T minus 3 days and counting!

Kristine and I leave for Park City, Utah, on Thursday, January 15th to attend the Sundance Film Festival for the second year in a row. I first attended Sundance in 2005 and have been back every year since. Last year, I convinced Kristine to accompany me. We had an amazing time, even though I was in the throes of my pregnancy. The belly actually served us quite well in getting seated at the best restaurants. Somehow, an obviously pregnant woman loudly proclaiming "I'm hunnnngggry" tends to make hosts very uncomfortable and eager to seat you at a table at the back of the restaurant--which happens to be the best location for celebrity-watching. I didn't think I would be able to go to Sundance again this year for obvious reasons, but my wonderful husband and his mom have agreed to assume full time Lyla duty while I get my much-needed indie film and Kristine fix for the year.

After the adventures we had at Sundance last year (Paris Hilton! William H. Macy!), Kristine and I thought it would be fun to include our friends in the excitement through this blog. We'll keep you updated on the films, the buzz, and the celebrity sightings (fingers crossed), as we travel once more to Park City, Utah, where the weather is cold but the action is hot!

We have tickets for Thursday night--the Opening Night film, Mary and Max--starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette.

Sundance Film Festival Guide review of Mary and Max:

{Mary and Max} is unique. A claymation animation by Academy Award–winning filmmaker Adam Elliot (Harvie Krumpet), it tells the simple story of a 20-year pen-pal friendship between two very different people: Mary Dinkle, a chubby, lonely 8-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horowitz, a 44-year-old Jewish man, who is severely obese, suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, and lives an isolated life in New York City. It is very much a triumph of emotion, insight, and eccentricity—a complete delight.Animation's ability to capture the intricate complexity of life has never been on display in as absorbing fashion as with the storytelling of this Australian filmmaker, who truly makes you forget what you are watching. The originality of the voices in this ever-spinning kaleidoscope of innocence and idiosyncrasy comes straight from an incredibly rich imagination and complete artistic vision. This desire for acceptance and love amid the pain of existence is masterfully narrated by Barry Humphries and fleshed out by the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette.This film that explores friendship, autism, taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism, where babies come from, obesity, kleptomania, trust, copulating dogs, sexual and religious differences, agoraphobia, and more, and is rooted in a very personal relationship, is proof of why we go to the movies and a truly exceptional portrait of compassion and love.CASTToni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Humphries, Eric Bana
Adam Elliot - Academy Award–winning writer/director Adam Elliot is a celebrated independent animator. His films—Uncle, Cousin, Brother and Harvie Krumpet—have participated in more than 500 film festivals and won more than 100 awards, including the Academy Award for best animated short film in 2004 for Harvie Krumpet. The film also won a FIPRESCI Prize and an honorable mention at Sundance, where it screened in 2004. All four films have won the Australian Film Institute's award for the best short animated film of their year. Mary and Max is Elliot's first feature film.