Vagrants

Welcome to Slumdance. May we be the first to offer you a hearty "hello" and a warm hug as you enter our humble Slum. Please, make yourselves at home. Everything we have is yours.

We know what you're thinking. Another one? Do we really need another one? Can we stand another one?

Our feeling is yes. Slumdance is a collective of creative people who have put aside their egos (around the Slum, we like to say "checked them at the door"), pooled their talent and their meager savings and banded together behind a single, deeply held belief: One sideshow is just not enough.

We want to be your new sideshow.

It's a Slumdance!

So, we hear you saying, what is Slumdance?

First and foremost, Slumdance is a publicity stunt. Thank you for your participation.

Second, Slumdance is a Website. Here in the Alley you'll find news about us when it breaks. Someday we may have a schedule or program or something, and you'll also find it here. The Gutter contains all of our ideas for promotion, marketing and sponsorships. Bring your checkbook. We keep our mail in the Dumpster and our good intentions in the Mission.

But wait, there's more: Slumdance is also a party. We have a most interesting Park City location we wouldn't dream of divulging right now, a deejay with a neat nickname and, like, some party favors and stuff. You can come if you want.

Oh yeah, and Slumdance is also some films. Not a film festival, mind you. On our recent Park City location scout, a nice woman at the Chamber of Commerce (with some interesting ideas on the First Amendment) informed us that we could show up with our films, if we really had to, but only if we didn't call ourselves a "film festival."

That's the great thing about Park City political figures. They don't hide their feelings. They say things like, "So you basically got rejected?" and "Robert Redford is like a god to us" and "We definitely favor Sundance here." And they're not shy about dropping the name of the Chief of Police in foreboding tones.

It works, too. We have no desire to meet the Chief of Police of Park City. Thus, we are not the Slumdance Film Festival. We are the 1997 Slumdance Experience. We like it better, anyway.

But Slumdance isn't just a publicity stunt, a Website, a party and some films. Around the Slum, we like to say that Slumdance is a state of mind. Then we whack ourselves over the head repeatedly for uttering that cliche. And then we scratch our crotches, hack up some phlegm and beg each other for money.

We take the vagrant metaphor seriously, and that's the way it should be.