Tuesday Wrap up - and the best photo ever!

Despite our late night Monday, A and I are up at the crack of dawn to make it to a 9am film. We have to make room for travel time, breakfast, and bundling up (all which take a while) so we are up and out of bed before 7. With much difficulty.

We are meeting Ann Ross at the film this morning. She's not only Donna's sister but now a pal of mine too. We were in Italy together last summer and shared a villa. I am mad at myself for forgetting to get a shot of me and Anne in Park City, so here's one of us taken in Florence last June.

Ann is here with her husband Jere who works for Netflix. Every year they have a big offsite in Park City during the festival. So Anne comes along and gets to see movies.

We start with LITTLE RED FLOWERS, a beautiful Chinese film starring about 50 five-year-olds in a boarding kindergarden. The director said of the 15 films he's made, working with so many little kids was the hardest thing he's ever had to do. I loved the film but Alyssia and Ann weren't as crazy about it. It's based on the first third of a very popular Chinese novel. When a child does something good, he or she is rewarded with a little red flower. The story follows one little boy who is quite a handful and doesn't earn any flowers - he's having too much fun breaking all the rules. I think the film is supposed to be representative of Chinese grown ups.

Our next film is called THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET, a fascinating documentary about how Sesame Street is expanding to other countries - and how a kids' TV show is actually a forum for global social change. The film follows producers in Bangladesh, Kosovo, and South Africa and shows what they have to go through to create local programming in these countries. Produced by Jeff Sk0ll, a founder of eBay, he created Participant Productions as way to channel some of his wealth to make socially relevant films. The company is barely 2 years old and they are responsible for MURDERBALL and GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. I'd say the guy's on another winning streak. (We heard an article on the radio driving to the airport today saying this year's festival is very political in terms of the documentaries selected).

Exhausted after our kids themed morning, we sneak back to our hotel for a nap. Then it's on to the Sundance Channel party, compliments of Alyssia's cousin Rob (their EVP and CFO). It's the first time she's had to catch up with him, so I decide to wander the party myself in search of celebrities. In past years we've seen Peter Fonda, Zach Braff, and other notables. But I am not prepared for who I see as I embark on my walkabout.

As I turn into the main part of the restaurant from the front area, I see some cameras and a big video camera. As I stand on my tiptoes to see who's getting all the attention, I am quite surprised to see Robert Redford not 4 feet away from me.

We always hear he keeps a very low profile during the festival. We did catch a glimpse of him at the press conference last Thursday, but I was shocked to see him right in front of me at the party. Turns out he stopped by because it's the 10th anniversary of the Sudance Channel so this party merited his attendance.

After recovering from seeing "Bob", I have no further need to see any other celebrities, figuring it can't get much bigger than that, so I return to Alyssia and Robbie and enjoy a few cocktails.

Our final screening of the festival is called CARGO. A sort of thriller, it's about a young German guy in Africa who loses his passport and stows away on a ship to return home to Europe. Unfortunately he picked the wrong ship as he soon discovers that other stowaways and many of the crew turn up dead. I will say no more now, in hopes that it gets picked up and released and you see it.


Closing down the week was a lovely dinner with an old, old friend and former boss of mine at Atari. Recently reconnected, I was delighted to learn she lives in Park City in the winters. She just returned from Israel yesterday, yet Linda found the time and energy to make a delicious and elegant dinner. We had a blast catching up on the last 10 years.

All in all another great Sundance experience!