Part of the fun of the Sundance Film Festival is the faces. If you live in LA you have probably become immune to the diversity and celebrity roaming your streets and sharing booth space at the local diner but here in Utah- the land of (mostly) white- it’s like a breath of fresh air blasting through Park City.
Grab a free hot beverage inside one of the many sponsor venues, cup of Get a cup of something warm, take a window seat and watch the sea of PIB (People In Black) wave up and down Main Street.
The Names Please For Sundance ’19
Here are just some of the notables expected to attend the Fest this year. See how many you can check off the list.
The Sundance Film Festival kicks off January 24 and for 10 days the little resort town of Park City, Utah, turns into what can only be described as a faux movie set for “People in Black”. The shops, galleries and restaurants that locals recommend become ones they all avoid as brands like Grey Goose and Lyft move in and take over. Every other storefront is rented out for high dollars; transformed into lounges, suites and party venues for Sundance filmmakers, media, brands and wanna-be-seen celebrities.
Main Street and Park City proper swell under the heavy traffic and crowds. More than 124,000 people are expected to attend the independent film festival and while most will stand in line to see at least one of the 200 films slated (the Festival is said to have broken its record for the most film submissions at 14,259), many will spend their time wandering through town and the various activations and brand installations. In fact, there really is no need to purchase $20-25 tickets to see films that will eventually make it to Netflix unless you want bragging rights or an opportunity to sit in on the Q&As. Instead, ride the free Park City bus and take in the “scene”.
There are both “official” and “unofficial” attractions. Many require an invite and guestlist, some a Festival credential ($$) and others are free and open to the public. Here is just some of the fun to be had in #crazytown.
Open To The Public
Festival Co-op 608 Main St., Park City
Friday, January 25–Friday, February 2, 2019
Stop in for all sorts of interactions: Complimentary charging stations provided by AT&T and technology provided by Dell. Warm up with hot crafted coffee blends. Enter for a chance to win a prize to a fabulous mystery destination. Learn about the Sundance Institute’s work supporting independent artists and for a chance to win cool prizes. Visit with the University of Utah Health Wellness Hub to warm up, enjoy a free chair massage, and recharge before your next film. Test your film knowledge and get a limited-edition pin and postcard from the Utah Film Commission and chat with WordPress.com and snap a photo of yourself with an inspiring and interactive mural created by an internationally known street artist.
Acura Festival Village
480 Swede Alley
Friday, January 25–Saturday, February 2, noon–6:00 p.m.
Acura invites you to take a seat in the Acura NSX supercar or any of the entire lineup on display. Or, recharge with complimentary hot beverages and phone-charging stations. Guests also can capture Festival memories in the Acura winter wonderland photo booth and hear live daily programming on the Acura Stage including industry and celebrity panels, and live music. Wrap up the day on the heated patio with Acura Hours, along with partner Stella Artois.
Canada Goose Basecamp
449 Main St.
Friday, January 25–Tuesday, January 29, noon–6:00 p.m.
Known as the unofficial jacket of film crews, Canada Goose invites you to warm up by trying on some of their coats. Such a tease! Not many can afford the pricetag. But at least you can enjoy complimentary hot beverages, WiFi and charging stations as well as explore an interactive exhibit that showcases their history in front of and behind the lens.
Chase Sapphire® on Main
573 Main St.
Jan.25-Feb.1 The public is welcome to a variety of activities like cooking and VR demos. Sample food from around the country, watch the LA Times live film panel discussions with filmmakers and talent. Show off your Sapphire credit card for private admittance to parties, a dining concierge, and a lounge featuring a premium coffee bar from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and wine and beer tastings from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can also pick up a commemorative 2019 Sundance Film Festival water bottle.
The Dell Den
528 Main St.
Jan. 25-28
Dell Technologies will display the work of creators from post-production demos to gamified AI and offer ask-the-expert sessions. There will also be networking with industry leaders across film, media, and sustainability, as well as portraits from famed photographer Mark Mann.
