Go to Sundance or Bust!

To attend our first Sundance Film Festival,my wife and I took a long-deserved “child-free” vacation in Park City in January.

Traffic controllers advised us that the town would be a snarling mess, and the traffic flow control impossible. Probably due to our shrinking economy and the excitement of the Obama Inauguration,luckily, this wasn’t so.

It is very apparent that there is a strong correlation between Hollywood personalities which usually attend Sundance and Hollywood personalities who are invited or feel as if they have to attend the recent history-making Presidential Inauguration.

It was helpful that this was a "quiet" year at Sundance, as it assisted me in learning the ropes, such as how to navigate through the process of obtaining tickets. I think over the course of two weeks at Sundance, I learned 80% of what I need to know in order to achieve the following goals for our next Sundance Festival.:

1) See the films we want to see, including the ones that have “The Buzz”.
2) Obtain the best seats each time.
3)  Score extra tickets in a heart beat.
4) Leave time between movies so you have enough time to eat.
5) Use less money and time taking care of these goals than I did this last year.

A matter of expectations is the Sundance experience really. I do not enjoy waiting in line but sometimes I have to in order to keep my wife happy. The answer I came up with was to join the "Patron Circle." Gaining priority access to the films without standing in line was the real motivation for making our donation to the Sundance Institute,yes, I love to support the arts. For some people acquiring a ticket for their preferred film is extremely important, even if they have to wait in line.

One of the benefits is that we enjoyed several of the movies. Other selections: "Push", a film about abuse that brought tears to my eyes, and left me with a pain in my gut. "Spread" was my wife's choice for underdog of the year; it's an Ashton Kutcher photoplay situated in Hollywood. "Good Hair", a half-amusing, half-serious docudrama by Chris Rock, about an African American woman's search for straight hairdos, and finally, to round out the list there was "500 Days of Summer" -- a romance with a twist: "Man, She's a Dude!"Of her lack of feminine romatic tendencies because of "Man, she's a dude" was the line that sumed up Zoey Deschanel's chracter, as Summer.

Almost daily trips to the Patron Circle Office, to make last minute changes to our ticket selections.

The Bad: Acquisition of these passes does not entitle you to attend any film you choose without a prepaid ticket.

A number of "stinkers" we exited: "Unmade Beds", which seemed to be a story about a teenager who had immoral behavior in the UK, however we were unable to sit through it long enough to understand its message, "The Carter", a look into a man who was truly disqusting who even though he was despicable was able to become successful, the joke was on the public and, shockingly, "Motherhood", a very dull piece that wasted Uma Thurman's awesome talent by putting her into a role that someone would see in a horrible sitcom.

We started our Sundance vacation feeling like total strangers to the scene, even though we own a home in Park City since last spring, but somehow the affair grew familiar and somewhat comfortable after a while.

The Surprising:
Having been on location with movie actors and directors on the stage at question and answer sessions after every movie, as well as sitting in theatres with them during movie screenings. Being accorded five star treatment from the staff of the Patron’s Circle Office. Becoming accustomed to the traffic patterns and boarding a taxi for a ride through the back streets and alleys of Park City. Gate crashing at private parties with a friend of a friend whose been invited; all these moments made us feel as though we were experienced hands at the screen.