To those of you who went to Sundance—welcome back to real life! (And for those of you whose flights to the East Coast were canceled…good luck.) We asked some of our staff and Fellows who braved the cold in Park City to recap some of their best of the fest, and this is what they told us! Which films made the biggest impression on you? What Happened, Miss Simone?; Tig; The Overnight; Dope — Stephanie Allain / Los Angeles Film Festival Director 99 Homes, 3 1/2 Minutes, The Tribe, The Stanford Prison Experiment — Eric Lin / Film Independent Fellow, Directing Lab, Fast Track, Grants & Awards / Cinematographer, I Smile Back I only saw seven films. There are so many more I really want to see. I loved Songs My Brothers Taught Me, which we supported through our Artist Development programs, and Sleeping with Other People, which was a refreshingly bold and raunchy rom-com. Rodrigo Garcia’s film, Last Days in the Desert, was strikingly powerful as well. — Jennifer Kushner / Director of Artist Development Unexpected, Cartel Land, It Follows, Results, The Witch, Z for Zachariah. — James Ponsoldt / Film Independent Fellow, Fast Track / Director, The End of the Tour I got to see 17 films and the ones that really stayed with me after I saw them were Tangerine, It Follows, Dope, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, (T)error and Entertainment. — Lee Jameson / Film Education Manager My fellow filmmakers in my screening group, Short Docs 1. Super strong and inspiring. I appreciate the opportunity to share work and ideas with other talented filmmakers. — Topaz Adizes / Film Independent Fellow, Fast Track, Screenwriting Lab / Director, The And, Marcela & Rock Take Me to the River and People, Places, Things —José Tamayo / Coordinator, Institutional Giving & Alumni Relations I didn’t get to see many films this year sadly, but I really did enjoy Diary of a Teenage Girl a lot. I think Bel Powley is incredible. I’d do anything to work with her! — Kyle Patrick Alvarez / Film Independent Fellow, Grants & Awards, Fast Track / Director The Stanford Prison Experiment The Wolfpack — Jenn Wilson / Programmer & Programming Coordinator The saddest part of going to Sundance with your own film is that you barely get to see other films. I was proud that I saw four in four days, but the one I wanted to see most was Nightmare. I have a feeling that would have had the biggest impact. Just hearing people talk about it made a huge impression on me. — Jennifer Arnold / Film Independent Fellow, Fast Track, Grants & Awards / Screenwriter, Tig It’s an utter treat to see a film that has the smarts, style, and energy of Dope—not to mention a breakout star, Shameik Moore, a soundtrack I wanted to replay as soon as I left the theater and strong sense of contemporary social media and pop culture. It’s an instant classic. Diary of a Teenage Girl is one of the few films I’ve seen about a young girl figuring out the boundaries and limitations of her sexuality, as it mixes with her desire, affections and loyalties—all without judgement from the writer/director. — Roya Rastegar, Associate Director, Programming & Curated Content Aside from my own film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Sean Baker’s Tangerine. — Angela Lee / Artist Development Manager / Film Independent Fellow, Producing Lab, Fast Track, Grants & Awards / Producer, Songs My Brothers Taught Me The Hunting Ground—I cried, I was angry, then I cried some more. Hard to watch, but it was an incredibly well crafted doc that has a lasting impression. Also, Sean Baker’s Tangerine was an incredibly fun screening. He shot it on an iPhone 5—what?!?! — Kate Walker D’Angelo / Director of Institutional Giving Eden was the first movie I saw and I was instantly obsessed. The End of the Tour and Z for Zachariah were also standouts. Brooklyn was probably my favorite of the whole festival. — Mary Sollosi / Film Independent Blogger
