Sundance Film Festival Day 1

Man, what a day (well, half a day).  The festival officially started at 4 with a cocktail party for special guests. I was among them along with my friend who made this all possible for me.  The drinks and Hors d'oeuvres were flowing in a dark setting (very black) with installation art and films projected onto the walls.  There was one room that had a domed enclosure with video playing on the inside ceiling of undersea coral.  It was interesting but only for a few seconds until I got a little queasy.  Apparently it has that effect on some people and I was one of them.  The Cosmopolitan was nice, though.

There were lots of people with interesting faces, the kind of faces that looked like they belonged to artists or people in the film industry.  I didn't notice anyone famous but someone did point out Christine Lahti.  I looked her up on IMDb and found nothing that I would have seen her in although I do know her name somehow.

Finally we're shuttled to the Eccles Theater for the world premiere of Cherien Dabis' film (in which she also wrote and stars), MAY IN THE SUMMER (2013).  The theater was packed.  I thought I saw Dennis Hopper until I remembered he died a couple of years ago.  That was anticlimactic.  After the film the cast and crew hopped up on stage and did a half hour Q & A.  So that was my very first world premiere.  Neat-O.

That's Bill Pullman second from the right and Dabis in black with the microphone.

We're back in the shuttle buses for dinner, an event called AN ARTIST AT THE TABLE.  The film maker at our table was James Ponsoldt.  The table next to us had Robert Redford (with Nancy Pelosi seated) and the table next to his had Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  Those were the biggest names in attendance.  There were more cocktails and wine before dinner, then the meal and music entertainment by Will Calhoun and Yotam Silberstein.  The whole affair from start to finish lasted a good 7 hours.  I was hoping to go to a party after that but after all of that AND I barely got any sleep the night before I was too bushed to go.  Everyone else in the group crapped out, too.  It wasn't much of a loss as apparently the party would be mostly attended by Sundance volunteers and not by Gordon-Levitt or anyone of that note.  I'm sure I'll hear about it tomorrow how Christopher Walken (who's been spotted here) showed up and did a song and dance routine.

 If it's not obvious, that's Robert Redford.  What a shitty picture that turned out to be.

And here's Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

I do need sleep after not getting much last night.  Tomorrow I'm definitely going to see the premieres of KILL YOUR DARLINGS, DON JON'S ADDICTION (directed and starring Gordon-Levitt) and TWO MOTHERS and hopefully THE SIGHTSEERS.