The rush, the anticipation...

Feeling a connection that seems inspired

Taking the giant leap once again...  letting myself go...

oh the feeling of being close to somebody i care about

Finally

happiness...

a flurry of swirled images is mostly all that is left... yet I am still disturbed.  How is it possible that i have no real linear recollection of this dream that left me this morning, yet i am still left feeling depressed and alone because of it.

It's strange, kind of weird; I have not had a dream about "us" in a very long time.  I cant even say the word us referencing to the "us" in my fucked up dream thus the quotations.

I remember the one single good, yet bad emotion that still lingers from the dream.  Hugging her, "the other".  The hug made me feel like I was floating, i think in my dream i was floating, but the floating was followed by guilt and desire and self hatred and confusion.  Why after all of this time do I have this dream of something  that now only smells and feels so putrid in the stench of it's long death; especially a death that cannot be buried or truly forgotten, just pushed back.

Maybe it is not dead, yet there is no hope for a revival let alone a resurrection.  But why, after all this time have this dream now, I am left with these feelings, and never have I felt so void.

The "remnance" of that funeral is the only thing I truly love and devote my life to, yet I always feel like I am missing out.  The only reason for my life, could actually live a perfect life without "me".

Thus the dream, I was so afraid of that one fact, that I did everything i could in this dream world to Dr. Frankenstein "us," but there was the matter of "he."  outside of the dream state "he" is well liked by "me" and had nothing to do wth the burning tower of babel that became "us."  The remnance would miss me, but it would fade with time, as has the 14 year old longing for my co-creator, the one, who was stripped and taken too soon.  These memories caused a chan reaction within the dream space that because of the reality of it's emotion strem-lined me into a dark world where truth is even more skewered then in real life.  The feeling of the loss and unrecoverable memories of my past lead me down this hole where my vibrance and essence is gone.

How do i know I have not lost my essence my life my urgency.  How do i know this, when the loneliness is stripping everything away and leaving only madness and this damn dream, damn it all damn it all you figmented piece of my mental instabillity that haunts my innocent slumber.  I hate this dream, yet I cannot help but love, love, love it. 

It takes me back to another time, a place of purity and innocence and ambition, a place i have not returned to since the mysterious disease destroyed "us".  That is a place i long for, but that vile yet vague disease that came in like a slow fever without rest and devoured "us"  but the now, the future, the present makes "us" seem so disgusting, the virus tried to erase the good things "us" had in the past. The good things that i remember when i see the remnance.  In my dream state I could not take this lonely "me" anymore i started to remember, the remnance and the other awoke my senses and that is when the dream begins to fill itself with too much emotion.

The dream conitnues

me, the he, the other, and our remnance all collide in one futile combustion which I could see would not end with the judgement day or the rapture of the "us" but only with the ultimate degredation of all involved, including the all so important remnance, the only thing left of the us, the purity of it.  How could something so innocent be created from something that in retrospect feels so vile and sad.  the us....  yet in the end I knew the remnance could not handle anymore thus I surrendered and knew i would live the rest of my life in sollitude away from the remnance, thus my life would not be worth living anymore.

in reality he and the other and the remnance will share many great memories together.   me, oh me... "me" will just take any experience "me" can get, anything to bring out the shimmer the hope the love and the joy that the remnance creates.  When the remnance is not near things get dark for "me".  Because me does not want to and cannot fathom the new binding powers of "them" and the strong influence them have on the remnance, especialy compared to the poor pathetic state of "me"  

In the end this dream stil haunts my mind, the emotions the actions the stupidity.  I fear i need this dream, this hideous image burned into my mind forever.  It is such a catch 21 for the "me" no matter what he does he will never have the "us" thus the remnance will not be as close.  Thus the images of this dream are important; to help "me" from becoming lost....  but... Shit maybe its already begun, the never ending abyss, the pile of lost hopes and goals wasted, now the question remains... is it possible to start over and live without "us" the feelings i have kept hidden and locked away for all these years, they are now spewing out and I need to lock them away again, before all becomes bleak and dreams, damn dreams, become reality.

the good days...

