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So yesterday morning we
took 300 press releases to the Sundance press office, hoping
to stuff them into the mailboxes of the media reps there.
Many reporters had asked us to do so.
We met two very nice
volunteers, who told us that they could not let us put the
information in the mailboxes. (It seemed to be implied that
if they could read the
information first, they might revise their decision.)
We asked for reasons.
"Policy" and "this office is only for Sundance filmmakers"
were the only ones offered. Our satire cilia were of course
aroused.
We asked if the "no-press
for Slumdance" policy was considered to be in the
independent spirit of Sundance. That pissed them
off.
"We used to like you
guys," said one volunteer. That hurt.
Aware that we weren't
going away, the volunteers ushered us into the back to talk
to R.J., who was also very nice.
R.J. offered the same
routine: "policy." He especially didn't like the
"independent spirit of Sundance" question. We pressed for
the motivation behind blocking us from the media, but we
didn't hear anything that sounded like an answer.
Still R.J. remained
professional and cordial (more so than us--sleep-deprived
and paranoid, we were probably as bitchy as freshman
Slamdancers), and he offered to let us see the Managing
Director of the Sundance Film Festival.
We waited.
Nicole, the Managing
Director, also extremely pleasant, came out. We sat on a
bench to chat.
Nicole didn't waste any
time with vague institutional phrases. She came right out
and said, "If we let you do this, we'll have to let
Slamdance and every filmmaker in Park City do it,
too."
We were floored. It was a
pretty good reason. Our publicity-crazed brain hadn't
thought of that. We were about to sigh, nod our heads, and
say we understood when Nicole noticed the Vagrant with the
camera.
She was upset. She looked
at us with disappointment and quickly walked away. We were
about to yell out, "Nicole! Stop! We've realized there's no
satire here, except maybe on us!"
But it was too late. She
was gone. And now we're worried Sundance won't love us
anymore. We still love them.
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