Lyft Lounge
556 Main St.
Jan. 24-27
Riding Park City’s free shuttles got you down? Come rest your weary head at the Lyft Lounge. The drinks aren’t free but the heated space and conversation with fellow film enthusiasts is. Yes, you can catch a Lyft when you’re ready to leave.
Wellhaus
412 Main Street
CBD had to make an appearance at Sundance, where trends take hold. The first-ever CBD focused activation is brought to you by Axcess Entertainment and Charlotte’s Web to educate and entertain the public and the festival community on the rapidly growing CBD movement. There will be daily talks, panel discussions, VIP activations and the first-ever CBD Gastropub/CBD infusion bar.
Savvy Minerals Sip & Lip Bar
580 Main St
Sat Jan 26 2019 at 11:00 am – 07:00 pm
This chic space from Young Living Essential Oils will help guests find their perfect winter lipshade from the line of clean and natural beauty products while sipping on a refreshing NingXia Zyng.
Credential Holders
Filmmaker Lodge Elks Building 550 Main St. (2nd Floor) Friday, January 25–Friday, February 1
A casual meeting place and café designed to cultivate dialogue among filmmakers, industry leaders, and the press, where lively panel discussions and conversations occur on a range of current issues.
Kimball Art Center
1401 Kearns Blvd.
Partner panels are open to all Festival credential holders and the general public as space allows. The Sundance Institute Talent Forum takes place from January 29- 31.
SundanceTV HQ
268 Main St.
January 25–30
SundanceTV, the official television network of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, opens the doors for daily panel conversations (at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.) and private evening events like the Official Kick-Off Party (Friday), the third annual Yacht Rock Party (Saturday), and a special storytelling event with The Moth (Monday). Public can wander in on the off hours for Wifi and charging.
Pizza Hut x Legion M Lounge
322 Main St.
Jan. 25-27
Legion M is using the new equity crowdfunding law to take film fans behind-the-scenes and allow them to experience the thrill of investing in movies, television shows and digital content. Learn how you can help shape entertainment with nightly panel discussions and free pizza!
New Frontier
Two Locations-
The Ray/The Box at The Ray 1768 Park Ave.
New Frontier Central 950 Iron horse Dr., Park City
This space used to be open to the public but it seems you’re not worthy this year without a credential. The social and creative space showcases media installations, multimedia performances, transmedia experiences, panel discussions, and more. You can check out the Festival program for the schedule.
Friday, January 25–Friday, February 1, 2019 1:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
The venue showcases an eclectic mix of exceptional music makers handpicked by ASCAP. The space is tight and mostly standing room only so it’s rare that non-credential holders get in.
Stella’s Film Lounge
364 Main St.
Jan.25-28
The official beer of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival celebrates the films and filmmakers that are shaping culture and moving the industry forward. From cast parties to daily panel discussions, festivalgoers are welcome to stop by to raise a chalice with them.
EcoLuxe Lounge PARK CITY at the top of Main celebrates its 12th year supporting indie film at Sundance. Debbie Durkin’s hospitality suite features Utah’s film critic Tony Toscano interviewing Stars of 2019 Film premieres, open bar, DJ, all-day buffet from Snake Creek Grill in Heber, Utah, pampering, and brand sponsor showcases like Dr. Spa skincare and more.
DIRECTV LODGE PRESENTED BY AT&T
660 Main St.
The VarietyStudio presented by AT&T will host its longstanding portrait and video studio from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and AT&T and DIRECTV will host daily lunches from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for celebrities, tastemakers, premiere parties, and cast dinners for some of the Festival’s most buzzworthy titles.
Wanderluxxe Filmmaker Lounge
Main Street
WanderLuxxe, the coveted membership concierge service returns to the Sundance Film Festival with partners Essential Costa Rica, Sunlighten infrared saunas, Lululemon, STARE Cosmetics, The Lovely Loba skincare, Peroni, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream, and Kobricks coffee. Film enthusiasts to indie filmmakers will experience exclusive perks and insider access to a host wellness activities like yoga, facials, panels and parties.
The Luxury Escape
St Regis
This has been one of the coolest activations every year for networking and partying. Stashed way up at the St Regis Deer Valley, RAND Luxury’s 6th annual weekend will host several events including private cast dinners and receptions.