...when I actually had several or even one invite to actually GO OUT on a friday night

...when everyone I knew was filled with ambition

...when i was filled with ambition

...when I actually felt accepted

...when life was exciting

...when i had a family

...when new friends were so easy to make

...when laughter came frequently

...when i awoke EVERY morning to the giggles of the most beautiful little girl in the world

...when sadness was easily vanquished by a simple phone call

...when my house was filled every weekend with good friends and smiling faces

...when I had so many close friends

...when nothing was more exciting then going to see new bands play with good friends

...when dinner, movies, and fun was a staple

...when my phone actually rang and a friendly voice was on the other line

...when people actually communicated with their voices and not text messages

...when people seemed approachable

will i remember when loneliness was easily remedied and i actually felt love...

better yet....

will I ever feel any of that again.........

Downloading Nancy written by Pamela Cunning and Lee Ross directed by Johan Renck

Frozen River written & directed by Courtney Hunt

Courtney Hunt's debut is an emotional tense and excellently portrayed story about two lonely women who in desperate states begin dangerously smuggling illegal immigrants from Canada into America. This is a perfect example of a shoestring budgeted debut that hits all the right chords and packs one hell of a punch with its subtlety.

Melissa Leo's portrayal of poverty ridden Ray is the highlight of the film. Ray is covered in tattoos and looks like an ex biker mamma who's marriage to a gambling addict has turned her hard, yet her love for her sons is truly evident even in dire circumstances. With her dream home (a doublewide trailer) on the way and no money to pay for it, she becomes desperate for a way to make ends meet and raise her two sons all alone. On a search for her husband who has abandoned the family a few days before Christmas, she finds his car at a gambling parlor on the Mohawk Indian reservation between New York and Canada. She meets Lila, a widowed Native American struggling to cope with the death of her husband as well as the loss of her son to her mother-in-law.

What starts as a feud and gunfire between the two ends up with their quest to smuggle Illegal Immigrants into America from Canada over a frozen river. Based of real accounts with a cast of mostly unknowns or little know actors the lush and desolate images of the iced over river and frozen New York country side paints a picture of despair which matches the 2 leads emotional states perfectly. Wonderfully written and carefully executed the film allows it is open spaces and tight directing to open a place in our hearts for these hardened women and their stories. I was so engulfed in their struggles that I was brought to tears and distress myself watching these women risk their lives to provide for themselves. One sequence particular with a baby left on the ice had me at the edge of my seat, fearing the worst. Their decisions sometimes are rash and not very smart, yet understandable given their circumstances. It is films like this that make Sundance what it is today, the premiere venue for strong, emotional, and important independent cinema.

Roman Pulaski: Wanted and Desired directed by Marina Zenovich

This documentary about the trial and conviction of unlawful sex with a minor committed by famed director Roman Polanski gives a fascinating history lesson as well as a lesson on the power of the media and press to tamper with the judicial system. Wanted and Desired is portrayed with fascinating archival footage of the trial interwoven with clips from Polanski's films and tell all interviews with all the key figures involved. As it touches on the key events of Polanski's life that led up to the crime, as well as the trial itself, we are able to sympathize with Polanski, yet not condone his actions. The facts are simple; he seduced a 13-year-old girl to have sex with him after a photo shoot while drinking wine and taking painkillers. Was it wrong, of course it was, yet after the brutal murder of his wife and unborn child by the Manson family and his European upbringing (which does not look at sex with minors as harshly as we do here in America) we are able to see the crime from his perspective, even if we do not agree with it.

