I’m back from showcasing at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. It was magical. I spent ten days bombing around beautiful Park City. I played my gigs, attended workshops and panels, watched one movie (out of the hundreds … a poor percentage), attended ASCAP and BMI parties, saw John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett trade songs from 15 feet away, met a ton of wonderful new people every single day and caught up with old friends. I met movie and television directors and producers and post-production staff and spouses. It was a blast.
The one thing I didn’t do was sleep. One doesn’t waste time sleeping while at Sundance. I was invited to the big show by Access Film-Music and it was a pleasure to be part of the festivities. The altitude kicked my butt, but I was acclimated by Day 5. The air is thin up there at 8,000 feet. I was taking breaths in the middle of songs where I have never taken breaths before….
The talent was astounding and the passion of the artists for their craft was infectious. I attended panels and listened to young directors tell how they became so committed to telling their stories; they did it at all costs. I listened as they told of living out of cars and selling everything to finance their movies, never even knowing if anyone would ever see them, just knowing they had no other choice.
And then to have the Sundance Community find their picture and acknowledge and bestow awards on it and them … these stories of perserverance brought tears to my eyes. These are passionate people, these filmmakers. They are telling stories that demand to be told. Kinda the way a songwriter often feels he or she ”must” write a particular song. These are the people I want to work with. And I’m not stopping until I do!
Mary, outside the Broadway Theater, in downtown Salt Lake City.