On our first day we flew in and were the first ones of our condo group to arrive.We have an awesome room and it is a beautiful condo. We then headed out to pick up our credentials and tickets and to check out the scene and meet up with our fellow condo mates and also my friend Erica. I met Erica in an acting class a couple years back and then she moved to New York. Her parents have a yearly ski trip here that usually coincides with Sundance so, this year we were able to meet up which was very fun! It was good to see her again!
We had dinner at a Mexican place that could not get my order right if their life depended on it. They brought me out three different entrees. None of them were what I ordered but in the end they brought me a veggie burrito. It was a little heavier than I had planned but it was quite good. So, I just took it and kept it. I had to send back to pork dishes that they kept bringing me. It was actually very funny.
The next day we headed out to some parties, but we ended up walking into town which is about a mile in the windy snow. I got wind burn and also quite wet. It made all my eye make up smear down my face and packed itself into my braids. It was in the spikes of Curtis's hair. It was very funny in hindsight but horribly unpleasant at that point in time. So, we ducked into the first warm place we could get to which happened to be Main Street Pizza and Noodle. It's a landmark here and the food is pretty good so, we usually end up there at least once every trip. They have heat lamps in the indoor corridor by the restaurant so why we were able to dry off a bit and warm up while we waited for a table. Once inside we saw my friend Erica again as she was leaving with her dad. That was a nice surprise.
We then went to the NYU Party and the Columbia University Party. NYU was soooo crowded that it wasn't really easy to move or talk to people, but the Columbia party was a real good time complete with blue drinks and some good appetizers. We met some nice people including the director of programming at The Newport Beach Film Festival. She is a very nice lady and we hope to have some films to submit to her in the future!
Then we headed to a movie a friend of ours gave us tickets to. It was called "Vampire". The good things about it were that it was well acted with a good cast and for the most part well shot. The bad things were that it was horribly disturbing. I won't go into detail here but at every film festival we end up somehow seeing a film that makes us feel like we need to shower afterwards to wash it all away. At this festival, THIS was that film. It took us the rest of the night to actually recover from it. It is not a horror movie. It's not about Vampires. It's basically a weird film about serial killers. But not really.
After that we headed home and went into the hot tub. It was nice. Very relaxing. Getting in was tricky though. Ice on bare feet is not a good combo. ;-) But once in it was actually really nice.
Then we headed out to the grocery store to stock up a bit and then we went out to Main Street. We saw the aftermath of a fight. Cops were involved. It was kind of exciting.
The next day was much better weather and we headed out to the Filmmakers Lodge for some coffee and hanging out before going to the Tweet House Sponsored by Cadillac. The Tweet House was awesome. We saw some neat panels, met some awesome people and just in general had a good time. Then the boys were hungry but I had had a lovely sandwich from the filmmakers lodge. It was veggies and cheese and hummus. SO GOOD.
So, they went to get some BBQ (Man food- hahaha) and I went across the way to meet my friend Art and his friends while they watched the Packers/Bears game. Art used to work with me at Disney years ago and is now working for the Montage Hotel. They have a hotel here now and they flew him in from Cali to work the Sundance events. It was great to see him and he just so happened to be sitting next to the editor from Morgan Spurlock's new film "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold". So, I got to meet him and he bought me a drink, which was nice. Then Art and his friend Eric came to meet Curtis across the street and they invited us to come see them at the Montage so on Tuesday we are going to do just that! :)
Next it was back to the Tweet House for a cocktail reception. We met a DJ from LA named Striker and his wife Katie. They were very nice and interested in the documentary. Then we met some other great people! It's just so awesome to meet passionate, talented people while you're here!
Then we went home to get ready for the Fotokem party. This was our fourth time there and it is always a great time! This time they had people doing tinsel in your hair, a green screen photo area, and of course the massages and oxygen bar and the good food and drinks!
Then we had to cab it over to a theater to see the indigenous shorts at midnight. We shared a cab with some really nice guys who made a documentary about Hurricane Katrina. The indiginous shorts were mostly good though a couple didn't really connect with us. Then it was home to collapse.
We got 4 hours of sleep and then it was off to the Shorts Program 2. They were SO good. There was only one that we didn't really care for. The rest were all REALLY good. Then we went home to change and get cleaned up after our morning rush to the shorts program. We spent the rest of the day seeing movies and meeting up with people. We saw the Documentary Shorts Program as well. Those were also very good!
Then we had dinner with our condo mates in the next condo over. It was really good food. Pasta, salad, garlic bread and awesome chocolate chip cookies!
Then we saw the film Benavides Born. It was REALLY good! We both liked it. It was about a poor girl in a hispanic family in a small town in Southern Texas who is accepted into a university but needs a scholarship to go. She tries for a weightlifting scholarship. Apparently in Southern Texas female power lifting is a big thing. Who knew?
The next morning we headed out to the Meet the Documentary Funders Event. That is always a really neat thing. You get to meet the producers and funders for Documentary Channels like Sundance, HBO,PBS and other production companies. We talked to some really great people. It was a successful event for us I think.
Then it was on to check out the Sundance Channel Headquarters House. It was REALLY neat. It was sponsored by the Comsmopolitan Hotel in Vegas. There was a bar, a coffee house, a computer room, a photo booth room, a milk and cookies room and a shoe polishing room! While we were there we saw Kevin Spacey, Simon Baker and Stanley Tucci. We also took photos, had a cocktail, and a cookie.
Then we rushed over to a networking party for bloggers thrown by Doddle. This is a description of them from their twitter page @doddleme "The industry's first mobile international production guide, digital call sheets & more http://www.doddleme.com" It was a great party! We met some awesome people including the writer of a children's book called "I Love You More". Everyone involved in Doddle was really cool and nice. We really enjoyed meeting them and learning about their awesome new site.
Then it was on to see the documentary "Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles". It was REALLY interesting! It's about these tiles that have been mysteriously appearing all around the world with cryptic messages on them. It was fascinating.
Then it was home to get ready to meet my friend Art at the Montage Hotel. It is simply stunning. We had a nice drive up the mountain to get there and our driver told us all about the silver mining history of the area. The hotel is huge and gorgeous of course. We had dinner at their restaurant "Apex". It was SO good. And we had a wonderful wine with dinner. It was a lovely time. We got to catch up with Art and enjoy a lovely fancy meal. Rob Lowe was sitting a couple tables over. When he left he smiled at me. ;-)
Then it was home and back into the hot tub for one last soak! We hung out with our condo mates and new friends Carrie and Evan. It was a nice way to end the evening!
The next morning we packed up, checked out and headed to our last movie. We made a pit stop to get a photo with the Banksy Street Art that is on Main Street.
Then we saw the movie "Here". It was really well acted and beautifully shot, but at times it got a little artsy for artsy's sake and it dragged a bit at those times. Overall we liked it.
Then we checked out the New Frontier very quickly before heading to catch our shuttle to the airport. The shuttle driver was not good and nearly made us late for our flight. It was chaos. That's all I'll say. But we did make it just barely so, that's good. It's very nice to be home. :)
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