The most fascinating part of the film is the controversy behind the scenes of the over sensationalized trial. We have a Hollywood loving, press hogging judge who for image sake taints the judicial system, as we know it. From interviews by both the Prosecutor and Defense Attorney, we learn that the Judge went as far as scripting out arguments between the lawyers and even asking for advice on Polanski's sentence from friends and reporters. After psychiatric test come back requesting parole, and even the victim and her mother requesting no jail time, a bizarre sentence was given, and served. However, after being released from chino after 42 days of a 90-day prison stay for more psychiatric evaluations, the Judge continues to make unethical decisions concerning the case. Pressured by the media which has pegged Polanski as a member of the occult (going as far as reporting he had a part in his wife's murder) and his own image continues to go after Polanski personally, after the prosecution has even requested time served as enough. With more threats of jail time and continuing humiliation, Polanski flees to Paris never to be seen in America again.

Well portrayed, even if at times it tends to be a bit too favorable towards Polanski, Wanted and Desired leaves a harsh indictment on the judicial system and Hollywood press. Whether you are disgusted by his crime or not, there is no denying the mistreatment of Roman Polanski's right to a fair trial.

Sergeant, First Class Clay Usie, is one of the most successful recruiters in the history of the U.S. Army. He goes to schools, sporting events, and parades searching "to fill the foxholes in Iraq." Belzberg follows him and four of his recruits over a year and a half on a quest to allow the soldiers to tell their story without bias or agenda. It is actually quite refreshing to find a documentary about the soldiers and military in America during the war in Iraq that has no political motives. As Belzberg stays neutral, she allows for us as viewers to come to our own conclusions based solely on the words and actions of the subjects.

At times, the film loses focus and does meander from subject to subject, yet it is captivating in its honesty. Some truths are shocking, for example, Army recruiters during weekly evaluations refer to their recruits as sales, and admit to using sales tactics to win over the youth of America who are targeted as sales leads, and easily sold. Yet there is no question the recruiters, especially Sergeant Usie, care about the Army, and in their own ways love and respect each of their recruits, as they become part of what they believe to be a powerful and unified group, The United States Army.

The tactics and training procedures, which can be cruel and inhumane, is no fault of the recruiters themselves who are just passionate about their cause and following orders from the governing military. If there is one fluently agreed upon theme from the film, it is that the military and the government need a major reform to ensure better treatment of these brave men and women. There is no denying that. There is also no denying that the soldiers themselves are completely motivated to the fight for freedom, each for different reasons, yet all stand as true examples of patriots. Whether we agree with their lifestyle's or their choices, there is no doubt that each of them are striving their best to both find themselves and serve their country however they feel necessary. The only question is why these determined young men and women not guided and led better by the military organization that is sending them to fight.

The best thing about this film is it could be seen and appreciated by both conservatives and liberals as a touching and truthful ode to the men and women who defend America by giving up so much of themselves for what they see as the greater good.

I just happened to catch two Sundance film screenings involving young soldiers preparing to go to Iraq. This narrative feature is definitely the standout of the two. Nick Cannon plays Mike, a Marine just finished with basic training that has 96 hours of leave for Thanksgiving before being deported to Iraq. On his bus ride home, after being surrounded by men for 7 months in basic training, Mike meets and instantly falls for Cristina (Melonie Diaz) a beautiful college student on her way home for the holiday as well. They converse and find they both are from Bakersfield, and the chemistry between the two is electric. Both Cannon and Diaz give the performances of their young careers as star struck lovers who must put their newfound love on hold.

As Mike returns home, his motivation for joining the military becomes coherent. Mike has a step father he hates, friends who do nothing but get high, party and sell drugs, a father who is cold, a mother who is too busy, and an environment he knows will do nothing but stifle his growth. The military seemed like the easy way out and the only way to college and a career (especially now after seeing the recruiter I am sure he was won over by their government imposed sales tactics).

A standout performance by Matt O'Leary as Mike's drug dealing best friend Jake is one worthy of recognition. After Mike leaves for the military Jake feels ditched, lost and alone. Jake begins on a downward spiral of drug using and dealing that leads him to the sad state of mind he is in when Mike returns. Not only is the film critical of teens fighting the war, but also critical of the violent and bleak culture forced upon teens in America that leads to wasted youth.

