Sundance Film Festival

I’m excited to be going to the Sundance Film Festival this week. There’ll be a whole new lineup of exciting documentary films that I won’t have time to watch during the crazy Park City hubbub.

Last year at Sundance, I had time in between networking and parties to watch five films in five days. However, over the course of 2009, I dragged my girlfriends (not unwillingly) to see several documentaries that have premiered at Sundance and were now being released theatrically.

Among the most memorable: The Cove, an action packed character-driven film with an inspiring ending (although I did have to close my eyes for 10 seconds during the dolphin bloodbath).

I also was pleasantly surprised by Crude, Joe Berliner’s extraordinary exposé on the environmental impact of big oil in Ecuador. I had initially walked out of this film because I found the opening too depressing. I sneaked my friend into No Impact Man, which we loves. But the next day, I went back to see Crude and was very moved him in… even inspired.

The one final recommendation from last year’s Sundance lineup: rent William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe. Produced by Susi Korda and Kunstler’s own daughters Emily and Sarah, this moving film combines the best of the personal documentary genre and the biopic.