I am finally fully recovered from the weather and climate of Park City, which had left me with the flu and a sinus headache. Have no fear this film lover did her best to make it to all the films at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival that were on my list. I figured, "How hard can it be to sit in a theater all day?". Well, I found it harder than I thought it would be. I did, however manage to see seventeen films and attended one gala party during my 7 day stay in the mountains of Utah.

We arrived a day early to get our bearings within Park City and Salt Lake City. No, we didn't come to ski the abundance of ski slopes... just the film festival. It's hard to fit twenty films into six short days. On our first evening we just went to check out Park City's bustling (?) Main Street and enjoyed window-shopping in the quaint resort town. We happened to overhear a few locals in a neighborhood restaurant referring to the fesitval goers that were soon to invade their small community as "black coats". Unfortunately, no star sightings occured in town this first day.

Day One - Opening Night in Salt Lake City:

We drove into the city from the hills earlier in the day and went to take in a bit of the local sites. As we wondered and debated about the percentage of Mormons in Salt Lake City, we noticed Starbucks and gas stations with signs declaring "We now serve gourmet coffee". We figured we had to look into this strange phenomena and decided it best to take a tour of Temple Square, the home of the Mormon Temple and the Mormon Tabernacle. We took the tour knowing we would hear alot about Brigham Young and the rudimentary beliefs of the Mormons. The tour was led by pleasant Mormon "sister" from Kenya. Much to the sister's chagrin I brought up the MTV Real World season which had featured the Mormon girl who had attended Brigham Young University and subsequently had been asked to leave the school. She elegantly ducked the questions effectively and continued on with her historical and interesting account of the establishment of the Mormon culture within Salt Lake City and gave a wonderful description and presentation of Temple Square architecture. The tabernacle and its resident pipe organ were amazing to see as well as the Temple across the walkway from it. Even though we had to stop to take a picture of the organ, the tabernacle and the temple, and considering the grand impression this area of Salt Lake had made on me, I don't see this agnostic converting anytime soon.

After departing Salt lake City for a quick rest and some dinner we returned in the evening to Abravanel Hall - an interesting glass building spoting fantastic balconies in both the lobby and theater. There were plenty of cameras and press inside the doors lined up waiting for the stars. We hung out on the balcony waiting to star gaze. They didn't allow us to take pictures but we did have our first Roger Ebert sighting - these would continue throughout the festival. The film for opening night was My First Mister. This was a wonderful film with a great story line, an incredible cast, comedic dream sequences, humor, and above all love. It was wonderful to start the festival with a beautifully touching film. Congratulations to Christine Lahti on her first directorial debut film. The whole theater was in tears and there I was stuck without a single Kleenex!

The opening gala was held next door to the hall in Salt Lake City Art Center. As you entered the building you could look down through the glass and see the cast all in a group hug. There were lines everywhere for food and drinks. The food spread was quite nice with roast beef, but no knives to cut it with, baby scallops, shrimp, assorted cheeses and a dessert table. Unlike the San Francisco International Film Festivals opening and closing gala you had to pay for drinks no sky vodka martinis flowing here or Coppola wine by the bottles full, although soda was free. Stars in attendance: Christine Lahti , Lee Lee Sobieski, Mary Kay Place, and Michael McKean.

I've decided to try to divide the films I saw into categories rather than presenting a day by day account. I don't think that it would be fair to say which were my favorites as whther or not I really enjoyedthe film depended on so many factors such as genre, whether it was a drama, comedy, documentary or even just beautiful cinematographically.

This years program contained two mythical folklore films, Maelstrom and Compassionate Sex. Maelstrom was narrated by a couple of talking fish in a fairy tale like manner. There was amazing scenery with lots of water, and very graphic scenes not for those weak in the stomach. I found it to be rather metaphorical. The beginning of the film deals with life it only seems appropriate to have so much water present - a huge component in life.

Compassionate Sex was a dark comedy about sex, religion, and redemption. The film alternated from black and white to color as the little village where the film took place came alive. The film shows how we all don't choose our fates in life but through community that fate can be made easier to bear. If, you saw Arturo Ripstein's Divine a few years back it had a similar feeling although presented in a much different fashion. This film was more light hearted than dark.

Now, I'll touch on a few films that definitely should be put in the dark humor category. Contenders: Series Seven and Happy Campers. Happy Campers was a delightful surprise screening. Since I have never been to camp I can only live vicariously through the film. There was cute sexual humor throughout the film and it served as a darly comic great new approach to the age old coming of age genre. This film was one of the few that seemed destined to be picked up for distribution eventhough it had no big name actors.

Contenders: Series Seven put a real twist on reality tv. In the wake of tv programming such as Real World, Survivor, Temptation Island, and Big Brother. Contestants are dragged from their homes and are forced to kill their competitors to win the game. They even mentioned before the film to enjoy it as a comedy. It can be pretty scary if you think too much about the film and how something like this could be a just step away from really happening given America's current blood-lust for reality TV programming.

Most people run from foreign films, but I run to them. Two of the filsm we saw were foreign films although still English language films. I said English not American - there is a difference. The other two were Brazilian and one American with some Vietnamese. Three of these films, Princesa, Green Dragon, and Intimacy, touched heavily on family and community both traditional and non-traditional.

