The D-Word's life is one of glamour and riches, as only a documentary filmmaker can live it

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Sundance
Mon, Jan 27, 1997
11:55pm

Flying out to Sundance
for the internet panel gives me precious time to sort out my thoughts.

Plane rides are always great musing opportunities for me. I go for the window seats so I can watch the clouds float by -- there's inspiration in them thar puff balls.

The first thought is to remind myself not to get caught up in the usual Sundance bruhaha over what films are hot and what not. D-Wife is joining me for 3 of the 4 days and, for once, I've got no film competing. My priorities, therefore, are:

• fun
• planning the direction of the D-Word with Brian
• shmoozing up honchos in the new media center for funding
• spreading the good word about Home Page
• seeing some choice movies
• catching up with old friends and acquaintances

I jot down some notes for my panel talk, out of which form an idea for the web site. I'm thinking of taking the hours and hours of transcribed interviews with my Cast of Characters, editing the best parts and posting them. Only with one key additional element: linking the references they make to each other. So, for example, in a passage where Justin describes Howard Rheingold as his mentor, a link may take you to an entry in Justin's web diary where he writes about meeting Howard, or a page in Electric Minds where Howard describes Justin as his mentor, or to one of my own journal entries where I write about Justin and Howard's relationship, or, perhaps to the part of the Cast of Characters section where I introduce Howard.

Multiply that by all the permutations and combinations of a tangled web narrative where everyone knows each other and has lots of juicy stuff to say (not to mention, all have fantastic web sites!) and you've got a pretty compelling non-linear version of what I'm telling in linear form on film. Could be mighty inner-arresting.

Also just a shitload of work, because the links have to be spot-on perfect. It's tempting to take the easy way out: simply link to the home page and leave you to track down the reference. But that's not respecting the art of hypertext! The only way it flies is if I track the specific reference like a laser beam, and that takes time (not to mention, a faster modem than my pathetic 14.4 at home). Hence my need for an assistant, who will doubtless need to be paid... at least eventually. With money that's desperately needed for the film.

But then, whenever decisions like this crop up, I remind myself that this is a multi-media project, an intersection of web, tv and film, and I can't approach it with the same filmmaking paradigm. I mean, strange as it seems, the funding for the film is as likely to come via the website as through any traditional docu funding source.

The panel turns out to be great fun, despite the absence of Kevin Smith (of Clerks fame). Apparently, he's cranking out a script for a new Superman movie and the producers wouldn't let him take the time off. The perils of pacts with the devil, I guess.

I even videotape it, thinking, what the hell, might need it for an ending montage (if I do an American Graffiti-like update of all the characters). Set the camera on a tripod behind me to get a pov shot and check playback to ensure proper framing. Want to catch just a bit of my head in the foreground to establish it's really me speaking, but mostly want to see faces, to show what it's like to be on a panel and have a room full of people staring up at you. Actually remember to turn it on just before I make my introductory remarks. Unfortunately, I get a little too excited and lean too far forward when I speak. Cover up a good half of the frame, turns out.

Unsuccessfully try to wangle a ticket to the Tim Robbins Tribute, if only to see if he'd recognize fellow Friends Seminary parents. We see him or Susan most every day in the hallway. A little wierd mingling with genuine moooovie stars, but they're totally unpretentious and cool involved parents.

See a great documentary: A Healthy Baby Girl, Judith Helfand's powerful video diary about being a DES survivor. See Kissed, a fascinating necrophiliac love story, coming soom via the Samuel Goldwyn Company (go figure).

Re-acquaint with pal Peter Gilbert, of Hoop Dreams fame, and catch the world premiere screening of his new film, Prefontaine. All too exciting ‘cause almost the entire cast and crew is there, but the story is a mild let-down and I project all of my fiction filmmaking ambitions and fears onto Peter and Steve James, the director. Marjorie, a non-sports fan if ever there is one (but a huge Peter Gilbert fan), cries throughout the last half.

Walk out of Love God two-thirds of the way through. Admire the digital technology and the low-budget ingenuity, but still no substitute for story with me, old fart that I am. We both walk out of Temptress Moon after 20 minutes. It's shown at the hot, stuffy unraked Yarrow 2 "Theater," where sub-titles are impossible to see. Too bad: the film looks ravishing, if a bit uninvolving.

Hang a bit with Brian and Karol Martesko, catch up with the fabulous Pat Thompson, editor of the Independent, cross-country ski, learn-- at the tender age of 43-- how to breathe through my mouth while swimming (as opposed to my nose), soak endlessly in the hotel's outdoor hot tub, drink lotsa free Starbucks coffee, go to only one party (the IFP) and couldn't care less about blowing off all others.

Next year, should I be lucky enough to have Home Page screening at Sundance, I'll worry about circulating in the right places. This year I'm in the middle of making a film, and, for all the attendant anxieties of producing a low-budget doc, it's a great feeling.

In other years, I've always felt that no matter where I am, I'm missing the action, the party is elsewhere. This year, for me, the Sundance party to be at is wherever I happen to be.

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