Filmmaking - Sundance Journal
Our Sundance correspondent, Seattle filmmaker
Paul Fraser, has just enough time in the numbing
Sundance cold, and mind-numbing Sundance blur, to
snap a few pics and pen some notes from the festival.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Hey Sam,
Supporters for a film called "Len Bias" throng Main Street,
handing out DVDs of their trailer, can't miss them. They've
been on Main Street every time I've been out, since I got
here on the 17th.
I've done my share of film promotion, too, as I shop
my film, "The Battles Of Tim Eyman." I give out DVDs
and posters, to press and distribution people.
Word up - lots of other filmmakers leave promotional
materials in the lobby - and Big Brother Sundance
throws them into the garbage, if they're not in the
festival. Can't blame them - this is business, after all.
Next stop, the Sundance Filmmaker's Lodge, where
I listened to Martin McDonagh, a playwright-turned-
film-director, notorious for his dark comedy writing.
I asked Martin if a film like "Bug," adapted from Tracy Letts's
play of the same name, would have an easier transition to
the screen, since it was a play to begin with? He disagreed,
saying, in his work, he prefers to keep a play a play,
and not try to "turn a dog into a cat."
Really crowded at this event. I had to wait in the
hallway, to get into this old rustic-looking building.
Later, over at the New Frontier, on Main Street...
I sat in on an event called "Avid Presentation:
From Production to Post to Distribution."
Editor Kevin Trent ("Sideways," "The Golden Compass," "Blow")
discussed challenges faced by today's digital Editors, and their
computer systems, such as Avid.
Kevin described how the editing process has been streamlined,
from thirty-odd people working on the editing (on the film "Reds"),
to a single Editor and two Assistants, a total of three.
After I took this picture at the Eccles Theatre,
it started snowing like mad, and I caught the
midnight show of "Just Another Love Story"
at the Holiday Village Cinema.
Another dark love story actually, along the lines of
"Strangers," and Michael Keaton's "The Merry Gentleman."
So dark, the Danish Director (Ole Bornedal) warned us
in advance. It was really an involving and original film.
Three-quarters through, the young woman sitting next to me
lost her nerve, and left, because of its energy and realism.
Who knew the Danes were so dark and moody?
Oh, wait, there's Hamlet.
Made it back to my room, through the snow,
in one piece, without driving off the road.
Talk soon!
Paul
Filmmaking
© 2008 Sam Longoria, All Rights Reserved
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