I was actually carded to see Intimacy. You had to be twenty-one and believe me it was a compliment because I'll be thirty-five in a few months. Apparently the only reason for being carde for this film was the fact that sex was actually portrayed as real sex on screen and not in ever-so-common 45 second love scene montage. This was Patrice Chereau first English speaking film but it still had a heavy French-film feel to it. The film dealt with marriage and how two strangers just having sex can still affect one another lives on some level. It was by far the most heavy relationship based material in the festival.

Princesa is a film that shows the inside life of a transsexual, her friends, community and family. She falls in love with a man that loves her for who she is and even offers to pay for her operation. In the end the married man goes back to his pregnant wife and Princesa is forced to go back to the friends and life she knows. In both these films the main character realizes that they must put their own feelings aside to help those they love keep to their promises and responsibilities.

Green Dragon is also about community and family and yes there is also infidelity in this film. Like Princesa it's about people coming to a new country and helping each other through the ups and downs. It reminded me a bit of Good Morning Vietnam but that might be due to the fact that the star Forest Whitaker. Forest Whitaker believed so much in the film that he actually produced it. Following the film I met Directors Tony and Timothy Linh Bui as well as one of the stars, Hiep Thi Le (who also starred in Heaven and Earth). This was the only screening in which the director received a standing ovation?

What is a film festival without a giant rock superstar? If, I knew Mick Jagger was going to be in the in attendance at the showing of Enigma I would have sat closer to the front where the stars and directors always seemed to sit. Mick Jagger produced Enigma with Lorna Michaels. If, you like wartime films, beautiful sets, and customs you'll enjoy Enigma. It was a murder mystery with good acting, great sets, interesting dialogue, and breath taking scenes of the English country. The film was even more convincing with a real enigma machine that Mick Jagger told us he acquired through auction at Sotheby's. The story focused on the creytpography specialists set to work on breaking the enigma code during World War Two.

It's hard to find a specific category for each film. Some crossover many levels. One film that I saw was Dark Images. On one level it felt like an art film but it also felt like a suspense thriller. You had a sense that each frame was a picture. A powerful performance by Terrylene, the deaf wife of the film's director, who brought an intense presence to the film. I've never seen John Mellencamp in any other film but if this was his first I think he's found a second calling. I had the pleasure of telling Terrylene she was wonderful on my way back to our car on the shuttle bus. It was incredible to see an actress who could be so commanding on screen without uttering a word. Speaking of women with strong roles brings me to quite a few films a saw in the festival. These films included The Deep End, Lift, Business of Strangers and After Image.

Tilda Swinton gave the best acting performance of the festival in The Deep End. This film focused on the what a parent will do to protect their child and family. The supporting cast was also very strong and included Garon Visnjic (ER) who gave a moment of comic relief as he performs CPR on his victim's father. Once again we get to see beautiful landscapes and lots of water.

Lift is a great look into the life of boosters (professional shoplifters) and what a child will do for the affection of a parent. This provided an interesting view into a world of hidden emotions, human condition and designer labels. The whole cast was there to celebrate the screening of the film. We had the privilege of seeing Elvis Michelle interviewing directors DeMane Davis and Khari Streeter later in the day for IFC.

Business of Strangers was a pure treat. Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles sizzled on the screen together. The dialogue was pure power play and neither of them was giving up anything. The acting was so good you felt like you were watching a play. The script was incredible - never missing a beat. This is also a film that I think will get distribution simply based on the fact that Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles deliver such amazing peformances.

I didn't manage to see a whole documentary - I had to leave early from Rocks at Whiskey Trench. I did manage to see most of the film but had to leave earlier to get to another film I had scheduled. It saddened me to see that as recent as 1990 the Mohawk Indians were facing such prejudice amongst the townspeople surrounding Montreal's Mecier Bridge. This film was a heavy reminder that the Native Americans of this country are still being treated unfair.

The other documentary I attended was Scratch but I could hardly keep my eyes open from sheer exhaustion. It was the last of the festival for me and I had one more film to go and I had seen three. Five films in one day are a tall order when you're fighting the flu.Because of this I can not comment on Scratch although my partner who attended with me really enjoyed the film. I got a couple extra minute sof sleep so that i could venture off to the perfect accompaniment to Scratch.

The last film we attended at the festival was Wave Twisters. We were treated to a sample of scratching by DJ Q-bert prioor to the show. Wave Twisters was a great sci-fi romp with scratching being the script of the film.

Some of the films we intended to see but missed were Chain Camera, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and a panel discussion.

Some talked about films we didn't see were Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Donnie Darko. I am however grateful that i will be able to get a second chance to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the San Francisco International Film Festival this April.

As always there is one painful film in a film festival. This years Most Painful Film Award goes to Beaver Trilogy. The first twenty minutes is kind of humorous but it still stands in my mind as a nice concept that went terribly wrong and went on and on and on and on down the wrong path.

Well, that's my synopsis of the films I saw at the festival. I felt like the outsider being that there was swam of industry people at the festival armed with their cell phones and day planners. For me I just loved being there and being able to watch film and take in different experiences and cultures I wouldn't have access to otherwise.