Despite my lack of sleep the night before, my flight to Vegas went smoothly and I was greeted at the airport by a large festival Cadillac and a blast of hot air. Somehow I’d managed to forget that Vegas in June is broiling!

After checking into my room at the Palms, I headed down to festival HQ to the tune of "Pour Some Sugar On Me" blasting over the beeps and blips of the slot machines. I took a brief detour to check out the pool, and felt as though I’d stepped into a spring break movie.

The CineVegas Headquarters is a good place to both gather info and chill. There are the usual press and guest services desks, but there’s also a bar and a ping pong table. I was warmly greeted by  Associate Director of Programming Mike Plante, and ran into several friends who quickly brought me up to speed on the goings-on of the fest so far. Apparently, Britney had showed up the night before.

Big plus for CineVegas...the films actually get shown in real theaters. The Palms Brenden Theatres are a lovely place to watch movies, though I know there was some extra special tweakage done with the projection equipment just for the fest. I caught a small bit of the narrative film South of Heaven, grabbed a Caesar salad at the 24/7 café and headed to my first doc screening of the festival, the charming Hi My Name is Ryan. I quickly caught up with fellow juror Morgan Spurlock and his wife Alex before the lights went down. I’ll write more about the individual films after the awards have been announced.

Post-screening there was a party at the Palms pool – the Concert for Giving, which featured performers from the film Dark Streets, including Bijou Phillips. The event benefitted the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation. Wound down the evening at an afterhours party at a cabana by the pool. Spotted: Karina Longworth, Michael Lerman (Philadelphia & Woodstock Film Festivals), Jeff Abramson (Gen Art), Elvis Mitchell, CineVegas Artisit Director Trevor Groth, among others. When the party closed down at 2:30 a.m. and a small crew when to check out the night club Rain, I headed up to bed. I have at least 3 movies tomorrow for  which I’d actually like to be coherent.

Hi My Name is Ryan.