I've had a lovely week of seeing films at the Sundance resort. They have a small screening room and it's nice and intimate. Park City is where the bulk of the festival happens but there are hundreds of people there and one would have to be in the right energy zone for that. I started to go up one day last week but the snow was too intense.
On Tuesday I saw Mosquita y Mari - a lovely coming-of-age film about two hispanic girls in California.
Wednesday was The Comedy, a film about a group of privilged young men in Willamsburg whos inherited wealth "breeds indifference and recreational cruelty". Very troubling and very well done film.
Later that day was West of Memphis, an incredible documentary about 3 teens who were wrongfully convicted of killing three young boys in Memphis in 1994. They were released in 2011 and one of the young men was there for the Q&A. I was so inspired and impressed by him. He was like a Buddha. While in prison he did not see the sunlight for 7 years. He turned to meditation and study and had no anger inside him at all. He said he made the concious choice to not harbor poisonous anger and resentment that could and would eat him up. He chose to live in the present and make the most of his life. wow.
Last night I saw COMPLIANCE. A highly disturbing film based on actual events. A man called a fast food restaurant and claimed to be the police. He said that one of the employees had stolen money from a customer and had the manager hold her in the back room. He instructed her to strip search the girl and degrate her in many ways. The manager did everything she was told to do. It was unbelievable that someone could be so stupid and follow along so blindly. As the film progressed, many people got up and walked out. Angry and upset at the film.
At the Q&A, the filmmaker told us that this actually did happen. Over 75 times until the perpetrator(s) were caught. The man behind it was a obvious person with mental problems, but was angry because he wanted to be a policeman and was denied the job. The filmmaker was able to get the video recordings of several incidents and police records. It was absolutely incredible and made me think a lot about how we as human beings blindly follow along and do was someone in authority tells us to do.
I'm happy to be here in Utah during this time. The festival is an important event in the community and gives us all a chance to appreciate great art in filmmaking and expand our personal horizins and perspectives.
On Tuesday I saw Mosquita y Mari - a lovely coming-of-age film about two hispanic girls in California.
Wednesday was The Comedy, a film about a group of privilged young men in Willamsburg whos inherited wealth "breeds indifference and recreational cruelty". Very troubling and very well done film.
Later that day was West of Memphis, an incredible documentary about 3 teens who were wrongfully convicted of killing three young boys in Memphis in 1994. They were released in 2011 and one of the young men was there for the Q&A. I was so inspired and impressed by him. He was like a Buddha. While in prison he did not see the sunlight for 7 years. He turned to meditation and study and had no anger inside him at all. He said he made the concious choice to not harbor poisonous anger and resentment that could and would eat him up. He chose to live in the present and make the most of his life. wow.
Last night I saw COMPLIANCE. A highly disturbing film based on actual events. A man called a fast food restaurant and claimed to be the police. He said that one of the employees had stolen money from a customer and had the manager hold her in the back room. He instructed her to strip search the girl and degrate her in many ways. The manager did everything she was told to do. It was unbelievable that someone could be so stupid and follow along so blindly. As the film progressed, many people got up and walked out. Angry and upset at the film.
At the Q&A, the filmmaker told us that this actually did happen. Over 75 times until the perpetrator(s) were caught. The man behind it was a obvious person with mental problems, but was angry because he wanted to be a policeman and was denied the job. The filmmaker was able to get the video recordings of several incidents and police records. It was absolutely incredible and made me think a lot about how we as human beings blindly follow along and do was someone in authority tells us to do.
I'm happy to be here in Utah during this time. The festival is an important event in the community and gives us all a chance to appreciate great art in filmmaking and expand our personal horizins and perspectives.
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