|
Report from Sundance 2001
by Barry Simons
I had the pleasure of attending my first
Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, during the week
of February 20th thru the 27th, 2001, during which I had
the opportunity to view screenings of more than a dozen
new feature films, attend numerous parties, and enjoy the
physical splendor of this beautiful mountain resort.
The main reason for my being at Sundance
was the acceptance of the animated hiphop film, "Wave Twisters"
by animators Syd Garon and Eric Henry, which was constructed
to the music from DJ QBert's groundbreaking scratch album
of the same name; check out their site - wavetwisters-themovie.com.
QBert was also one of the stars of the documentary "Scratch"
by Doug Pray (who previously directed "Hype" about Seattle's
grunge scene) and produced by the Hughes Brothers (American
Pimp, and Menace to Society). Check out www.scratchmovie.com.
The whole week was a barrage of djs, hiphop, and scratching
unlike this mountain resort had ever imagined. Look out
world, you are about to be introduced to this amazing art
form in the coming year, with the help of a couple of great
films that we were lucky to be here with at Sundance. We
are undoubtedly riding the festival on the crest of a wave
of hiphop and dj culture. For most of the week I was joined
by my partner, David Stein, and the overall experience was
incredibly positive and successful. Here are some of the
highlights, on a day by day basis:
Saturday, Feb. 20 - I arrived in town
late in the afternoon, and the drive from Salt Lake City
put me on Main Street of Park City just in time to catch
the end of the Old 97's set at the ASCAP showcase at the
Music Cafe set up in the Elk's Building. I hung out with
Rhett and Murray of the band and met their new manager,
Russell Carter (who also manages Indigo Girls, Fastball,
and Josh Joplin, who is booked by SF-based clients, Absolute
Artists, and was also in town performing). Nice way to start
things off. There's a lot of music at Sundance this year,
and the trend seems to be toward a greater crossover of
film and music than in any previous year. My presence seemed
all the more justified by this increased awareness.
The main plan for the night was to attend
the party for actress Julianne Moore at the Park City Lodge.
I was invited by DJ Wish-FM (aka Wade Hampton) and his wife
Stephanie Smiley who runs Push Press Media. Wade and Stephanie
live in Park City and were our hosts in regard to several
of the week's activities. Wade was the music supervisor
for the movie, "Groove", one of the highlights of last year's
festival, and he has several more film and recording projects
with which he has requested my legal assistance. Stephanie
is the publicist for one of our most important clients,
Coolworld, arguably the biggest rave promoter in the US.
(Their New Year's Eve event in L.A. attracted an astronomical
44,000 people!!).
Anyway, I hooked up with Ritche (aka
Yoga Frog) and his wonderful girlfriend, Mirra, and went
to the party, at which musical entertainment was provided
by Wish FM, plus a live performance by SF's own Broun Fellinis,
who have been friends and musical associates for over a
decade. First night ended with a late screening of "Scotland,Pa."
starring Christopher Walken, an updated version of Shakespeare's
MacBeth to a 1970's burger joint; one of the festival's
buzz films. Great first night.
Sunday, February 21st - In the lobby
of the Inn at Prospector Square, I met up with Adam Fortune
Eagle, one of the Native Americans interviewed in the documentary,
"Alcatraz Is Not an Island", about the 1969 takeover of
Alcatraz, and another Sundance film with Bay Area ties.
I would see their film, and run into Adam and the film's
agent, Suzanna, repeatedly over the coming week, and they
were a real treasure. Went over to the ASCAP showcase and
caught a performance by Fisher, who were there with manager
Elliot Cahn, longtime Bay Area entertainment lawyer and
personal manager,who had recently located to L.A.. Good
to see Elliot doing well.
The highlight of Sunday's activities
was unquestionably the screening of "Haiku Tunnel" by the
Bay Area's Josh Kornbluth. I was invited to this premiere
by our old office mates Nick and Alex Carlin, whose sister
Nancy was a co-producer of this hilarious tale of life as
a temp turned "perm" at an SF based lawfirm in the Financial
District. This film has an excellent shot at picking up
major distribution, and I wish Josh much deserved success.
David Stein arrived in time to join us for drinks on Main
Street with the Carlins and members of the cast, including
our old friend Helen Shumaker, and the incredible Sarah
Overman. The night ended with a late screening of "Margarita
Happy Hour", a Brooklyn based story of single mothers, hard
drugs, and punk rock, that wasone of many films that displayed
a trend toward realism that applied toward most of the films
in this year's festival.
Monday, January 22nd - (MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!)
Nice place to turn 45, let me tell ya. The day started with
an early morning screening of "An American Astronaut", by
Cory MacAbee, former SF doorman, and leader of the Billy
Nayer Show. This dark "scifi western musical" was a cross
between Flash Gordon, Eraserhead and Rocky Horror Picture
Show. It was the first feature film by Cory, who had been
to Sundance on sveral occasion in the past with his short
films. A much talked about film at the festival by an unusually
talented friend and band. Congratulations to Cory, Billy
Lurie and the Billy Nayer Show. We caught the band perform
live at the ASCAP showcase later that afternoon. By the
way, nice job by Loretta Munoz of ASCAP of keeping things
interesting with these afternoon performances.
