Wow. Where to start… The last week has been insanely hard on me. My feet are covered in blisters, I can barely keep my eyes open, and there were moments where I felt so inconsequential it was heart breaking. But this week was also incredible; I learned so much about the world and myself and after seeing so many stories brought to life I am overwhelmed at trying to pick just one tell you. I grew up here in Park City and I feel like Sundance is something like my heritage. And while this film festival has meant different things to me over the years, it has always felt like an old friend, coming to visit and help me live in a way I usually wouldn’t. This is the first year I’ve lived at home since high school and being a local for Sundance again reminded me how much this town is part of me. So here follows, in no particular order, and in the form of the ever-astounding list, the things I learned over the first 7 days of Sundance 2013.

Day 1 (Thursday):

• Seeing an old friend is always good, especially when he doesn’t mind being left to wander the city alone while you go to work.
• Two meetings in one day makes time fly.
• Anticipation kills work ethic.
• Basketball is still the best sport, even when your team loses.
• Drinking with people 30 years older than you is awesome. So is flirting with one of said adult’s friend who is visiting on business.
• Sleep can wait.

Day 2 (Friday):

• Getting up before 6am sucks.
• Dogs in coffee shops are always a good choice.
• Short films don’t have to shock to be effective. A simple story about what it means to be a friend can be just as compelling.
• If you love someone please don’t dig up their recently deceased dog in order to stuff it taxidermy style and leave it on their porch as a present. It won’t go well.
• Sound is a huge part of film making. And life really. I need to learn more about the types of white noise.
• The question of “who am I?” is greater than the sum of its parts. You are more than just your lineage or where you were born or where you studied or how you act or who your friends are or where you end up.
• Some people try really hard to be different. And I think that many times they end up right where they didn’t want to be.
• Being a local means knowing where the best bars are and which benches are heated.
• Snow Whore skied for the first time today and called me to talk about it. She’ll be a pro in no time.
• Love’s hold grows with age. I know this seems obvious but I saw a controversial film called Two Mothers tonight and I can’t stop thinking about what it means to really know someone. It is based on a true story about two best friends who fall in love with each other’s sons. It was so strikingly beautiful to see these four people try their hardest not to love each other, all the while realizing that their connections were too deep to ever really replace. I know I’m young and still have time to find love, but as I age I worry that I will never get to participate in a love like that, the kind that I can say it’s always been you.
• Graham Norton makes everything better. Even 2am stories about a cannibalistic family.
• Sleep can wait.

  

Day 3 (Saturday):

• When walking is an option, choose it. We caught a bus that took 4 times as long as walking would have.
• Disappointment happens. We waited 3 hours in line for film tickets two different times today and barely missed the cut both times. Being able to take a deep breath and move on is an important skill to cultivate.
• Keri Russell is the cutest person ever.
• Time travel is possible. We snuck into Kat Edmonson’s concert and her voice from the 20s blew us away.
• Radio interviews are always a good choice.
• Do not cut the waitlist line a few minutes before the film starts, they won’t care how good your excuse is. For the safety of the people around you, accept your defeat so people don’t start a riot.
• Own what you do. A guitar player who looks crazy rocking out to his music is way more attractive than a stoic drummer. Also always dance when watching live music.
• Trying to explain a friend to someone else before they meet doesn’t help anyone. No matter who introduces you, your relationships are entirely unique.
• Never say no to a hot tub. Or beer.
• A great thing about old friends is that they can spend the night apart but still carpool home together.
• Sleep can wait.

Day 4 (Sunday):

• Skiing is always worth it. Even when it hasn’t snowed in a week and the runs are sheets of ice, the mountain air is still enlightening.
• Watching friends from two of my worlds collide is a dream come true. I felt like a proud mother as they got to know each other on the lift.
• Never say no to a hot tub. or tea.
• Trusting a friend with your car is better than driving them around yourself.
• Netflix is ruining our lives. It hurts to watch us disappear into other worlds and forget the way back. I love TV as much as anyone, but I love living more.
• Good music and winding roads are the cure for everything, even an intense fear of the unknown and a stubborn herd of elk.
• Sleep can wait.