The production is loaded with stunning performances by every single actor on screen, a brilliantly composed ethereal guitar score, well-conceived cinematography, and a subtle yet startlingly real and emotional screenplay. American Son is a modern twist on the coming of age film during wartime and how it affects the family, friends, lovers, and especially the young men themselves whose lives are put in danger and on hiatus to fight a war they do not fully understand.

Feature Length Films ranked in order of favorite to least favorite with star rating

Frozen River   4 out of 4

American Son    4 out of 4

The Broken   4 out of 4

Young @ Heart    3-1/2  out of 4

Sunshine Cleaning    3 out of 4

The Recruiter    3 out of 4

Time Crimes   3 out of 4

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired   3 out of 4

Love Comes Lately   1-1/2 out of 4

Instead of going chronologically with todays blog, I am just going to highlight my day by topic, with reviews of each film separately, maybe I wil do things defferently tomorrow, we shall see.

People: Hung out with Kurt the second half of the day. Kurt is the last of my true Sundance buddies left. Chris has a baby now and no time for Sundance, Stroman moved to NC and all my ex girlfriends are just that, exes. So hanging with him is always fun and we have great thoughtful talks after all our screenings. Today I met some awesome strangers too. A couple from Atlanta , a Audio Visual professor from UVSC and his wife and couple of students, a Father and his two sons from the Midwest on their first annual father son Sundance ski trip, and many other random people I get the chance to talk film, life, and politics with in between screenings. The people are one of the rewards of going to Sundance. You never have to be scared to talk to people everyone is so friendly and fun to chat with. We even met a film editor and current out of work staff member from the show House. Not to mention the Bums we met at Bar X, including the cute Latin American woman trying to sell us flowers and teddy bears in the bar. Always-good times.

Food: Ate only once today went to Cafe Trang for pho of course, my favorite Vietnamese noodles soup dish. Also had three beers at Rose Wagner Theater, the only screening venue you can drink in while viewing films which is a benefit, as well as a hot dog and cookie. So no great food eaten today. There is a new Japanese grill/sushi bar opening up next to Broadway where our beloved yet sadly closed down Mr. Z's was. RIP Mr. Z's I will always remember your wine selection and cheap pasta during Sundance, perhaps I should have spent more time eating at your establishment outside of Sundance and maybe, just maybe you would still be open :( Hopeful the new place is good and not too pricey.

The first film of the day, and my least favorite so far, but still had it's moments of pleasure. The plot revolves around an 80-year-old under-appreciated writer dying of prostate cancer. He has a girlfriend played by Devito's wife Rhea Pearlman, whom he loves, but cannot help but turn his back on. With death knocking on his door, he uses his short stories to externalize his fantasies of danger and sex and love. Jumping back and forth between his last book tour and the externalization of his stories, we get a portrait of a man trying to cling onto life using nothing but his imagination and some Viagra.

It is a promising story, but sadly is completely misconstrued on film, with shoddy performances, some bad dialogue, and an uneven mix of goofy old man humor and human drama. This material deserved a more refined screenplay and a better director to lead his actors, whom all have talent, to deliver the impact this story deserved but in the end did not receive.

Everyone now knows I have a huge geek boy crush on Amy Adams since seeing her in Junebug 3 years ago here at Sundance. Her name in the details as lead cast was all I needed to guarantee i would see this film. I of course loved the film. It is not perfect, but still a damn fine film. The bottom line is this; if you like, the new genre of Independent slightly quirky or strange dramedies that have been coming out of Sundance the last few years, then you will love this. If you adore films like Garden State, Sideways, and Little Miss Sunshine as I do, then you will put this on your must see list. Truth is the themes are not completely fresh, yet the plot concerning two sisters opening up a cleaning company specializing in Bio-Waste and Crime Scene Cleanup is. In fact this has a lot in common with Little Miss Sunshine, it has the same word in the title, a strange child that is annoying yet loveable, a troubled adult sibling, death of loved ones, and even Alan Arkin playing a loveable yet screwy grandfather and father. Is this better then LMS, not but it is on par, maybe slightly weaker.

