Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

I am home now from my second shift at the Sundance Screening Room, which was fairly uneventful. I saw two films today: Winter’s Bone and Please Give, both of which I highly recommend.

Yesterday I drove up to Park City with my friend Marie, and the day was filled with a lot of starts and stops and interesting things and disappointing things and SNOW and then a treacherous white-knuckle drive home that thankfully ended safely. I want to spend more time sharing the details of the last two days, but I am beat. I have a lot to do tomorrow so I can’t afford to skimp on the sleep tonight. My eyes are dry and heavy. My teeth are brushed. My face is washed.

What I’m trying to say is… good night! I’m sure that coffee in the morning will help me recall my weekend adventures in a much more clever and coherent way than I am able to right now.

Last week I got this email from the Sundance Film Festival volunteer manager that made me giddy.

Hi Yvette,

We have a need for a translator one day for two hours, to translate Norwegian, and your application indicated that this would be something you’d be willing to do.  It’s for a film screening with a group of high school students, the Director is seeking assistance for the Q & A session. If this is a skill you feel you have, I’ll send along the details, and we’ll see if it fits in your schedule, too.

My stomach flip-flopped when I read that. The application she referred to was one that I originally completed in 2007 and basically just renew every year without looking at it too closely. I’d forgotten that I put Norwegian down as a language spoken. I probably checked the box for “willing to translate” with a snicker because most Norwegians speak way better English than I speak Norwegian.

I learned Norwegian when I was an exchange student a hundred years ago and have kept it up pretty well via frequent contact with my host family over the years. (My “little sister” is coming to visit again in February, in fact.) Though I was nervous about the prospect of assisting with translation, especially in front of a theater filled with hyper-critical high school students, I said I’d do it. Even when I found out that I needed to be in Park City at 7am.

While waiting for more information, I looked up what Norwegian films were showing this year at the festival. No feature-length ones that I could find, but there are three shorts: The Fight, Little Miss Eyeflap, and Still Birds. That middle one, aka Skylappjenta, is about a Pakistani-Norwegian girl, directed by Iram Haq which is a distinctly non-Norwegian name, and its language is listed as “Norwegian/Urdu.” I guessed the director of that was a Pakistani immigrant who speaks Norwegian but wasn’t great with English.

Unfortunately, I just received the news that the director backed out of the event, so my Norwegian services are no longer needed.

Damn.

I never found out exactly which director was coming, so I’ll probably never know with which director I could have hobnobbed. On the bright side, I don’t have to leave the house at 5:30am on Wednesday.

I will be heading up to the Sundance Resort this evening to work my first box office shift. I get to pick up my volunteer coat and hope that it fits… they hadn’t received the women’s coats yet when I checked in last week. It’s mostly white, so I’m going to have to be very careful not to drink coffee, hot chocolate, or Diet Coke while I’m “in costume.” Because I will spill and/or dirty it up no matter how careful I am.

I’m going to attempt to see as much of HOWL as I can once all of my box office paperwork is done. I doubt I’ll stay late to watch Restrepo—it’s just not something I’m terribly interested in seeing.

Tomorrow morning I’m heading up to Park City with my friend Marie and who knows what we’ll end up seeing. Films, wait-list riots, celebrity nudity… I’ll be tweeting it all. And maybe trying out Twitpic to share some crappy photos. I don’t have an internet-capable phone, but I am set up to receive Twitter direct messages… so please interact away! I mean, interact toward. Me. Er, something.

The drive up to the Sundance resort is more familiar now—I hug each curve against sheer mountainside with less adrenaline and know exactly when my time to turn approaches.  I know where to park and I walk confidently up the nearest steps, where the deserted ticketing area is illuminated by a the low hum of a fluorescent floodlight. It’s cold. I see my breath. No sounds except my own footsteps. I walk past an empty ski rack toward the edge of the light, confidently stepping onto a dimly lit paved path.  I know this place.

