Sundance 2009

I made it to 2 whole Sundance screenings this year. As part of my SLFC membership, I was able to see a Palestinian film called Pomegranates and Myrrh. I saw a bit of it with my eyes half closed. I was tired. I made the best effort to not snore or kick my head back with my mouth wide open since the director was present and that would have been somewhat disrespectful. I still managed to do a slightly startled jump in my seat, awaking from a brief dream.

A few days later, I made it to the New Frontier Shorts program. I showed up 2+ hours before to get a waiting line number. I was number 3 out of 3. I spent the next 2 hours wandering around downtown, having tea with myself....spending quality time with myself. Made it to the theater. A small turnout - the smallest I've ever seen at Sundance. The Shorts program consisted of 3 experimental shorts ranging from 23 minutes to 40-something minutes. The first was my favorite, Pat O'Neill's Horizontal Boundaries. It's a 23 minute piece that utilizes traditional optical film compositing and transitions, creating a rhythmic collage of moving images. It's fascinating how the pulsing nature of the film makes it hard to distinguish where one shot ends and another begins. Check out some of the older films O'Neill has made Here.

My friend JP made it about 10 minutes into the first film. I was a little annoyed by the fact that he showed up late and still made it in, after I wasted the previous 2 hours waiting around and standing in lines to ensure I get a ticket.

Anyway, the second film was a short experimental documentary by Richard Robinson about the disappearance of honey bees. Not bad. He was there for a Q&A after the presentation.

The third film tested the patience of many of the viewers. It was a drone sound collage matched with the image of a white square. The square occupied the screen for 40+ minutes. For the first several minutes, it just sat on the screen. I said to JP "I think we're gonna be spending quite some time with this square." But then it changed a bit, pulsated, blurred and eventually erupted in an orgasmic explosion of flickering, overlapping shadows and light. The trouble with this piece was the length and the context. It would have worked better as a gallery installation rather than a movie theatre. Several people walked out, and I thought of doing the same, except I didn't want to spend 15 dollars and miss half the presentation. I'm glad I stayed. A week later, I can still remember it - which can't be said for many of the mainstream movies I see.

When I close my eyes, I can still see the white square:


Sandra Gibson & Luis Recoder's Untitled