The good things, the cast is amazing, especially Adams and Emily Blunt plays her pothead sister brilliantly (you see no resemblance between her character in this and the bitchy secretary in Devil Wears Prada). Alan Arkin is amazing as usual even though he is being type casted in his old age, but hell he can play the crazy grampa like no one else. The soundtrack is fantastic, wonderful indie music similar to what was heard in other Sundance premiered dramedies of the past, yet the tone of the film is more low-key then others in the same genre. It allows for the emotional depth of the story and characters to overpower the quirks, which makes for a nice pace overall. It is a great film in the genre and I recommend, plus we get to see Adams in her bra and panties quite a bit, yum. . Okay sorry that was perverted but I could not help myself.  During the screening, I kept getting looks every time she stripped down because I would involuntarily let out a quiet "damn" or "yum" not my fault it was a Freudian slip I promise.

I love good sci-fi time traveling movies. I love good comic book films that do not take themselves too serious yet are not too goofy. Combine the two and that's what you have with this film, a comic book time travel movie that is entertaining, funny, thrilling, yet still requires your brain.

Hector just moved into a large house in the hills. While checking out the surrounding woods with his binoculars, he cannot help but be drawn into the image of a naked women in the distance (heck a man has to do what a man has to do). He thinks she might be hurt or passed out so off he goes to explore it while his wife is at the store. As he gets there a cat and mouse chase begins when a strange figure appears, he looks like the corny cousin of Darkman with pink gauze around his face and a tattered trench coat. The figure stabs Hector in the arm so what does Hector do, what any respectable man would do; grab his bleeding arm, scream like a girl, and run for the hills without looking behind him. The chase leads Hector to a strange mansion up the hill with quite an efficient laboratory inside. To hide from the strange man, the local scientist lures him into a scientific pod machine.  When hector awakes he has been transferred an hour back in time. Let the Back to the Future space-time continuum fun begin.

The film is fun to watch, and surprisingly has few plot holes, especially for a time travel movie. It at times gets tedious seeing repeated scenes and sometimes it turns a bit too campy for its overall tone, but surprising enough it still works marvelously. The acting is great, the overall set design on a small budget is cool, and the screenplay is smart, witty, and hilarious, with a bit of camp added, which sometimes detracts but not enough to hurt the film to bad. Overall, this film scores, and speaking of scores you might want to bring a scorecard to keep up with the timeline, and you will see everything is tied together perfectly, not logically, but perfectly.

Just a note this film was purchased for indie release and also has been optioned out for an American remake hopefully scheduled for filming in 09, hope they don't bastardize it, but I am sure they will.

This was I and Kurts last screening of the night, and it ended on a bang. This is the scariest and most chilling film I have seen in years, and Kurt's favorite horror film of all time. Imagine if Kubrick, Hitchcock, and Lynch all worked, together to make an existential horror film that is truly scary, mixing elements of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Sixth Sense, intended for viewing by adults and mature horror fans.  This concoction would lead to The Broken.

The camera is a canvas used to paint quiet and beautiful images of dread, fear and terror. The plot is not the reason to see this film, even though it is mysterious and tense, but is used as a ruse or mcguffin to examine the dark side of humanity and the evil that lives within us all.

This film wowed me, this is not your average EXCITING FAST PACED new age horror film, this is a classic horror film that uses atmosphere and theme to frighten us, not just superficially, but to our own personal core. The use of haunting and beautiful imagery and sound design with a quietly creepy slow boiling pace equates to one of the most truly scary films I have seen in years. This is for fans of The Shining, Rosemary's Baby, Psycho, Invasion of The Body Snatchers, and Edgar Allen Poe. In fact, I saw the screening on Poe's Birthday, which the director announced, made our screening so special. It even opens up with a brilliant quote by Edgar Allen Poe, which explains the theme and ideology behind the film completely.

