Park City Almost Killed Me (aka Sundance Recap)

To give you a better idea of how far up the house I was
staying in, look how small the houses are behind me.

Hello friends! It's taken me a bit to get into the blog writing mood in order to update you on how my first trip to Sundance went. The minute I got back from Park City on Jan. 25th, I had an early morning meeting with the nice folks over at Vita.mn magazine to begin working on their Hotness Event (more on that later). Needless to say, I was definitely worn out from 5 days of non-stop activity and was feeling a cold coming on (something I seem to catch every time I fly somewhere during the cold months).

So, how shall I sum up Sundance? Well, for starters let me get straight to something I was not anticipating would be such an issue for me: the altitude. Here in MN, we are at an average of about 2000 feet above sea level whereas in Park City, UT the elevation sits at approximately 7000 feet above sea level. That's a huge difference and one I felt almost immediately upon arriving in Salt Lake City. Although my friend/colleague Jim kept warning me about it, I didn't feel I'd be remarkably affected by it as he complained the first night was always the hardest for him to sleep due to the elevation.

A view of the mountains driving away from Salt Lake City.

When I requested our driver drop me off on Main St., I was under the impression it would be an easy 2.5 block walk to the house I was staying in (after looking at a Google map). What I didn't know, was that it was almost a vertical climb up 3 long flights of stairs to get to the house. Eeep! So I grabbed my carry-on and adjusted my shoulder bag and began the journey. By the time I got up the stairs, I was gasping for breath and felt like my lungs were going to explode. The effects of high altitude are similar to being dehydrated coupled with the fact that you have 1/4 less air than you're used to getting. Going down the stairs was easier, but remember it is winter and most of the stairs were snowy and icy (I slipped at the foot of the 2nd set of stairs towards the end of my trip and hit my knee pretty hard). There was one other option if I didn't feel like climbing 300+ steps every night, which was to take the longer route up a street but that proved to be just as exhausting. I eventually found another set of stairs that wasn't as steep and realized the trick was to take it super slow and to stop often to breath deeply. All in all, those stairs kicked my ass! (Check out my video of it at the end of this post)

A shot of Main Street in the early AM hours.

Another unexpected result of the altitude was how painfully dry my eyes got. I wear contacts so my eyes already get less oxygen than normal, but the altitude made them continually water and sting really badly. *sigh* This happened 2 days in and I had to cancel on going to an event and instead had to take a bus to the nearest pharmacy to get special eye drops. My eyes eventually got better, but I had to continue with drinking a lot of water (something I find hard to do for some weird reason) and the eye drops.

Despite all of this, I did manage to have a great time in Park City. I was fortunate to be staying with Graham and his SF Film Society staff and my good friend Annie was also in town from SF. In order to see a lot of films while there, you would have had to register with Sundance by October and purchase a package or individual tickets in advance (or obtain a Press pass). I didn't do either one of those things, so I was more or less wingin' it. Thankfully, I was Graham's plus-one to many of the films and Annie shared an extra ticket with me one afternoon. Jim also got us in to the official after-party to the Tribe Called Quest documentary where The Roots played. It was also his birthday that evening, so it was really fun to be able to celebrate with him. I arrived on Opening Night and didn't see any of the films, but Graham gave me his tickets to the opening night gala and I ended up going with one of his employees Keith. The party wasn't very good, as Graham had warned, but I figured I was there and should go.

Jim and I celebrating his birthday.

Me and Annie heading out that snowy morning to see Circumstance.

Here are the list of films I ended up seeing: The Future by Miranda July (super quirky, original and sometimes really awkward, but overall I liked it), The Bengali Detective by Phil Cox (beautifully shot doc and great doc plot), Another Earth by Mike Cahill (indie sci-fi, interesting story line, good acting, but I wish they would have elaborated more on the "new earth" and it got a bit cheesy in some parts), Lost Kisses by Roberta Torre (Italian film, playful satire about a young girl who claims she can speak to the Madonna -- the film didn't do much for me, I expected some sort of crescendo but never got one), Circumstance by Maryam Keshavarz (my favorite film of Sundance, focuses on teenagers in modern day Iran, incredibly well acted, highly controversial) and I Saw The Devil by Kim Ji-woon (horror at its best -- this movie creeped me out and I could barely watch the grotesque and violent scenes). I wish I could have seen a lot more, but overall I'm lucky I got to see any being I didn't register or have any special pass!

Director Maryam Keshavarz and the two leading actresses from her film Circumstance.

Anyhow, Sundance brings in a lot of people for the festival (an additional 30,000+) which includes celebrities. To be honest, I could care less about them, but it is a little strange knowing they're all around you in a tiny little mountain town. I got hit on twice by Michael Rappoport, in which I was scolded by Jim because I didn't indulge him being he's the director of the Tribe Called Quest doc (which we want for Sound Unseen), ate lunch back to back with Adrienne Grenier (who used to date an old MN friend of mine), crossed paths with Isabella Rossellini one morning on Main St. and saw a glimpse of Oprah Winfrey as she left a bagel shop.

The beautiful and historic Egyptian theater on Main St.

A shot I took one morning of Park City below me while I prepare to walk down the treacherous stairs.

So, my trip to Sundance had it's highs and lows, but I am grateful that I finally experienced it for myself. Although I feel the festival itself has outgrown it's location and at times felt a bit too mainstream, it's nice to know the festival provides a lot of opportunity for filmmakers. And before I forget, the Slamdance Film Festival ("For filmmakers, By filmmakers") happens simultaneously and is headquartered right on Main St. in the Treasure Mountain Inn. I later found out an old MN friend of mine Kii Arens designed their festival poster and program -- I'm surprised I didn't run into him.  Well, that pretty much sums up Sundance 2011 -- the altitude and icy steep stairs about killed me, but I escaped the -27º temps in Minnesota and got to hang out with my friends and see some great films.

Lastly, here's some video footage I compiled of my trip - enjoy!