With the arrival of the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 19, this resort town has been transformed into an adult Disneyland on steroids. Crowds, lines, celebs, stars, models, movies, music, food, drinks – you name it. I hear there’s plenty of business that gets done during the festival, but this rookie patroller and Patch.com reporter/blogger feels like he’s just been beamed to a parallel universe. The buildings are the same, and there are still 30-or-so bars on the 0.7-mile stretch of Main Street, but it’s Party City on the entertainment planet.
But before we get into the nightlife, let's start with a film – the reason, after all, that everyone’s in town (and the slopes are nearly empty).
Where Do We Go Now
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There were seven films being screened on the second night of Sundance, and I chose this one more or less at random. The Sundance Film Guide describes "Where Do We Go Now" as a musical comedy: the women of a remote Lebanese village where Christians and Muslims live side-by-side go to absurd lengths to prevent their husbands, brothers and sons from descending into violent religious conflict.
Serious stuff, and "Where Do We Go Now" includes scenes far darker than its synopsis lets on. It opens with what appears to be a funeral procession (it turns out to be a memorial service), a choreographed march of the village's women toward the local cemetery, where Christians and Muslims are buried separately on either side of a dusty road. They hit their chests while they walk, at times suddenly leaning to the side or looking to the sky. They are the mourners who carry the burden of grief and deepening frustration at the loss of their men killed by neighbors in religious violence (and, as some later express, God himself)
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The film makers use humor to convey their message - a plea to stop the cycle of violence. The town's Muslim and Christian clergymen – one each – meet in a confessional booth to discuss how best to defuse tensions, a mother wakes her sons by splashing them with holy water, the village women pool their money to hire a troupe of Ukrainian strippers to distract their men from violence. The efforts are inventive, sincere, funny, and ultimately futile.
The antagonism between the two religious communities, defies extinguishing. It flows like an undercurrent through the village and becomes inflamed by religious strife in nearby towns. Director Nadine Labaki and the film's writers show that quick fixes, no matter how inventive, radical or even initially successful, can only go so far. If the men of the village inevitably return to fists and guns to respond to perceived religious threats, if the women run out of gimmicks to distract and diffuse the anger, if people remain insistent and stubborn, the then movie asks: Where do we go now? Can anything be done? Will there ever be an end to the violence? Can there be?
Post-Film
Friday night featured a host of after-parties on Main Street. Black stretch-limos and Mercedes-Benz buses deposited groups of young women in mini-skirts and men in thick sweaters in front of the various party spots.
My photographer – fellow rookie ski patroller Brenden Cutter – and I started the evening at Sundance Channel HQ’s reception celebrating Kirby Dick's new film, "The Invisible War," a documentary about women soldiers' struggles in the United States military. The film ultimately won the Audience Award in the U.S. Documentary category.
Cutter and I then headed to the "Bing Bar," a bar and club space at mid-Main Street promoting the Microsoft search engine. It wasn’t clear to this reporter quite what the connection was between film makers and Microsoft’s Bing – but the party made for some good people-watching as the crowd (like most of the Sundance folks) proved way different than the skiing crowd we’re used to seeing at Park City. We felt like we’d walked into a photo shoot for "Esquire" or "GQ,” including the tall and waifish women in cocktail dresses who decorate the set – here a kind of library motif with leather chairs and book cases. Better still, however, was the scene downstairs.
There, black-clad bouncers guarded VIP areas next to a velvet-roped dance floor that was more crowded than a New York subway at rush hour. Rap artist Wiz Khalifa headlined the entertainment, performing a 45-minute set that ended to huge ovation with with his 2010 hit, "Black and Yellow." A series of DJ's followed with mixes of thumping hip-hop and techno that kept the dance floor full until 4 a.m.
The festival and festivities continue through the 29th. I'll be back – but also have to be back on the slopes patrolling. The snow is the best its been all season. Think about joining us. This week, the lines a lot shorter up here than downtown.