The plot follows a woman who sees a mirror image of her self, driving her car, which leads to her following the woman to her apartment then a car accident. This leads her on a mentally challenging feat to retrace her memory and piece together what happened during and before the wreck. Her boyfriend no longer seems like her boyfriend, she has frightening nightmares that include bleeding walls, mirrors breaking, and clips from one of the most disturbing sex sequences I have seen since Irreversible. There are some deeply disturbing and creepy imagery, which chilled me to the bone. The violence is minimal; this is not for gore hounds or slasher fanatics, however, the couple of scenes that are bloody, are disturbing as hell, including a great kill scene with a wink to Psycho.

So, before you go to this film realize you need to open your mind up, be ready to think, and feel in order to be terrorized. This is not a simple man's horror film. You need to be patient and allow yourself to be wrapped into the films delicate pace, I will warn you again, this is not a FAST PACED horror film, and that is what makes it so wonderful and distinctly creepy. Ellis uses his camera to paint beautiful yet quiet and haunting images to creep under your skin and fill your nightmares.

Well that is it for tonight time for some sleep and hopefully my dreams will be filled of Amy Admas and not of the Broken ;)

Oh, I had such a wonderful first night at Sundance this year. Nine more to go, hopefully they will all be this good. Okay so here goes I am going to blog Sundance using my Myspace, try to update daily or as much as possible. I will be a busy boy. Sat and Sunda, this weekend and next all day screenings, Monday all day in Park City. Work Tues-Fri. then two screenings a night except wed with My Daughter no Screenings that night.

Work finally ended, thus I headed to the Sundance box-office to get another ticket to Diary of The Dead for my Sis and Bro-In-Law to repay them for watching Olivia this upcoming Sunday. I also was able to somehow snag a sold out ticket to Sunshine Cleaning with one of my secret Celebrity crushes, AMY ADAMS!!!! Then came home, fed the dog, paced around anxiously and finally headed down to my first screening.

Young @ Heart is one of the most heartwarming documentaries I have seen since New York Doll Sundance 05. The Doc follows a choir of elderly singers from Massachusetts who have to be 73 tears old or older to perform.  Their artistic director leads them to perform with a live band, singing a mix of rock, punk, and pop songs. Singing covers of The Ramones, The Clash, James Brown, Coldplay, Radiohead, Sonic Youth and many others.  The participants do it for the high, the almighty stage high and the energy of their live shows are stupendous. 

The film follows the choir during their grueling 6 week period preparing for a new show and a new tour of Europe (In the Q&A we found out this choir is ignored in the states, but is an international success touring all over selling out huge theaters everywhere but in there home town . . . hopefully they will become large in America, especially if this film becomes the hit i hope it can be.)

During their preparations, we get to see them preparing songs, mixed with some interviews and some kind of corny but fun music videos of the group all mixed in, sometimes the corny little videos jarred the pacing a bit, but did not damper the movie. I would personally take anyone, of any personality or age group to see this film. I honestly think most people would enjoy the hell out of it, even my roommate Dave, because he likes music and this is all about the power of music in the cycle of life.

Throughout the film, I laughed my ass off, I cried like a baby as usual. . . (I was lucky enough to have found a cute little old lady to sit by and converse with before and after the film, who reminds me of Stroman's mother only younger.) We cried and laughed together at the film. Everyone in the audience, even the idiot behind me who's wife dragged him there after watching "his new favorite movie ever Good Luck Chuck", laughed and shed a tear. Everyone left the theater happy, and the Q&A was insightful. Look for this one in theaters hopefully this Spring, Fox bought it and plans on releasing it as it's first semi-wide released documentary ever, it is that good I bet it could easily be a hit.  Overall a near perfect feel good documentary.

