sundance

The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing and my brother is headed out to Park City today to visit our dad, go to a bunch of films, and rub elbows with celebrities. Kevin has been six or seven times now and I've been twice, although the years he goes it alone seem to be much more socially fruitful. Case in point: 2009 we were there together and spent our time on the outside looking in, trying to talk our way into parties without a lot of success. Last year I was pregnant so he went by himself and Beach House put him on the guest list for the private party they were playing. Yeah, it's like that.

But I digress. Regardless of which parties you get in, or in my case don't get into, getting to go to the films and stroll around Park City is great. For a celebrity sighting geek like myself it's fun to know at any moment you could literally bump into Ryan Gosling or Amy Poehler or Tilda Swinton, who Kevin saw TWICE last year. (See what I mean?)

Here are some pictures I took in 2008 & 2009, to give you an idea of what it's like:


Old Park City is really charming although only one theater, The Egyptian, is actually on Main Street. The rest are scattered around town in different public buildings. We saw 'Be Kind Rewind' in the city library, for example. You can pre-order tickets in advance for movies but you can also stand in line for them before each show and still have a good chance of getting in.


The Egyptian


I've attended probably 10 films at Sundance now and never do I ever see famous people sitting in the audience in the theater. It's usually people like me who have come out to the festival as a tourist or industry people who all start to look alike after a while. Seriously, I thought I saw Casey Affleck like five times until I realized everyone just looks like him now.








Main Street is a small street that runs through the heart of old Park City. Every store and restaurant is rented out and turned into swag suites or venues for private parties, and most of them have balconies used to film the interviews with celebrities you see on TV. When we're not going to films we spend a lot of time getting coffee at Java Cow, and walking up and down the street people watching.


Here's a typical private party - these girls are trying to spot the celebrities inside who were posing for photos on the other side of the window. (And no, I don't press my nose up against the glass like that. Sheesh! Give me some credit.) There also are a lot of parties at private homes rented in the mountains. If you ever meet my aunt Elaine, ask her about the time she did a shot of Kahlua down a party ice luge at one of those parties. And yes, my aunt Elaine also gets into parties I do not.


When he's not with me, my brother sees people like Justin Timberlake. When he's with me, we see people like Wynonna.


And finally, these credentials were for things like lectures with filmmakers and special exhibits about film. We tried using them to get into the parties. We failed. So instead, we stood outside in front of these banners (because no one else was around, they were all inside at the parties) and posed like the posers we are.

Have fun Kevin and Dad! Hopefully we can join you next year!