Sundance 1.0: We're Here!

Our first official day at Sundance started about two in the afternoon.  We were bummed that that we had missed our first two scheduled screenings, but we vowed to make the best of it.  We went to the box office to pick up my credentials and our passes and I picked up so other freebies such as a hefty Sundance catalog, a magazine and a water bottle.  Needless to say my bag was pretty heavy, which left me catching my breath (or so I thought).  Then, it dawned on me that it was probably the altitude that was giving me my shortness of breath…ah ha!  And to think I was about to doubt my training!

At festival headquarters (aka: the Marriott)

The first movie we watched was Benavides Born which is about a girl powerlifter trying to get out of her Texas border town by any means necessary.  I thought it was pretty good and as our first Sundance film I learned that it was appropriate to clap at the end of the film during the credits (any other time I think it’s corny, lol) and after the credits there are usually Q&A sessions with the director, screenwriter, actors, etc. 

Since we had a time gap between our two scheduled films we decided we would attempt to get some tickets through the waitlist and the movie we chose was called Flypaper starring Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, just to name a few.  It as directed by Rob Minkoff who also directed The Lion King and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the guys who wrote The Hangover.  How cool is that?

As the Sundance website suggests, getting tickets on the waitlist is a Festival tradition, a rite of passage of sorts.  Basically what you do is two hours before the scheduled screening you pick up a waitlist number.  They you come back about thirty minutes before the movie starts to see if you can get in.  Imagine that—getting numbers simply for the chance of getting into a movie!  But it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, we didn’t have to stay out in the cold for too long (they have heated waiting areas) and we got to know the people waiting around in line around which included film students, housewives, and people from L.A.

The Waitlist!

N. demonstrating things to do while waiting in line!

Anyway, when we got back to the waitlist line to see if we would get in one of the volunteers came out and said that they would be admitting numbers 1-20 in the waitlist.  Being numbers 21 and 22, N. and I were crushed! Fortunately, the guy in front of N. said that two people ahead of him didn’t show up so we were actually in! Yay! We hurried in and caught the introductory remarks by the director, writers, and McDreamy himself!

Patrick Dempsey (not sure if you could tell, but it's him!)

Unfortunately for us, the exhaustion from our travel and lack of sleep got the best of us as we nodded off a couple times during the movie. L I was able to get the gist of it, but I’d like to give the film another shot when I’m not as sleepy/tired.

Inside Eccles Theater (one of our most frequented movie theaters during Sundance)

We finished our day with the Swedish movie Happy, Happy about a lonely housewife who is envious of the “glamorous” neighbors who move in next door, but discovers that her neighbors’ life isn’t all that it is cracked up to be either.  N. and I thoroughly enjoyed it and it ended up winning the award for its category.  After such an exhausting day, we hit the sack…literally!  As soon as we got back to the hotel N. plopped on her bed and passed out. I couldn’t blame her we needed a ton of rest for another long day!