Then I left the theater and chatted with my new friend for a bit, she headed home to get some rest but I will see her tomorrow, what a cute 60-year-old sweet heart, so easy to talk to and friendly. I love meeting people at Sundance.

I rushed back in to see the Documentary Spotlight, which was a selection of six short documentaries. Two of which were too short and not what I would consider as documentaries. One entitled Carlin was a spoken word poem retelling the story of the director's aunt and how diabetes destroyed her body, sad stuff actually. The memories supposedly flooded his head as he visited his childhood home, but the whole film was tooooo artsy, with stop motion puppets recreating his story and all this flashy editing and excessive cutting, I did not consider it a doc.

The other one was called Scoring, and was nothing more then an extreme close up of 2 people kissing hardcore while we hear a paralyzed man talking about the power a simple kiss can have since his accident.

I enjoyed the voiceovers on both films but the experimental film style used to portray the narratives was too out there for my taste. Then came a hilarious little short entitled Farewell Packets of Ten. The film was done in  real time, just 3 minutes of 2 elderly women discussing their love hate relationship with their smoking habit each started when they were 11 and 14, bitterly funny yet sad.

The other three were excellent 25-40 minute short docs. The first was Kids + Money by the director of one of my favorite doc features from 06 called Thin. This film spliced together interviews from about ten or so kids who live in LA, most were spoiled rich brats a couple were hardworking poor kids. The film is shocking in its honesty, one 11 year old was going off about how Gucci is so cool and the only fat cool kids in school are cool just because they "get it on in the bathrooms" and showed their mom taking her and her more modest older sister to get facials and massages. It was a very interesting take at LA culture the 2 side, the rich and poor of LA, and how the kids are striving to fit into a culture drowning in excess. Very good little film.

Then came the most powerful documentary short of the set, a 22-minute film called Pilgrimage.  It is a stylish energetic short about the interment camps in the deserts that the US military shipped Japanese Americans to live in shortly after Pearl Harbor.  These camps were actually concentration camps guarded by the military where much abuse and torture was reported, then after the war the camps were destroyed, and the camps were al but a secret to most of the world, until years later. 

The film described how in 1969 Japanese American College students band together to find the place of one of the camps their families lived in.  After that, they began a pilgrimage every year to the site to help them remember the tragedy.  

At first, i thought, I know all this information from college courses, I was like, ehh old news, and then they began to tie it in. The film discusses how the Japanese Americans reached out to the Arab Americans during 9/11 whom were receiving the exact same ridicule and torture.  many Arab-Americans begin to join the Japanese Americans on the pilgrimage.  We then learn that the land the camp was on was inhabited by a tribe of Native Americans who were slain and murdered and forced to leave that land only years later to have it built as concentration camps for Japanese Americans. Now the pilgrimage is done every year with people of all ethnicities to remind them to stay strong and hold to their own cultural beliefs despite the cycle of hate that continues.  This film totally blew me away with its context and dug deep into common history then tied it in with news that is more recent; the cycle of racism and hate driven by fear is non-stop.  So, yeah a long rant for a 22 minute doc, but what can I say, i loved it, plus it featured music by Blue Scholars, whom Dave introduced me to.

The last film was La Corona (The Crown), a 40-minute doc about an unusual beauty pageant; the contestants are murderers, guerrillas, and thieves. It is a beauty pageant for a Columbian women's prison. This was interesting to watch, funny sad and strange. Such gorgeous women, one was a hired hit-woman at the age of 16, another was a guerilla warrior, and they were beautiful stunning women, forced by a culture that gives women no rights, to live a life of crime to attempt to raise their children. The most interesting thing to me was the tie in that all three of the main contestants followed turned to a life of crime after losing their children to death or kidnap.

So, as you can see first night was a success, probably the best first night of a festival I have had in the six years I have done Sundance. Considering there was only 12 minutes of film that I did not care for, everything else was excellent, though-provoking stuff. Now I have to get to bed so i can hit five screenings tomorrow.

Be back with more soon.