  

Day 5 (Monday):

• Getting up before 6am sucks
• 9am movies never fill up. We walked right in and sat next to the director of the movie we waited in line to see on Saturday, Touchy Feely. Lynn Shelton is the most adorable thing ever and listening to her gush about Seattle made me tear up.
• Never ask permission, just go in. If you get kicked out no problem, if not you never know where you’ll end up.
• Spending 19 hours a day for 5 days with a person you haven’t known forever and aren’t dating is exhausting. Don’t get me wrong, I so incredibly glad my friend Tommy from Seattle came to stay, but man, I have never relished my moments of silence more in my life.
• Sometimes the feelings you get while watching a film are more important that the content itself. I won’t describe how disgusting the film I watched was because it makes me sick to think of it, but after it was over and the director was answering the audience questions I realized how beautiful the film really was. He showed us what it means to be alive and that sometimes loneliness can be a catalyst.
• 20-somethings are the same everywhere. The Machine which Makes Everything Disappear is a documentary about young people in Georgia (the country) and every story we saw was more familiar than the last. The facts were different, but our thoughts are the same. The most striking speech was by a girl who said she was tired. Tired of her job. Tired of her age. Tired of her family. Tired of Tired of making new friends. Tired of partying. Tired of inequality. Tired of everything. She wished she herself could disappear because she was tired of being tired. And while I may not be tired of everything, I certainly understand being tired of being tired.
• If you asked 4 twenty-somethings what they would do with their lives if they only had 2 years left to live, all four of us would say travel.
• If Evan Rachel Wood steps on your boot in the line for free veggie burgers she will smile and apologize.
• It is hard to motivate yourself to get to know people you know you’ll never see again. And it’s especially hard when the group you are with is super into film and you are the random engineer/writer who has to stay sober to drive home. But you can always call your long-distance friends to catch up for a bit and remind yourself who you are, because no matter who you are talking to, if you find yourself interesting so will others.
• Keep your eyes open. You never know if the sex god Australian boys from the movie you saw will be sitting next to you at the locals bar.
• Sleep can wait.

Day 6 (Tuesday):

• Dying for love is a pretty great way to go. But getting shot by the girl you love and then magically surviving a 100 meter fall into a river after her mobster husband commits suicide is just cheesy. Also watching Shia Labeouf tell a stewardess the guy sleeping on his shoulder is dead is hysterical.
• Science does more than just flesh out a film; many times the science is a story in itself.
• It can never hurt to say hello. Whether it is to a girl you used to hate in high school or the head of PBS’s Nova, you’ll always regret it if you don’t.
• Many people in film have huge egos. I like people who are passionate, but I don’t want to be around people who choose to feel superior. I believe that talking to someone is an end in itself, even if that doesn’t lead to advancement in your career. And surrounding yourself with people who are the same as you is the opposite of what I want my life to be.
• Jordan is a beautiful country and I will go there before I die.
• Seeing a film with your family is just as awesome as seeing one with your friends.
• Ambition and happiness don’t go hand in hand, but happiness and pride do.
• Sometimes a film can do everything right and just not quite work.
• Sleep can wait.

  

Day 7 (Wednesday):

• Getting up before 6 am sucks.
• Italians talk less in the mornings.
• Saying goodbye to someone you care about but don’t love can feel good.
• Going back to work after a week like that is pretty brutal.
• Jack Kerouac created something beautiful but he didn’t live a beautiful life. We saw Big Sur tonight and while it was shot perfectly and hearing Kerouac’s language was mesmerizing, the film didn’t paint a picture of a person I want anything to do with.
• I think that film is changing, that women’s roles are becoming more and more complex and worth screen time. But we aren’t there yet, and it is offensive to see a film with that little effort to show insight into the women.
• Sleep can wait.

And it’s not over yet. 5 more days and countless more films to go!