pico and the man: Day 4: Pico and the Sundance Kid

Doc Day

This should be a short post because I'm trying to get to bed soon to catch an 8:30 a.m. screening of Choke tomorrow morning. Plus, I didn't see any celebrities or take any good pictures, But I did see some good films! Lets get right to it, shall we?

Okay, so everything wasn't fantastic today. We had tickets to a screening of Ballast at the Eccles, but walked out after 30 minutes. Yes, I know. It's horrible. The director was sitting really close to us, too. But the combination of bleak subject matter (suicides, poverty, the American South) and nearly incomprehensible dialogue made this film impossible to sit through. Or I thought so, at least. We probably could have given it more time, but we weren't in the mood.

We then went back to the hotel and ate a bit before heading off to see Nerahkoon (The Betrayal) at the Library. Before the feature, they showed a documentary short called My Olympic Summer which was possibly the best short I've seen at the festival so far. It was moving, beautiful to watch, and just so well composed. The feature was also excellent. Filmed over the course of 20 years, it chronicled the effects of war and exile on a Laotian family. Great, moving stuff.

I had to duck out of the Q&A early to try and make it to the Documentary Shorts program over at Prospector Square. Despite bad rush-hour traffic (yes, Pico readers, they do have traffic in Utah occasionally), I made it in time to get a good seat. This shorts program was hands-down the best yet, with three strikingly good films that stood out among the rest. The first was Kids + Money, which consisted entirely of interviews with Los Angeles teenagers on the topic of money. The filmmaker found a great cross-section of L.A. in these kids, and the interviews are hilarious, shocking, and sometimes just sad. It will apparently be on HBO at some point, so keep an eye out. The other doc was called Pilgrimage.

The film is about the annual pilgrimage to the Manzanar Concentration Camp in California. Here's a trailer:

The short film Corona was an eye-opener, if I do say so myself. It's about a beauty pageant held in the largest female prison in Colombia. Each cell block competes, and it's interesting to see convicted murderers, guerillas, and thieves vie so adamantly for the crown. Read more about it on the Sundance site.

Dad and Yvonne stayed for the Q&A at Nerahkoon, so they missed the documentary shorts and went to see Traces of the Trade, about a Rhode Island family descended from slave traders. They both said it was excellent, and dad even got interviewed by PBS afterwards. He's famous now.

I was hoping to squeeze in another screening tonight, but instead I thought I'd eat a leisurely dinner and catch some Zs. Plus, check out my hands:

Each of those marks is a reentry stamp for a screening. When I've racked up that many, I think it's okay to call it a night.

On that note, I'd like to close with my daily celeb sightings list...