Director of Programming James McNally is attending this year’s Sundance Film Festival from January 16th to 28th.
Festival Day 4
Another early morning for me. I was up at 6:00am to get into the office for 8:00am, but at least it had stopped snowing. Another quiet morning at HQ, though it was nice to chat with the other staff and volunteers. This is where we really get to know each other. And one of the Film Office Coordinators from my first festival in 2015 stopped by and not only remembered me, but had a substantial conversation with me. Rachel Franks is originally from Utah, and has had a very busy three years working in film all over the country. She’s come back home to work a different job where she can make and save some money, but it was clear she missed the festival. I suggested she return next year as a volunteer! Priya and I discussed our screening at the MARC tonight, and our schedule for the next few days, including our very busy Tuesday, and then let me go around 12:30pm. Not feeling hungry at all, I headed back to my lodging for a solid one-hour nap that turned into a two-hour nap. Then a quick shower to wake myself up, and off to get some dinner before our premiere tonight.
I met one of the volunteers I met on my shuttle ride, Adam from Chicago, at Squatter’s Roadhouse and had a nice burger and beer for dinner. I arrived at the MARC in plenty of time for our last premiere there: Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here. It was nice to see Joaquin Phoenix and the screenwriter Jonathan Ames, and Gus Van Sant was also hanging out in our theatre lounge beforehand. In fact, it was a really large entourage, but the venue team and the film’s publicists were very helpful and we started on time and with no hassles.
I just headed back to the condo afterwards, unsure of whether I’d have enough energy for a midnight film. The pool, which is heated to 102° looked very tempting on my way in. If not tonight, then some other night! In the end, I opted to eat some food and just listen to music tonight. I’ll have to really cram a lot of films into the final few days!