Sundance Recap: Docs and My Drama

This is the last of our live reports from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Cynthia Lopez is P.O.V./AmDoc's Vice President. This festival marked her eighth year attending Sundance. What follows is her personal diary of the high and low points of last week's Sundance Film Festival.

You just never know what's going to happen when you go to Sundance — and this year was no exception. As I shared past experiences with my colleague and first-time attendee Simon Kilmurry, I had no idea of the drama that lay ahead. But before I get to that, I'll start from the beginning.

Thursday, January 17:

We arrived at the Salt Lake City airport without any delays directly from PBS's annual Creative Summit held this year in San Francisco where executive producers, creative directors, marketing people and online producers come together to discuss the latest in best practices, trends in broadcasting, media research and demographic/audience information.

I picked up my industry pass at The Yarrow in record time — thank you Sundance and Cara Mertes! Later, I headed to our hotel, the Copper Bottom Inn, to return phone calls and to finalize plans for the P.O.V. annual party on Sunday.

We ate at Chez Betty, an intimate restaurant owned by Jerry Garcia. No, not the singer. If it's your first time at Sundance, then having a meal there is a must; it's often a site for celebrities, if you're into star-gazing.

Friday, January 18:

7:30 am: Finally, I was on my way to see my first Sundance Docs, a series of shorts at the Prospector Theater. Among them, I had two absolute favorites: Farewell Packets of Ten by director Ken Wardrop and Pilgrimage by Tadashi Nakamura. If you want to quit smoking you have to see these old ladies trying to have a conversation; it's a hoot! It made me laugh so hard; comedy this natural isn't easy to find. Pilgrimage, on the other hand, made me cry — which is difficult for me in 22 minutes! I am not that wound up. The film feels like an Asian hip-hop music video, and explores the tragic history of the Japanese concentration camps in California during World War II.

Read more after the jump...

Watching and Reading: Week of December 14, 2007

WATCHING

Indie Lens Short Film Festival
An eclectic mix of stories and storytelling with this batch of winning shorts. View. Vote. Download.

18 in '08
Nonpartisan doc and movement targeting today's 17- to 24-year-olds, many of whom will be voting in their first presidential election in 2008. Watch trailer.

Frederick Wiseman
Many of Wiseman's documentaries are finally available on DVD for the home market.

YouTube: The Gilmour Boys
What happens when novelist David Gilmour lets his 15-year-old son drop out of school on the condition that they watch three movies a week together? (Via Paper Cuts)

Independent Lens: Sisters in Law In a small courthouse in Cameroon, a tough-minded state prosecutor and court president help women in their village fight abuse.

READING

WireTap: Brother Outsider
Filmmakers talk about how the once untold story of Bayard Rustin is making waves among a new generation of organizers.

Watching and Reading: Week of November 26, 2007

Each week, we'll highlight links from the "Watching" and "Reading" sidebars on the right side of the page.

WATCHING

Michael Moore's Sicko named Best Documentary at the 17th annual Gotham Awards on Tuesday night.

The Webby Awards name 12 "most influential online videos of all time."

Watch daily reports from the International Documentary Film Festival going on this week in Amsterdam, as well as trailers and shorts on IDFA TV.

Check out Wholphin, the new DVD magazine of rare and unseen short films from McSweeney's.

A new documentary about crusader Ralph Nader comes to PBS's Independent Lens in December. Watch the trailer.

READING

University of Florida Blog: This week, the Documentary Institute hosts P.O.V. producer Yance Ford.