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Sundance reception in Los Angeles
photo by Jeff Perrin
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The DGA recently hosted receptions in Los Angeles and New York for the directors with films at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
Present in Los Angeles were DGA Assistant Executive Director Elizabeth Stanley and Independent Directors Committee (IDC) members/directors Mary Lambert and George Hickenlooper, whose own film, The Man From Elysian Fields, starring Mick Jagger and Andy Garcia, premiered at the Festival and Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl). Other DGA members at the reception with films at Sundance included Patricia Cardoso (Real Women Have Curves), Peter Care (Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys), Jamie Babbit (Stuck), Troy Miller (Run Ronnie Run!) and Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo).
In New York, DGA Eastern Executive Director Christina Lomolino as well as Assistant Executive Director FernWakneen and DGA director members Ray De Felitta (Two Family House) and Brad Anderson (Next Stop Wonderland, Session 9 Happy Accidents) spoke to a packed house of indie directors. Among the directors present were Bertha Bay-Sa Pan (Face), Eric Eason (Manito), Rob Fruchtman (Sister Helen), John Krokidas (Slo-Mo), Peter Mattei (Love in the Time of Money) and Gary Winick (Tadpole).
There were plenty of excited newcomers at the receptions, essentially their first event before attending the Festival, as well as some repeat visitors. Films ranged from newcomer Benny Klain's Yada Yada, an eight-minute short about the Native American perspective on the patriotism that came out of September 11, running alongside DGA member Brett Froomer's A Stoner's Life, a 60-second piece, as he describes, about "the oldest living pot smoker in America."
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Sundance reception in New York
photo by Elisa Haber
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"This is a Festival with edge," Sundance's Geoff Gilmore told the Los Angeles group. "It's not the archetypal 'quirky' independent film — this stuff's goddamned eccentric!"
DGA member Troy Miller commented that, "It's a great validation to be at Sundance. My film Run, Ronnie, Run! is a broad comedy. And broad comedies aren't known to go to film festivals — especially Sundance."
Newcomers got lots of advice on what to expect and how to best spend their time. Gilmore, Lambert, Arteta, De Felitta, Anderson and Hickenlooper urged the directors in attendance to be certain to take in the films of others. "It's something that will change your life and change your experience," he told them. "Be open to meeting a lot of folks and being interested in other people's work," suggested Miguel Arteta, whose The Good Girl represents his third entry at Sundance. "Creating a peer group is invaluable."
