I've heard about Sundance my entire life, who hasn't? Robert Redford's star-studded film festival for the indie crowd. I'm a filmmaker so I have submitted projects to the festival over the years and have never been accepted. I think it was a clerical error, I'm actually sure of it, but just in case, I figured I should go see the types of films and documentaries they pick on purpose, so that I would understand why mine weren't chosen by accident. I was very excited to experience one of the most famous festivals in the world so I did some research, asked around for tips from my Hollywood friends and drove to Utah.
Luckily, a friend of mine has a condo so I had a free place to stay as rooms and even couches can get expensive during the festival. After researching on the Sundance website about how to get tickets, I realized I was too late to buy a package, as those are sold in October and sell out fast. Individual tickets went on sale in January so I set my alarm and was waiting online to buy them as I heard it's nearly impossible to get tickets to the popular films. And by popular, I mean the ones with celebrities in them, as there's a good chance that they will be there to promote it. Celebrity sightings are always fun, but I live in Los Angeles so I wasn't that concerned about seeing famous people.
I clicked on the buy tickets now button at exactly the time they went on sale, but I was put in a waiting queue and about a half hour later was allowed to look for available tickets. There wasn't much left so I just took whatever tickets were available not realizing that most of them weren't even in Park City. The theaters that were easy to get tickets to, just not that easy to actually get to, were in Salt Lake City, Ogden and at the actual place where the festival has it's roots, the Sundance Mountain Resort near Provo. I stayed about fifteen minutes north of Park City so it was about a half hour drive to Salt Lake City and an hour to Ogden and Sundance.
I have been to other film festivals as a filmmaker and I have to say, that it's easier being in the "in" crowd. There are a lot of filmmaker special events and you are invited to parties and screenings. Since it was my first time at Sundance, I tried to focus on watching as many films as I could. I managed to buy tickets for nine films and ended up seeing ten even though I gave away a few tickets (one set to an Uber driver) because I knew I wouldn't make it to the film because of the driving times. One of the great things I discovered was the ewaitlist, which is an online feature where you can try to get tickets at the last minute. You register online (you can even link to a friend so you can sit together) and two hours before the show you click that you want to get a number. I found that as long as I had a number below fifty, I got in because people didn't show or dropped off the list.
To get in the ewaitlist you have to get in line at the theater at least a half hour before the movie starts, but even if you have tickets, a half hour is the minimum time to make sure you get a seat. I was lucky that at a few of the screenings where I was on the ewaitlist, the filmmakers gave me tickets so I didn't have to spend the $20 cash to enter. I was particularly excited to get into a documentary about abortions called "Trapped" that I thought I would never get tickets to, as I had tried to buy tickets to one of the five screenings and failed. There was a police officer there to protect the crowd from any rioters of the film. There were none, it was too cold out.
The thing about Utah is, is that it's freezing and it snowed so the roads were icy. There are shuttles that cart the movie goers around town between the different theaters. Park City should be called No Park City as parking is nonexistent so you should Uber when you see movies there. If you are a skier, the slopes around the festival area are amazing. There are great restaurants and I never felt like it was too crowded, even walking the streets in Park City. There are a lot of different special events that you can attend if you buy a credential for $200. A friend of mine said that he just hangs out in Rock and Reilly's, a bar right downtown, and he meets people and gets invited to parties.
If you have never been to Utah then going to at least one movie at the outskirt theaters is worth it. Ogden is a lovely town and the theater is an old movie house with an even older pipe organ that a man from Oregon came to play before the Norman Lear Documentary started. As a bonus, they gave out Norman's book Even This I get to Experience to everyone in the audience. Salt Lake City is worth a drive because you can see the beautiful State Capitol Building and the architecture of the Mormon Temples. My favorite was going to the Sundance Mountain Resort as the grounds are simply gorgeous and there was a lovely energy of people skiing and watching films.
I'm guessing the theme of this years Sundance was exploring the animalistic side of humans. There was a movie about mermaids that was very erotic and a bit gory. One film titled Wild is about a woman who falls in love with a wolf. My boyfriend was bewildered at every screening we went to, even the more commercial films. I feel that Sundance is a very arty, subtle and sensual festival. Now that I've seen their choices and heard them introduce the films with the standard, "Another film from our alumni," I realize that it's hard to get in the door, but once you're there, you stay. Just make a film that my boyfriend, an electrical engineer, won't get at any level, and you might have a chance! Either way, I'm glad I experienced it and highly recommend Sundance, filmmaker or not.