[originally posted: 1/26/2017]
Whenever I think of Sundance, I, unfortunately, immediately think of the South Park episode, ‘Chef’s Chocolate Salty Balls’: the Festival is moved to South Park because Park City has become too commercialized and “the influx of all the Hollywood tourists with their health-food diets, has disrupted the ecosystem of the sewer and is making Mr. Hankey deathly ill. I know I have many problems, this is just one of them.
It was a gorgeous 45 minute drive into the mountains:
But, it started snowing as soon as I started seeing signs for Sundance.
By the way, Bonanza is by far the best name for a street that I have ever heard, and if you don’t believe me, listen a couple times to a GPS saying ‘turn right on Bonanza’- it’s really fun.
The roads in the center of Park City/Prospector Square are terribly narrow and even more so with all the vehicles parked on them. With all the slushy snow, blind corners hidden behind snow banks, parking lots advertised to be available that actually were not, and the petrifying fear that I was going to get my eco-box rental stuck, resulting in getting t-boned and ultimately getting myself killed, I could only make right turns and ended up driving in a bunch of circles. But that led to me finding myself at this amazing street corner: “Little Kate Rd” and “Lucky John Dr.” I am easily amused, it seems.
I took a shuttle around the theater loop and walked around the Marc Theater and the Eccles (which, to my embarrassment is pronounced like ‘heckles’, and not at all like the French accent I was using that sounded like ‘eclairs’. Whatever, my way is totally fancier and definitely better). And when I say ‘walked around’, I literally mean I walked around the outside perimeter of the building because no one was getting in just to look around. Something about the security of celebrities, so ridiculous…
I made it out and down the mountain alive! in one piece! and not a single car accident!!
I’m really excited that all of the panel presentations and industry discussions are available to stream at http://www.sundance.org/live, and though I can’t watch the short films yet from this year’s festival, I have been able to access many of the ones from past years. So, while Salt Lake
City is beautiful place to visit and I’m very glad to have participated in this iconic event, in the future, I can experience my annual independent filmmaker spirit recharge from home.
