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Krinsky at Sundance: Arriving in Park City

By Tamara Krinsky


After reading Mike Jones’ Variety post on Wednesday about his amusing shuttle ride experience, I couldn’t help but hope that my arrival at Sundance would yield similar results. Turns out I didn’t even have to wait until I got into my shuttle for my Sundance moments to begin.

Straight off the plane, the baggage carousel came to a dead stop. Despite several rabble rousers who tried to spread rumors of a labor strike (haven’t we had enough of those?), turns out it was just a mechanical glitch. Whilst waiting for the bags to emerge from the dungeon of Salt Lake City International Airport, I bonded with my fellow passengers, a good sampling of Sundance attendees.

Passenger A: A studio exec whose pet project is a nascent documentary festival.
Passenger B: A vendor who inadvertently insulted the producer she sat next to on the plane when she told him she didn’t like ANYTHING about his previous film.
Passenger C: A post-production supervisor who was tagging along with A and B for several days of fun and movies. When he learned I was at the festival covering the non-fiction films, he confided that he actually goes to the theater and pays to see docs. Love that!

Stepped outside into a gorgeous, sunny day with a fantastic view of the mountains. Crisp and chill, but not a complete shock to my thin-blooded LA body.

The airport shuttle ride itself did not disappoint. I had a wonderful reunion with Deliver Us From Evil producer Frank Donner, whom I met at Sundance two years ago when I interviewed him the morning he found out his film had been nominated for an Oscar. He told me about Amy Berg’s latest project (writer/director, Deliver Us From Evil), a film about Benazir Bhutto. Donner himself has several projects in the works.

I like getting to Sundance on Thursday afternoon before the massive crowds hit on Friday. Gives me a chance to get settled in before the madness begins. Of course, this year many are predicting a muted Sundance, which in my mind might not be so bad. A return to focusing on filmmaking? Fewer long lines at parties? Less traffic? Sounds pretty OK to me. We’ll see if it actually happens...stay tuned...