We recorded an astounding amount of video whilst in Park City this year – so much, in fact, that we'll still be parcelling some of it out over the next two weeks. So stay tuned, for interviews with Shannyn Sossamon (Wristcutters: A Love Story), Alan Berliner (Wide Awake), and others. In the meantime, here's a guide to the video coverage that we've already posted:
- Is Sundance all about the swag? James sat down with Jono, a professional gift bag artist, to get to the bottom of that very burning question. Jono kindly inspected the one gift bag we managed to collect up to that point, and we thus learned that we weren't going to the right parties.
- We shot a total of four roundatable sessions whilst in Park City, in which we discussed the films, the scene, and the festival at large. In the opening Roundtable, we fittingly discussed the opening film, Friends with Money, starring Jennifer Aniston. Roundtable Two was all about sex: specifically, the missing Katie Holmes sex scene, and the too-twisted-for-buyers sexual subtext of Bob Goldthwait's Stay. Little Miss Sunshine was at the center of biggest sale of the festival, and in Video Roundtable Three, Jason, James and I discuss whether or not Fox Searchlight overpaid for the Steve Carell film. Then, in Video Roundtable Four Managing Editor Kim Voynar joined us for a discussion of the Closing Night Awards, which included honors for Stephanie Daley and Quinceanera. We also discussed the last few films we screened, including Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep, and Alpha Dog, starring Justin Timberlake.
- I had the honor of speaking with Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Festival Director, about his programming process and some of his favorite films at Sundance 2006. Here's a hint: we have one in common.
- Jason moderated a panel on Vlogging, Podcasting and the Right to Free Expression, featuring speakers Susan Buice (Four Eyed Monsters), Mika Salmi (founder of Atom Films), Ken Rutkowski (KenRadio), and SoccerGirl, creator of the wildly popular video podcast. Part 1 and Part 2.
- James interviews Lauren Greenfield, director of the harrowing documentary Thin. Amongst other things, Greenfield discusses the challenge of making a documentary about very sick women with a healthy crew.
- Red Doors didn't play at Sundance this year, but it did play – and win awards – just about everywhere else. Writer-director Georgia Lee served on the Sundance 2006 shorts jury, and she sat down with us to talk about festivals, filmmaking, and the threads dangling in between.
- When director Philip Groening decided he wanted to make a documentary about the Carthusian monks living in the French Alps, the monastary asked him to wait until they were better prepared for an outside visitor. After 15 years, they called Groening up and said, "We're ready." The resulting film, Into Great Silence, won a major award at this year's festival. C.K. Sample talks to Groening about the film, which broke box office records in his native Germany.