Later that day we hooked up with Wade,
Stephanie, Ritche and the Invisibl Skratch Piklz crew, Bea,
Sandy, Mirra, Mike, Sonny, etc. at the offices of Push Press,
which was adjacent to the dance club, Creation. That night
Qbert performed to a packed house at an all ages (18 and
over) party organized by Wade and Stephanie. Other performances
by DJ Craze, Wish FM and Dieselboy followed QBert's stunning
performance. Nice combination of hiphop and electronic music
and crowds, a scene that we're getting accustomed to seeing
more frequently. This town is going DJ crazy, and we're
at ground zero for the next three days. A very happy birthday.
Tuesday, January 23rd - I can't believe
I've been here for less than three days; it seems like a
week already. But this evening is a big one for QBert, Ritche,
Syd and Eric. In the afternoon we had a meeting with a potential
distributor for "Wave Twisters" that went well. We also
hooked up with our agent, Jeff Dowd, who is also shopping
"Scratch" and several other films at the festival. Jeff,
aka "Dude" is a larger than life character who is a legend
at Sundance, having recently repped "Blair Witch" two years
back, and having inspired the fictional character "Dude
" in the movie, "The Big Lebowski". Nice addition to the
team.
Anyway, Tuesday night was to include
a screening of "Scratch" at one theatre, a midnight showing
of "Wave Twisters" at midnight at the Egytian Theatre on
Main Street, and a huge party at Harry-O's featuring QBert,
Mixmaster Mike, and Jurassic 5. QBert did a scratching demonstration
prior to BOTH movies, in addition to performing TWO more
sets at the big shindig which was fortunately across the
street. Amazing. The movie was a smash. The demo and "q
and a" after the screening went well, and the crowd was
gifted with hundreds of copies of QBert album. A long a
memorable night of music, film and scratching that will
leave people itching for months. (The midnight screening
of Wave Twisters on Thursday night was even better!!)
I'd love to continue with this day-by-day,
blow-by-blow account of our adventures at Sundance, but
time prohibits and I thought I'd better cut to the chase.
We managed to hook up with a couple more friends and clients
during our stay at Sundance that were fantastic....so here
goes:
On Wednesday, we hooked up with my new
client Joanne Shenandoa, following the screening of "Alcatraz".
Joanne was just nominated for a Grammy in the new category
of Native American folk music. Her supporters include Bruce
Cockburn, Neil Young, Robbie Robertson, Jennifer Warnes,
and others. I am currently negotiating a recording agreement
on her behalf, and this was our first meeting in person.
She is a remarkable, beautiful and talented singer and actress,
and a new friend whose career will soon skyrocket. It was
nice to see her in such a fantastic environment, and one
which acknowledges and promotes the Native Americans, their
film and music.
On Thursday, Ondi Timoner and her brother
David blew into town. Ondi was here to show a trailer of
the movie "Dig" at the Capitol Records party at Harry-O's
before and after the live set by the Dandy Warhols. "Dig"
tells the story of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and the
Dandy Warhols in which Ondi documented their continuing
antics. The film is descibed as the story of "Two bands,
five years. best friends, ultimate rivals". (Check out
Dig@sit.com). I play the entertainment lawyer for the
BJM, a role I was born to play.
Friday night, I went to see a documentary,
"Coffin Joe - The Strange World of Jose Mojica Marins",
a truly amazing account of this Brazilian horror movie director
and star, who is best described as a cross between Russ
Meyer and Luis Bunuel. Famous for his graphic depictions
of zombies, vampires and usage of real snakes, spiders and
naked girls, Coffin Joe is a living underground horror legend.
He was there in person,...and so was my friend and client
James Healy of Fantoma Films who plan to release on dvd
a trilogy of his films, including "At Midnight I'll Take
Your Soul", which screened at the midnight movies at the
Egyptian on Saturday night.
Other films which I saw, and loved: "L.I.E."
about teenagers robbing houses, and their friendly neighborhood
pedaphile in the suburbs near NY's Long Island Expressway;
the world premiere of "Nobody's Baby" starring Gary Oldman;
"Miss Wonton" from China; "The Isle" from Korea; and "Dancing
in September" about a black sitcom and it's WB-like network.
Films I wish I had seen: "Go Tigers"
(the story of the Massilon, Ohio high school football team).
"Memento" (big buzz on this story of a man with short terrm
memory loss searching for a rapist/murderer), "Double Whammy"
(big Hollywood flick w/Elizabeth Hurley, Denis Leary &
Steve Buscemi), "Waking Life" (Richard Linklater's animated
feature), "Raw Deal" ( BIGGGG buzz on this story of a Florida
frat party stripper claiming rape, utilizing real video
from the actual reallife event), and "Wet Hot American Summer"
(w/Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce).
What a great time.
Barry Simons is a partner in Simons &
Stein.
|
|