Kia Telluride Supper Suite
890 Main St #5115
A-List Communications is back for its fifth year at the Mustang restaurant on lower Main to have Greene St. Kitchen of Las Vegas serve top festival talent at private cast dinners and cocktail receptions. Guests will also be able to check out the all-new Telluride SUV, Kia’s first eight-passenger SUV as the brand is using the Fest to showcase its rugged side. Celebrities and VIP media with also get door-to-door chauffeur-driven car service via KIA. Once inside the Suite, they’ll sip Tequila Comisario, Sensi Tuscany Wines, Dragon Fly Coffee Roasters, Blue Moon Belgian White beer, and Lifewtr.
Salesforce Music Lodge
710 Main Street
The lively space will celebrate music as a platform for change. Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne are scheduled to perform. There will also be daily happy hour Q&As with KCRW personality Anne Litt, a pop-up gallery exhibition with renowned music photographer Danny Clinch, hosted bar, DJ and cultural cuisine from presenting sponsor, Louisiana Office of Tourism and New Orleans.
AP Music Lodge (same as Salesforce ML)
Daily Mardi Gras bashes, Louisiana delicacies, appearances by some of the festivals most in-demand names and members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, as well as a variety of musical performances will be part of this venue’s schedule.
Blackhouse
804 Main Street
Jan. 24-28
Panels, conversations, receptions, and events focused on film, television, digital and emerging platforms that help Black creative voices and executives gain a better foothold in the industry.
Seven photographers known in the social sphere take on the South Island. UAG- the makers of tough cellphone cases sent these guys on an adventure to find inspiration and document it. For all of you aspiring shooters, here’s one way to see the light.
I want to be witty and prosaic about my time at Frontsight but I’m brain dead. Which, BTW, is not a good thing to be when you have to have a gun in your hand for four, 12-hour-days. I’m learning so much so fast my ears are ringing. Or is that just a result of my lifting up the left earmuff before the last person on the first relay had fired? Either way, I’m a mess.
Heading to Frontsight
Four blonds from Utah in bright colors with snappy attitudes have taken over the 2nd relay (that’s a fancy way of saying the back row of never-ever shooters). Guns are serious business but our Frontsight coach Bishop says the number two rule of our four-day defensive handgun class is to have fun. And that we are. (The first rule is to be safe.) So why isn’t anyone else chuckling at our innuendos and personality? No matter. We’re still having a blast down here in Pahrump, Nevada. Ha ha a pun! But seriously I never thought I would really shoot bad guys and look what I did today-
That was the highlight of Day 2- shooting bad guys. By midday, things were starting to click. Another pun! I was pulling my Glock from its holster just like the 1st relayers; I was loading the mag with ease, I was aiming accurately and I was hitting what I sighted.
The sound of the gun and the jerk of the muzzle are becoming second nature. That’s what Frontsight is about. Repetition of the skills you would need to successfully fire a loaded weapon so the movements become automatic. In the time it takes you to wonder what you should do, you’ve been shot. But Frontsight isn’t a place like you would see in a spaghetti western; filled with drunk rednecks shooting pistols and rifles in the air while screaming YeeeHaw! “If it’s not worth dying for, it’s not worth shooting for” is the mantra we hear at the daily lectures. Here, we’re learning responsibility. This is firearm bootcamp for civilians (and servicemen on their own dimes). It’s where you go to learn something beyond basic point and shoot techniques. It’s where you learn that there’s so much more to learn about guns.
Frontsight’s Playground
They call this 550-acre compound surrounded by BLM land ‘Disneyland for Gunlovers’. I get it. Pulling into the parking lot I get those same excited butterflies I get when I park under Jiminy Cricket or Pluto and wait for the tram to carry me to the Magic Kingdom.
I have much to share but my fingers hurt. I have to sleep now. I’ll dream of shooting bad guys. I’ll hunt them down and make them cry.
