The first full day of screenings began on Friday, and by the evening Park City had claimed its first victim, a very knowledgeable and well-liked friend of Cinematical who slipped on some black ice and ended up bloody and bruised. It's dangerous out there, folks! Mind your step as we present the day in a whirlwind 60 seconds.
Deals. Despite the general downturn in the industry, two new distributors have bravely stepped forth into the arena. Austin-based B-Side Entertainment aims to distribute 10 films in 2009, according to Variety, "through an array of theatrical, nontheatrical, and ancillary outlets." And filmmaker Randall Miller, who couldn't find a distributor for his film Bottle Shock at Sundance last year and ended up doing it successfully himself, has formed Consolidated Pictures Group to distribute up to four movies per year. Movie City News has the press release, and their web site is already up.
Reviews. Moon, featuring Sam Rockwell and the voice of Kevin Spacey, has garnered good word of mouth; you can read James Rocchi's review of a "science fiction film that's not about aliens but instead about alienation." Erik Davis sat through Humpday and described it (via Twitter) as "the best straight gay male porn" he's ever seen.
Blog Talk. It was an early wake-up call for Sundancers who trudged out to see James Toback's Tyson at 8:30 a.m. (But it must have been an easy walk, since The Bagger claimed in the NYT: "There are noticeably fewer flacks and fewer film executives walking the streets of Park City.") The doc, which was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics in pre-festival business, prompted Neil Miller of Film School Rejects to call it "a one-sided puff piece."
Weather. A.J. Schnack kindly provided a complete forecast before the fest began, but I thought I'd update it; the Weather Channel says it will be 23 degrees by 9:00 a.m., rising to a high of 33 degrees by the afternoon before dipping back down to 16 degrees overnight., with sunshine and some cloudiness but only a 10% chance of precipitation.
You can follow all of our coverage at the nifty, incredibly handy Sundance hub at Moviefone, if you have a few more seconds to spare.
