.

Celebrity sightings were up a notch with a brush by Parker Posey on Main Street. Awesome.

COLUMBIA PARTYING PARK CITY STYLE

Today was the Directors Brunch at Mr. Redford's Sundance Resort. I had my hair cut specially and have promised many people pictures of me and Sundance. We rode the bus over an hour up there, and the excitement buzzed around the room full of filmmakers, until Geoff Gilmore announced that Bob is filming and couldn't make it. I have to confess I died a little death.

But it was still fun, and we then went to the Columbia Reception, where we hung out with many colleagues and friends. I've included some pictures below.

Jenn went to our Salt Lake City screening today and tells me it was very successful. Apparently the high school truancy rate in the city is at the highest during these 10 days of the year... but that was good news for us - happy viewers and lots of questions for Jenn. I have no doubt she did us proud down there.



Jeremy on Main Street - see the cinema in the background...



Jenn and Shilpa at the Columbia reception



Hope with our roommate and new friend Andy Blubaugh - also a filmmaker at the festival - on the way back from the brunch. Note how nice the hair looks



Ian Olds and Nanobah Becker with brilliant animator Don Hertzfeldt at the Sundance Resort

SMACK DOWN BY CATHERINE KEENER

After last night's screening of CHICAGO 10 (the opening movie of the Festival) I was in the bathroom washing my hands, listening in to a conversation between some other women who were talking about how much they preferred this year's opening movie to last year's. I wasn't paying much attention, operating on about 2 hours of sleep and no food, but when they tried to remember the name of the movie they couldn't come up with it. So I let them know what it was called. At which point two things happened - first, several of the women left the bathroom, and second, Catherine Keener appeared next to me, and told ME how she's sorry we thought they were all such bitchy whiners in the movie, but that wasn't what they had intended. My mouth full of marbles, I told her that 'No, no! I LOVED the movie!' which, naturally, came out as insincerely as if I hadn't (I did, for the record). It didn't seem worth the effort as she went on to punish me, with a smile, by describing how awful it had felt listening to the conversation in the bathroom. Desperate to prove that I wasn't one of the evil ones, I wanted to keep talking, in case she worked out that noone with my accent was participating in the catty ladies rooom crit. But all I could think to say was how great she was. It wasn't a wonderful moment.

Since then there have been better ones. Today's screening of GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB was amazing - an experience that was only improved listening to director Rory Kennedy talk about politics and the filmmaking behind the documentary. It's an HBO movie, so expect to see it some time soon - and do see it.

Another good one was getting my free Burton coat - it's so warm and so cool all at once. And, best of all, I'm a size small for them, which makes me love it all the more (eating disorder? Maybe. Men's sizes? More likely).

Also the movie is online and has been encoded with great style, so do check it out. Oh - and we saw Ian Olds (BOMB), Nanobah Becker & Danny Carrera (CONVERSION) and Chris Zalla (PADRE NUESTRO) today too, for some class Columbia action. And Crispin Glover for some McFly action. Jeremy's keeping track of the celebrity sightings, so we'll keep you updated.

We had our first screening tonight - at the Prospector - not a tiny venue. And it looked fantastic. The HD transfer shows everyone's work beautifully, and I was proud to be there with our film. The rest of the programme rocked, so it was a good day all around. Now I must sleep.

RELENTLESS DRIVE

We have been chosen as one of the 7 nominees for Volkswagen's Relentless Drive competition!

Excitingly this means we get our story (about the place of music in the film) published on the back cover of the Sundance Daily Insider from January 19th. Volkswagen Owners get to vote on the best story, and the winner gets the use of a Volkswagen Touareg for a year.

For those of you who own Volkswagens, you can join the Owners Club (which seems to have lots of sweet benefits) by calling:1-800 DRIVE VW. Also check out the website at: http://www.vw.com/owners/index.html

This will allow you to vote for our film and help us drive away from the festival in style! We're counting on you!

SCREENINGS

SUNDANCE ONLINE DATE

THE DAWN CHORUS will be available to view ONLINE from 18th January 2007 as part of the Sundance Online Festival.

Check it out at: www.sundance.org/watch