My friends wonder if they would be able to shoot a real person. I don’t wonder. I know that if the situation presented itself, I could. I just hope it never ever comes to something like that. The consequences as we have learned are intense. Tomorrow, we practice “tactical movements”. As in we move. Not sure exactly how this works but I’m pretty sure I’ll have a good idea in the first 15 minutes of my day. Giddy up.
P.S. if you’re interested in learning more about Front Sight, the courses or membership, send me note!
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes…and Warren Miller Ski Movies.
With winter around the corner, the Warren Miller Entertainment team (WME) will once again kick off the season with its 69th installment. The new ski and snowboard film, Face of Winter, however, will be different. It won’t be simply a recycling of traditional ski porn. This one- the first produced since the iconic Miller’s death earlier this year- promises to tug on our nostalgic ski heartstrings.
Photo cred. Warren Miller Co.
FOW celebrates the man who became known as the father of ski bums. Miller cultivated the skier mentality, the industry, and the places and people he met along the way. He was 93 when he passed in January 2018 and through those years he not only witnessed the impressive growth of the ski industry but documented the best athletes in the world who led the charge. He covered through film, art, books and articles, outdoor pursuits and water sports like surfing and sailing in addition to his passion for snowsports.
He produced more than 500 films that spanned six decades and inspired countless men, women and children to ditch normalcy and seek a life of extreme adventure; myself included. He set the tempo with tales like braving 100 days in Sun Valley, Idaho, living out of a teardrop trailer on $18 bucks.
Warren Miller Ski Films Leave Their Mark
“I will say that without Warren Miller I wouldn’t lead the incredible life I do!” freeskier Amie Engerbretson told the film crew at Teton Gravity Research, one of the first film production companies to follow in WME’s footsteps. “Warren inspired my grandfather, my father and myself to pursue a life of skiing, chasing mountains and making films! He will live in my heart forever!”
The Warren Miller name became synonymous with the sport of skiing but Miller himself was also a World War II veteran, a ski instructor and ski racer, an accomplished surfer, and a champion sailor. He also provided entrepreneurial training to thousands of kids nationwide, emphasizing hard work, ingenuity, and creativity.
New and veteran athletes have come together in Face of Winter to pay tribute to the man who started it all. Jonny Moseley, Marcus Caston, Seth Wescott, Forrest Jillson, Kaylin Richardson, Dash Longe, Anna Segal, Michael “Bird” Shaffer, and featured athletes of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, including gold medalist, Jessie Diggins visit some of Warren’s favorite places from Engleberg to Chamonix, British Columbia to Alaska, Chile, Iceland, New Zealand and more.
“The film is for anyone whose life (whether they realize it) was impacted by Warren Miller,” says WME Managing Director Andy Hawk. “We are all the face of winter—from the athletes to the audience to the locals in far-off destinations or even at our home mountain. Warren recognized this, and this year’s film celebrates that.”
I will admit that I’m hesitant to see this year’s WM flick. It’ll be interesting to see how the other resorts fared and the footage gathered last season after the crappy snow we all had in North America. But it’s not because I think the snow will look meh. It’s because of the void that is left by the ski storyteller. I hate crying in public and I know I will.
I grew up on Warren Miller movies. They launched me into each ski season. And it was that infamous quote – “If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be one year older when you do” – that moved me to Mammoth as a junior in college, Aspen after graduation, Park City after Aspen and I finally booked that bucketlist trip to Hokkaido, Japan, this coming January 2019.
As long as WME keeps making these ski movies, the spirit of the ski bum will live on but this season’s edition can’t help but be more poignant than ever.
Warren Miller Ski Film Screenings
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Face of Winter, presented by Volkswagen, will premiered worldwide in Portland, Ore., on October 12 before heading to Utah on Oct. 17. Screenings will then sweep across the U.S., from the Pacific Northwest to the East Cost from October to December. Click here for tour dates and detes.
BTW< If you are attending in Utah, this year’s screenings will be at the Rose Wagner Theater rather than Abravanel Hall. The $23 tickets also include a BOGO day pass to Jackson Hole and $50 off a Mountain Collective Pass. [But if you already have the Mountain Collective (comes with a Snowbird or Alta season pass) you already get half off in Jackson.]