What was your most memorable moment? Flying on “Birdly” in New Frontier. — Stephanie The premiere of I Smile Back. It was great sharing it with a Sundance audience and seeing that they were really with Laney on her emotional journey. — Eric Running into Elvis Mitchell on the bus and discussing the film we just saw. And getting to go to the cast and crew dinner for I’ll See You in My Dreams. — Jennifer Kushner Celebrating with our cast and crew after our film’s premiere. — James Listening to audience members describe their terrifying personal experiences with sleep paralysis during the Q&A following Rodney Ascher’s documentary The Nightmare. — Lee Meeting and chatting with our Fellows at the Film Independent brunch. The virtual reality stuff was pretty cool too! — José Most memorable moment was certainly getting to represent the film twice onstage at the closing awards night. It was truly overwhelming. Also, not gonna lie about this one, having the guy my ex cheated on me with scurry away in the other direction as soon as he saw me boarding a shuttle, that was particularly memorable! — Kyle The movie Meru got a very long standing ovation. — Jenn Tig Notaro got a standing ovation at the premiere of Tig. This was a film that was very hard to structure and there were times I thought the editors and I wouldn’t pull it off. The moment the audience got on their feet, celebrating Tig and her story, that was the moment I knew we’d been successful. It was a big moment for me. — Jennifer Arnold Sitting down for a meal. It’s such a luxury to step back from the flurry of films, and sit down to break bread with like-minded film nerds, old and new friends. — Roya Emotional standing ovation for the actors in our film at our premiere and final screening. — Angela Being in the audience for three standing ovations for The Hunting Ground. One for the film, one for the filmmakers and another for the victims turned advocates/heroines in the film. — Kate What was the smartest thing you packed? Black silk thermals. — Stephanie Emergen-C and warm boots. — Eric Protein bars. — Jennifer Kushner Wool socks. — James An iPhone battery pack for charging on the go. — Lee Business cards! — José The smartest thing is what I didn’t pack. Park City is nowhere near as cold as everyone makes it out to be. The first time I went to years ago I overloaded on coats. You only need one good coat. That’s it! — Kyle Luna bars. — Jenn I packed an extra battery for my phone. This remote charging thing. It saved me every day. How would I find the best parties without text messages? — Jennifer Arnold Oregano oil + a sinus rinse = my foolproof way of staying healthy. — Roya Spare portable gadget battery. — Angela Advil for that first-day headache and oatmeal for early mornings. — Kate I don’t know if this counts, but getting a gel manicure right before I left. If that doesn’t count, then fingerless gloves, so I could keep my hands warm while still displaying my eternally flawless nail polish. — Mary
What’s the most films you saw in one day? Four. — Stephanie Two—it can be tough to get tickets. — Eric Three. — Jennifer Kushner Six. — James Six. — Lee No films. Spent most of my days at New Frontier. The pieces there blew me away, and I can’t wait to create my own pieces using that technology. — Topaz Four. — José Sadly only two. That’s the only drawback of going there with a film, you don’t really get to watch much. — Kyle Five. — Jenn Two, very poor showing. — Jennifer Arnold Five! One year I saw six. — Roya One movie. — Angela Two—I am mild. Maria Bozzi saw four her first full day here. She is a maniac. — Kate Who was your coolest celebrity sighting? Jeffrey Tambor, because I worked with him 20 years ago. — Stephanie Sarah Silverman. — Eric Spike Lee. — Jennifer Kushner Lily Tomlin—she’s a goddess! — James I’m pretty sure I saw Gaby Hoffman. Tig Notaro is a close second. Love them both. — Lee Keanu Reeves was on my flight. — José Edgar Wright, we got to talk some and he told me nice things about my film. I nearly melted. — Kyle Winona Ryder! — Jenn The lead singer of Skid Row, Sebastian Bach, sat next to me on the plane ride up to Sundance. He is EXACTLY as you would imagine him to be. EXACTLY. Pretty rare Sundance sighting. — Jennifer Arnold Forest Whitaker. He’s a producer on our film, but I’m always in awe every time I meet him. — Angela I walked right past the Duplass brothers on Main Street! — Mary
Any Robert Redford sightings? Nope. — Stephanie Sadly, no. — Eric Yes—he did a Q&A with George Lucas. — James I saw Robert Redford play the VR experience “Birdly” for the first time. That felt like an epic moment. Two worlds literally colliding. Even posted a pic on Instagram 🙂 — Topaz Not this year. 🙁 — José Just at the director’s brunch where he gives his annual speech. — Kyle Sadly, no Robert Redford sightings this year. And my mom even requested I get a photo of him. — Jennifer Arnold Did not see Bob. — Angela Yes, at the opening day press conference! He talked a lot about the importance of changing with the times and Sundance’s commitment to diversity and freedom of expression. He had some great things to say. — Mary Lee Jameson / Film Education Manager and Mary Sollosi / Film Independent Blogger
