Sundance 2012 – Days 10 & 11

So for the final weekend of Sundance 2012, I took it a bit easy. I had planned to get out to a screening or two, but ended up packing and making sure I could get everything fit into my suitcases.

Now tonight was also our Midnight Team Dinner! It’s always great to take a night when our entire team can sit down, relax and enjoy a meal and hang out sharing stories. I’m blessed and so honored to have predominantly the same men and women fight to come back and work with me year after year. We are truly one amazing family!

Now Saturday nights films were films we has already screened earlier in the festival. Our 9:00 PM screening was ‘This Must Be the Place’ Dir: Paolo Sorrentino, which we screened on Day 7, and our Midnight Screening was ‘Excision’ Dir: Richard Bates, Jr, which we screened on Day 3. One new note I will make is about the short film before ‘Excision’, ‘LAZAROV’ Dir: Nieto. The film did screen before all the screening of ‘Excision’, but I wanted to save the review. The film is look at a secret Soviet program working on reincarnating a dead chicken. It is a very odd look at this experiment that has a hysterically odd outcome. It might only have one camera angle, but it works so perfectly for this interesting film.

The other even that happens on this Saturday night, but because of my shift I never get to attend is the Awards Ceremony and Party. We always look for the list of winning films, not only to if our guesses were correct, but to see what film we would screening on Sunday.

Sunday, my Team’s shift started at 2:00 PM and went until just after 7:00 PM. The 1:30 PM film ‘5 Broken Cameras’ Dir: Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi was the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award Winner! Our 4:30 PM film ‘Teddy Bear’ Dir: Mads Matthiesen was the World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic Winner.

Once ‘Teddy Bear’ was over, that was it… The 2012 Sundance Film Festival had come to an end for the Egyptian Theatre. We packed up our supplies, turned in our keys and said good bye to our home on Main Street!

Until Next Year! Bring on Sundance 2013!

Sundance 2012 – Day 9

OK, so today I was torn about which movie to start my day with. I was interested in seeing the World Documentary Feature ‘The Imposter’ Dir: Bart Layton. But looking at a throwback to my past I went with several members of my Midnight Team to the 8:30 AM screening of ‘Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap’ Dir: Ice-T & Andy Baybutt. It is a look at the history, growth and craft of Rap Music in America from coast to coast. With a soundtrack that brought me back to youth, the film really shows how this predominantly urban music and art form has grown into the mainstay it is today. It was also amazing hearing so many legendary founders of this art form describe its growth from their perspective. I’m so glad I chose to see this film. I would still like to catch ‘The Imposter’ sometime in the future though.

Next, I met up with my Assistant Theatre Manager, Brian Hart, at the Canon EOS HDSLR Storytelling Presentation at the New Frontier at the Yard. The two speakers were Patrick Moreau from Stillmotion in Canada and Shane Hurlbut, ASC, the Cinematographer for the current film ‘Act of Valor’. The presentation/seminar was AMAZINGLY informative about the use of HDSLR Cameras a tool to capture your story in amazing new ways. I learned so much about using these small cameras. I can’t wait to put some of these new tips to use.

After the seminar I made my way home and got ready for my shift. Tonight we had a special sponsor screening at 9:00 of Premiere Category Film ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’ Dir: Lee Toland Krieger. The special screening was for the great people from HP. Our midnight screening is World Cinema Dramatic Competition film ‘Young & Wild’ Dir: Marialy Rivas.

‘Celeste & Jesse Forever’ is a dramatic and sometimes funny look at a young couple struggling with their relationship after their divorce. It’s one of those films that you can see yourself or someone close to you in and immediate relate to what’s going on. And the performance from Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg were superb. It was interesting to see Samberg in a role that wasn’t completely slapstick comedy, and he pulled it off!

‘Young & Wild’ was an interesting mix of religious inference and very open sexuality. It’s an interesting look at a young woman embracing her sexuality, while writing her blog in the form of her own Gospel. I actually didn’t expect it to be as sexually charged as the film really was, but it was an interesting look at a young woman finding herself. It is actually based on a real young woman’s blog, which really makes the story much more intriguing.

OK… This concludes Friday. Only one more Midnight shift, and then Sunday afternoon, where we will close down the Theatre. And I promise not to take so long getting those last two updates written.