Last year when I reported to the Sundance Screening Room for film festival volunteer orientation night, I didn’t really know where I was going. When I could find signposts, they weren’t clear. I was nervous that I was in the wrong place; I didn’t even see any people walking around. I can’t remember if this huge evergreen tree was decorated with lights then, but it was tonight. It made me smile.

I knew exactly where I was going tonight and had no fear of getting lost on the winding paths that lead deeper into the resort. They’re not that long, really. I familiarized myself with them last January and then learned shortcuts and new paths when I volunteered for the Sundance Institute over the summer. Walking familiar paths in the dark on a solitary winter night spreads a sense of peace over me.

The orientation/check-in was pretty straightforward and similar to last year’s, except that I knew some of the people this time. I slipped into easy conversations with fresh faces. At times I felt like a goddamn high school senior, calling out names of people I remembered and waving and chatting about what we’ve been up to since last January.

The group of volunteers at the Sundance resort is tiny and tight-knit in comparison to the number of volunteers at the festival hub in Park City. It was easy to get lost in the crowd when I checked in there for the festival in 2008. Sometimes it’s good to lose yourself in a crowd, but for me, I love the small and informal nature of the festival team at the Sundance resort.

Volunteer check-in tonight meant picking up my “staff volunteer” credentials and information along with a free Sundance 2010 water bottle. There were no women’s jackets (apparently they’re stuck in customs, which I guess means they’re not made in the USA) so I won’t get mine until my first shift next week. They’re mostly off-white (this is not good for my clumsy nature) with red and black accents, sponsored again by Kenneth Cole. They look nice, but instead of having a removable vest as the inner lining, they have zipper-removable sleeves. I predict that will result in lots of lost sleeves around town.

While standing in that haphazard line waiting for my turn, my eyes drifted to the wall of foam-backed photos. Just like last year, the photos were from the summer Sundance Institute. I giggled a geeky giggle when I saw this one of Denis O’Hare:

Because I was there. Sitting right behind the professional photographer when that photo was taken.

Part of my summer volunteer duties, outside of the inglorious lifting and organizing, involved transcribing video notes for Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson as they workshopped a one-man version of the Iliad. It was an exciting, surreal experience that made me catch my breath at times. Even though I saw pieces of the play coming together in person and in video clips, I didn’t understand how powerful it would be when performed on stage. If I am able, I want to see the final version of An Iliad at Seattle Repertory Theater in April/May.

(As an added bonus, Denis and Lisa are both fabulously nice people.)

So, that was my night. Another exciting lead-in to mid-winter Sundance excitement. I’m really looking forward to the next two weeks!

It’s time again for the Sundance Film Festival, where I’ll be volunteering for the third year in a row. This year, I’m going to make sure that I take better advantage of my benefits, i.e. see more movies and spend more time in Park City.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I filled out my first volunteer form back at the close of 2007. It was a stressful time for me personally; a time when I felt isolated and beat down by things that were beyond my control. After two years of living in Utah, I had very few local friends and distancing relationships with old friends. It’s hard to be a left-leaning, non-religious, well-balanced late-twenty-something in the heart of strenuously quirky Mormon Country!

I didn’t blog about it because it was too personal, but it got to a point where I knew I needed to do something. I needed to do something for me. To help get me to a point where I could say that I was enjoying life and not just plodding through it, feeling victimized by all the things that were being thrown at me. The Sundance Film Festival had been on my mental To-Experience checklist since we moved to Utah, and I made the conscious decision to stop dicking around already and start doing.

The future becomes the past so quickly.

Volunteering turned out to be a fantastic decision. I had a blast, and wasn’t sorry at all about sleeping less and even taking a day (was it two?) off work. It rejuvenated my creativity and enabled me to meet a rainbow of people, some of whom I’m still in touch with at least on a Facebook-friends level. It was a great distraction from my stress-points at the time. It tickled my spirit for adventure. It helped me understand that whatever twists and turns are thrown my way, a small step toward living a richer life can go a long way.

