Ever been to the Sundance Film Festival?

I believe you should go with the film festival.

Because it will be an experience. Granted it may not be all that incredible but you never know what will happen. Hell ask Nick if it's alright if you covered it for the site if you want to. I don't think he would say no.

You'll probably get to seem some movies most people have yet to see and probably some films no one will ever see. You could also star-watch even if that is kinda small in the life fulfilling department.

But it is up to you. Just know whenever you see that TV in front of you, you will be reminded that you didn't go to Sundance.

A couple of things:
1.) You can always go to Sundance next year, especially if Mom and Dad are still living there.

2.) Sundance is incredibly expensive to play around in, especially if you're planning on seeing lots of films.

3.) Sundance (in my VERY humble opinion) has become incredibly overrated in recent years. I say this by comparing Sundance (full of egocentrics in SUVs) to the Toronto Fest (people who actually ENJOY movies). More and more filmmakers I am familiar with are avoiding Sundance because of the caliber of people who go there. (Read: They no longer go to see the films, they go to be seen)

4.) Any scheduled party by the Sundance organizers will have C-list and No-list celebrities at best. The real celebs are busy with the private parties that we can't get in to.

5.) Material goods are usually more handy than memories.

There are the obvious perks to going to Sundance, so I'm playing devil's advocate here. The only advice I would stand behind to give is that as festivals go, try to get to Toronto in September. I'm not telling you one way or another to go, but it seems if your parents are willing to front the cash for Sundance, you could get an awfully nice TV instead...

Just remember, every time you look at that empty space in your apartment, you'll think about the TV that should be there. </ Jab at CT >

My .02, as always

Good jab...the reverse is always true.

If it is possible go to Slamdance...the answer to Sundance (which was the answer to something or other)

The more I think about it...avoid it. I have been hearing more and more bad things about Sundance the past couple years so maybe you would be better off not going.

TV time.

But wait....what is the TV size?

I think going to Slamdance is a hell of a good idea. It doesn't cost as much, you'll see good films, avoid some of the crap that comes with Sundance, and see good films (again). And maybe the parents can buy the TV, then you can spring for a couple of Slam passes for yourself. Best of both worlds...

for hbaadu, the sundance film fest is stressing.
(for some film screenings , notifications are almost done at the last moment.)
it used to be a prestigious film fest...
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joe catoe wrote a funny article about this, click <a href="http://www.malamute.cc/dogpile/pages/jcatoe/jcatoe_11.htm" target="_blank">Here</a>
I was invited this year,but I refused to go.
(this year,i'm only interested in "irreversible", but i.m.o /it's not worth the trip for only one film.
even the toronto film/ fest is surpassing the sundance film festival now.
(the AFI film fest wasn't very good either)
cannes is still at the top.
same thing with the cognac international thriller fest, Sitges film fest and the fantasy film fest.

here is a list of 159 different film festivals.
click
<a href="http://www.german-cinema.de/links/festivals/festival_list.php" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://www.german-cinema.de/links/festivals/festival_list.php?pos=20" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://www.german-cinema.de/links/festivals/festival_list.php?pos=40" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://www.german-cinema.de/links/festivals/festival_list.php?pos=60" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://www.german-cinema.de/links/festivals/festival_list.php?pos=80" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://www.german-cinema.de/links/festivals/festival_list.php?pos=100" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://www.german-cinema.de/links/festivals/festival_list.php?pos=140" target="_blank">HERE</a>
and <a href="http://www.german-cinema.de/links/festivals/festival_list.php?pos=120" target="_blank">HERE</a>

The one thing to consider as well, is that if you go to Park City you don’t only have to go to Sundance shows. There are so many other fests out there there’s no way you can’t find something playing that sounds worth checking out.

I went out to Park City a few years ago to attend a Slamdance screening of a movie I made, and I was there for a week. You’re basically right…the SUV crowd was there in force. But there’s a lot of regular people there too who are cool, a lot of whom are at the smaller fests. Slamdance still had a large number of the fancy-pants there, but it’s a bigger fest than most. There’s a lot of good stuff that plays out there, and a lot of crap. One of the big misnomers about Sundance is that they play only the expensive Miramax type movies that has big stars, but they played a lot of stuff that you will never see anywhere else, which was not what you think of as a Sundance film, which was cool. If there’s ever an empty slot in your schedule, Slamdance shows groupings of short films during the day, and they had some great ones. So you could always think about going but not buying a big pass to just one fest, but sample them all. I only saw one Sundance film there and I just waited in line and they ended up having seats. But they might not. One thing about the show, and I can’t vouch for the rest of them, but I have never…NEVER seen a movie look as good on the big screen as Donnie Darko, and I didn’t even like the movie that much. The color and crispness was perfect. I don’t know if it was their equipment, or that they were using a first generation film or what, but it was sweet.

There are alss some good panels held at different fests, and a lot of those are free.

For parties, I don’t know how that works with Sundance. They have their official parties, but I don’t know who’s allowed to go or not…major ticket holders, filmmakers, or just anyone…I never tried to get in one since I always went to the official Slamdance parties. Basically, after the third one they’re all exactly the same and kind of a bore. By the end of the week I felt like I didn’t want to go to another party for a long time. If you were to go, a good one to hit is the Tromadance party. They let everyone in and it’s a blast. Although be warned that if you want to get in to any of these parties you might have to wait outside for a bit, and there’s a chance that you might have to wait longer than you’d consider worth it. That’s one nice thing about being there in an offical filmmaker capacity…you get right in, at least as long as it’s a party you’re affiliated with. I never had to wait outside for one.

You’re right, a lot of the good parties are the exclusive ones held away from Park City. I only went to one of those…we were invited to a party being thrown in honor of Piper Perabo, which was funny because when she extended the invite, you could see her publicist get sort of pissed. She had specifically told Piper to only invite stars, and there we were, which is to say, nobody. I’ll admit though, that party was more fun than a number of the regular Park City affairs that I attended. A bunch of people from the Real World were there making asses of themselves, but I didn’t know who they were until afterward when someone told me.

As I see it, Sundance is more business and Slamdance is more of a hang, so I was glad to show there. So if you decided to go and had some open time, it’s a good spot to hit because there are always interesting people to meet, and everyone’s pretty open. Slamdance was showing a short film called the Accountant, which ended up winning an Oscar last year…all of the cast was there and they were really nice, especially the director/star Ray McKinnon, who was the guy who beat up George Clooney in O Brother Where Art Thou? Very personable. And I only wished I had recognized his wife before I left Park City so I could have taken a picture with her…she was the possessed woman from Prince of Darkness.

So I don’t know if that helps or not…my experience there was good, but I was there in a different capacity than just going for the films. But I knew some people there who went just to take in shows, and they had a lot of fun too.

I’d say, if you want to go to a big festival, Park City is the one to hit just because of the variety you’ll find. If you end up not going and still want to, I hear SXSW is good, or Toronto, but I’ve never gone so I don’t know. I almost went back to Park City for the last fest because there was a movie that I directed the action scenes for playing out there, but in the end I didn’t because it’s expensive and I didn’t feel like going out and shilling a picture again. I’d rather just go and hang out. But it was fun, and I might go again next year if I have the time.