While most of my friends slaved over reading Dystopian literature or analyzing memory disorders this winter term, I had the privilege of watching movies and playing in the snow. And no, there wasn’t a random blizzard at Elon that you somehow missed out on; don’t worry. I was one of 16 lucky students who got the chance to go to Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah this past week, and it was nothing like I’ve ever experienced in my life (in a good way, of course).
The class, appropriately called the “Sundance Experience,” was a special experiential trip offered to Communication Fellows, who had to apply and be accepted in order to go. It consisted of two weeks of preparation where we discussed how the festival works, as well as watched films and learned to review them based on our visceral reactions, and then one week of attending the festival and experiencing everything it had to offer.
Before I blabber on continuously about all the awesome things I got to do in Park City, I’ll start off with some of the harder things to deal with: first of all, snow. As a born and raised North Carolinian, I’m lucky to see snow once a year, so trudging through almost three feet of it in the mountainous Utah terrain definitely took some getting used to. And let’s not forget that snow is synonymous with the cold, which was always fun to deal with while waiting in line for films at seven in the morning.
Now on to the fun stuff: I not only got to see interesting, artistic films of all sorts of genres, the cultural atmosphere at Sundance is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. There was a mutual energy of excitement with everyone I came across. Talking to people about what they were at the festival for or what kind of films they like felt completely natural, and not awkward in the least.
Additionally, I saw more celebrities in one week than I’ve ever seen (and probably will see) in my entire life. Robert Redford (who originally created the festival) presented the first movie I saw, and as my friends and I walked back to our house, I saw none other than Paris Hilton slinking down the street in white skinny jeans and heeled booties. The next day, several of us won passes to see a private Jason Mraz concert, and we even got to watch a Q&A session with Andy Samberg after seeing the premiere of his film “Celeste and Jesse Forever.”
The trip was an incredible way to spend my last week of winter term, and even though I may have picked up a slight cold during my travels, it was completely worth it. For anyone who wants to watch amazing movies, meet celebrities and be surrounded by rugged beauty, I suggest putting Sundance Film Festival on your “must do” list.