The entire festival is over at this point, so you can view all of my photos from Sundance 2009 here. (Of course most of them are nature and environment-related because I couldn’t very well take photos of the movies, could I? Well, technically I could have, but I chose to follow the rules and refrain.) Here’s my recap with some selected photos.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

I had a beautiful morning drive up Provo Canyon to the Sundance Resort Screening Room for another 10am-2pm box office volunteer shift. The first film shown was Barking Water, which people seemed to like but made them cry. I received hands-on box office training while the film was showing, though the process was slowed due to the fact that the festival’s internet connection wasn’t working. I learned that the Sundance Resort, because it’s away from the festival hub of Park City, doesn’t receive as much support as you’d think it would.

Don’t worry, nobody’s bitter about it or anything. Until the snacks run out, that is. Read more…

I want to tell you my exciting stories of Sundance and being a college student again, but it’s about all I can do right now to keep my eyes open. So instead, I give you photos I took a couple days ago. There’s this weather “inversion” that’s hanging over Utah Valley and keeping all the pollution trapped inside, sometimes masquerading as fog but more often it’s a haze that’s clearly visible from higher elevations.

On the plus side, it makes early morning drives very pretty because of all the frost that collects on the trees. The frost disappears mid-morning, leaving the trees a drab winter brown—but then the frost reappears again overnight. It’s fabulously magical and makes it easier to get up on cold winter mornings.

I skipped the Sundance Film Festival volunteer pre-party on Wednesday night because I was exhausted and not up for the long trip to Park City, let alone hanging out with a crowd of a thousand people. I was going to meet up and carpool with my friend Jenny, who I met at last year’s festival, but I bailed on her. We’d been emailing a little and I told her I wasn’t sure about going—and then I declared my final decision via text message. To prove how cool she is, Jenny responded: “Boooooo.   that’s okay, I forgive you.”  I appreciated her unsolicited forgiveness and went to bed early.

Friday morning, after attending classes from 8-10am, I started driving up Provo Canyon into the mountains. I forgot to bring my camera, which is a shame because it was a beautiful day.

As much fun as I had volunteering at the awesome Sundance venue of Egyptian Theatre in Park City last year, I requested shifts at the Sundance Resort this year because it’s a much closer drive. It’s turning out to be a dramatically different festival experience than last year.

The environment itself is extraordinarily low-key. Unlike the Egyptian, which is smack dab in the middle of the busy festival on Main Street in Park City, the Sundance Resort is 45 minutes away from Park City and offers only one theater. A path starts at the base of the mountain, where skiiers and snowboarders line up for the chairlift, and winds past rustic and unadorned resort buildings, outdoor art globes that encourage environmental responsibility, and an in-ground fire pit with benches all around. The wood smoke drifting through the cold, mountain air adds a distinct aroma to the mountain resort ambiance. Bridges cross over a cold, rushing creek, and wooden signposts direct pedestrians at forks in the path. The Screening Room, as it’s aptly called, is a golden-hued wood building nestled among, and mostly obscured by, tall trees.

I walked up the well-worn wooden steps and into the lobby at 10:45am, where I was greeted by a flurry of staff members and volunteers preparing for the kick-off of the first film. Though Park City venues screen five or six films a day during the festival, from 8:30am until after midnight, Sundance screens only four films a day at set times: noon, 3:00pm, 6:00pm, and 9:00pm. I introduced myself to new faces and re-introduced myself to the people I met at the prior week’s training session, picked up my volunteer uniform, then dove right in to on-the-job box office training. Having worked at the front desk of a hotel for four years, the job itself was not a big deal.

People relaxed a little after the first film (Carmo, Hit the Road) started, and that’s when I was able to get to know some of them a little more. It’s exciting to discover new people who live in Utah County, appreciate independent film, and who are not only nice but also swear, watch R-rated movies, and drink wine. As most imports to the heavily Mormon-influenced world of Utah County will tell you, it can be a very difficult and isolating place to live if you are not Part Of The Culture. Hell, I have Mormon friends who grew up elsewhere who agree that it’s a wacked-up place to live. Anyway, it’s just nice to meet new people and not have to dance around Who I Really Am.

