Sundance 2015. It began with the flight attendant offering me a free bloody Mary on the DL for no apparent reason except to get the party started. Alrighty then!
Park City Events at Sundance
As usual, celebs are in Park City, parties are swinging, and gifting suites line Main Street in Park City, where most of the festival takes place. In terms of the gifting suites, my personal fave (so far) can be found in the basement of Park City Live: Huffington Post runs a nonstop livecast of interviews with film directors and cast members , there are free classes with Pure Barre, makeovers by Birchbox, and free coffee and tea courtesy of Tim Horton. And, the caffeine fix isn’t limited to that suite; as a matter of fact, I counted at least seven coffee pop-up stands in gifting suites on Main Street!
A Walk in the Woods
The grand festivities launched Friday night in fine fashion, with the opening night gala in Salt Lake City honoring the premiere of Robert Redford’s A Walk in the Woods. Based on the wry best-selling Bill Bryson memoir about hiking the Appalachian trail, the film also stars Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, and the seemingly omnipresent Nick Offerman.
Films at Sundance Film Festival
Oh, and it’s Sundance Film Festival, so we can’t forget about the movies. There is widespread buzz about nearly every film on this year’s lineup. There are so many need-to-see films that it is impossible to fit them all in. On Friday alone, multiple movies in competition premiered. I saw the world premiere of James White, an engaging feature from Josh Mond starring Christopher Abbott (Girls) and Cynthia Nixon (Sex in the City). The film received a standing ovation for the first-time director. In addition to being a competition festival, Sundance is also a marketplace for the buying and selling of independent films. Already, some films were picked up — before opening day, even before their premieres!
On Thursday night, YouTube sponsored the party for short filmmakers, treating these future stars to food and drink. At the Stella Artois party commemorating their “Buy a Lady a Drink” charity initiative, stars were spotted posing with the Stella girls. I caught a glimpse of Kellan Lutz (Twilight) and his several bodyguards. Live music abounds, too, as KCRW hosts live performances midday in the center of Park City, directly across the street from ASCAP Music Café and HP Sundance House with their nonstop daytime lineup of performers.
The festival runs through Saturday, January 28 when the awards ceremony ordains the best and most popular films from the previous nine days. Stay tuned for more news from the festival because many of the films go on to nationwide showings and illustrious awards in the months (and years) following their Sundance debut.
Karen Henry is an Associate Editor at LA YOGA who volunteers in a variety of capacities for nonprofit organizations and artists around Los Angeles. She practices yoga as a counterbalance to her daily impact sports and is a mother of four grown children who also practice yoga . Now, she’s working on teaching yoga and joy of life to the grandkids!