The director of the first film, Murilo Pasta, walked into the lobby about halfway through its screening. He gave a big hug and Brazilian besos (kisses on each cheek) to Bonnie, the theater manager, and then came over to the volunteer table and greeted the few of us with warm handshakes and “It’s nice to meet you, [each name here].” Most of the directors I saw last year barely even gave the theater manager the time of day, but Mr. Pasta (tee hee) was obviously a different brand of director. Of course he’s Brazilian, so that may have had something to do with it.

He held a Q&A session with audience after the film, and schmoozed with filmgoers in the lobby afterwards. The “box office” where I was stationed was basically a table by the entrance to the theater, so I had a front row seat to it all. The job is pretty easy—besides taking money and doing some paperwork, I just stood there looking official and answered questions as people asked them.

I had a short shift and was able to stay to watch the 3:00 film, Corazón del Tiempo (“Heart of Time”). Some parts were difficult for me to follow because I’m not familiar at all with the political situation or the Zapatista revolution of rural Chiapas, Mexico, but otherwise I enjoyed it. The rural setting was beautiful and the depiction of the tight-knit community very compelling, but I really loved the relationship between the sun-wrinkled, toothless grandmother and her preteen granddaughter.

I went home after the film and the rest of my night was kind of boring and filled with falling asleep on the couch. I had planned to go up to Park City today, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen since I have a lot to do otherwise. I’ll share more exciting Sundance events as they occur—my next shift is tomorrow morning.

It’s finally Sundance time, and I’m volunteering again this year. The 2009 Sundance Film Festival is now in session in several locations around Northern Utah. Most of the events are occurring in Park City, where I volunteered last year (at the Egyptian Theater). But I live closer to the Sundance Resort where it all started, and managed to snag a box office volunteer spot there. Yay!

Last week I went up there for training and orientation. I’d never visited the Screening Room before, but despite a major lack of signage, it wasn’t too hard to find. It’s a decently sized (but still cozy) theater with under 200 seats. I took the brief tour that was offered, and learned where Robert Redford sits if he chooses to visit. There’s actually a small section of seats that are reserved for “Mr. Redford or any of the Redfords,” so I guess the whole fam gets benefits. Makes sense.

A few minutes later, the group of volunteers was standing in the lobby listening to the theater manager’s spiel. Suddenly, there was a huge noise like what I imagine a pipe bomb sounds like when it goes off, immediately followed by the whole side of the building shaking and threatening to collapse and crush us all. I jumped with the crowd and moved away quickly from the shit-I’m-going-to-die area. Then an avalanche of snow tumbled over the side of the roof (which was visible because that side of the building is all glass or plexiglass) and landed with a muffled *slam* on the ground.

It was just snow. But if anyone had been standing in the particular area at that time, they would probably have needed some medical care. Yikes.

Back to the tour! I also learned that Glenn Close is on the board of directors and attends the festival every year, so the fact that I took her ticket last year at the Egyptian was not really that big of a deal since the odds were pretty good. I never finished the blog entry about that, but I pledge to be a better festival blogger this year.

You can get more juicy, up-to-the-minute Sundance blather on my Twitter feed that I’ll be updating from my phone.

The theater tour also included a brief visit to the projection room, where John the Projectionist told us that it was a very rare projection room because it actually contained equipment to show every type of film from 8mm to high-end digital (including 3D). I was impressed. Granted, I’ve had little exposure to projection rooms since high school. I asked John if I could snap a couple of photos, and he was even nice enough to pose for one!

Here’s one of the older projectors (there were three), with some artfully placed filmstrips. The tour had already moved on, so I didn’t have time to worry about photo composition.

And here’s the new Sony digital projector that sits front and center. The heavenly halo and singing angels surrounding it didn’t come out very well in the photo, so you’ll just have to imagine them.

And then after the tour I went home. I will take more photos and maybe I’ll even find a way to share some of them. I’ll be heading back to Sundance tomorrow morning immediately after my two morning classes, so watch that Twitter feed to find out if I’m caught in any Roof Avalanches. Though I’m guessing that I have a better chance of seeing Glenn Close again.

On my drive up to Park City last Sunday (Jan. 20) for my second volunteer day at Sundance, I thought "Even a gray day in Utah has bits of blue peeking through the clouds."

I wrote it down once I arrived, along with other notes that will form this (late) post about my experience.  Here’s a photo of Highway 189 heading toward Heber, just past Deer Creek State Park.

 (That photo is from Saturday the 26th, because I didn’t have a camera on Sunday the 20th and it was a gray, cloudy day anyway)

It was an uneventful hour-long drive, though it did have some white-knuckle parts because driving through canyons with long drop-offs and looming cliffs with big "Falling Rock" signs have never been a particularly delightful thing for me. Chalk that up to my Midwestern upbringing with only occasional rolling hills and big lakes to worry about.

Once I got into Park City, though, it took me longer than expected to find parking and ride the (free!) bus to Main Street, where I had to walk uphill a ways to find the Egyptian Theatre. The bus stopped for a couple minutes because a tow truck was blocking the road… parking without permission is a serious offense at the festival.  Sundance encourages environmental friendliness at their festival, which ranges from riding free buses (that run in addition to the regular free buses in Park City, paid for by tourism taxes) to recycling stations set up all over the place.  A far cry from what I’ve seen around Utah otherwise, namely that people drive a half block to go to church. Yes, there are Mormon churches within a stone’s throw from each other all over the place, and somehow people still drive their SUVs a block or two, even a half block, every Sunday. What’s the point?

Anyway, back to SFF. I made it to the Egyptian about ten minutes after my scheduled 2:00 shift start, but it wasn’t a big deal. It was cool to walk past the line of people standing outside and show my shiny new volunteer badge at the door to be let in. I was directed to the volunteer supervisor (Shannon) and given the job of "Slasher" for the 3:00 movie. This entailed the easy task of  holding a clipboard and making hash marks to count the number of people entering the theater with passes instead of hard tickets. It was a little more challenging than I thought because of the pace that people were streaming into the theater and my lack of understanding the difference between the passes. I finally figured it out.

I still didn’t really know anyone, but was consumed with taking it all in. I had spent way too much time the day before playing Super Mario Galaxy because I was so excited about the festival… how geeky and fangirlish, I know.  

There’s more to come, but I think I have to split it into another blog entry.  

While I was driving into the mouth of Provo Canyon, I set my camera on top of my steering wheel and took a couple of blind shots. I didn’t get the coolest shots because I needed to put both hands on the wheel at certain times, but here’s a good one (as good as possible through a dirty windshield, anyway).

Beautiful views like these remind me that there are still plenty of good things about living in Utah. The first photo there is from a spot that is about a 20 minute drive from my house.  Here’s another shot on Highway 189 heading toward Heber City. If you look closely, you can see the winding road.

I didn’t really take any other photos, though I wish I’d brought my camera into the private volunteer party. The festival officially starts today, so I should get more action shots next time I go up there. I hear that Albertson’s grocery store is the place for star sightings, since it’s right next door to the ritzy Yarrow Resort where all of the higher-end filmmakers hang out.

But I did take a couple shots of the coat, hat and glove that I was given yesterday to wear as my volunteer uniform. There’s a closeup of the embroidered logo, as well as the secret zip-up panel on the right breast of the coat that will hold a cell phone, notepad, pen and other small stuff for easy access. I have a Canon Powershot camera that is unfortunately too bulky to fit there, but volunteers are discouraged from taking photos while dressed as volunteers, anyway. I’ll have to be a fangirl on my own time in my own coat.