Julia Kwan, director of Eve & the Fire Horse. Photo by Steve Carty.
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Vancouver-based filmmaker Julia Kwan attended this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah to promote her first full-length feature, Eve & the Fire Horse. The picture explores the religious awakening of two Chinese-Canadian girls living with their parents in 1970s Vancouver. The festival, which is held in both Park City and Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City, and ran Jan. 19-29, is one of the main events of the annual festival circuit, and is traditionally known for breaking new, independent talent. During the festival, Kwan kept an online diary as she attended all the hot parties and chatted up all the necessary contacts in the hopes of garnering international attention for her film.
The set-up
Vancouver, B.C.
In 2002, I was invited to screen my Canadian Film Centre short film, Three Sisters on Moon Lake, at the Sundance Film Festival. At the directors’ brunch, Robert Redford made a speech to all the directors about not getting too caught up in the hype and celebrity aspect of the festival. All the while, a few of the directors were snapping his photo!
Every year at the festival, people get into these heated discussions about how Sundance has gone “Hollywood” and is too celebrity-based. (Remember the outcry when Paris Hilton made an appearance last year?!) This year, the festival has made a concerted effort to get back to its indie roots. A lot of the films in competition this year are from first-time filmmakers, starring actors with little or no marquee value. The emphasis is on originality and vision. I’m lucky enough to be one of the directors invited to screen this year. My film, Eve & the Fire Horse, is the only Canadian feature invited, and it is the first Canadian film to compete in the World Cinema Dramatic Section (last year was the inaugural year for that category).
I am so grateful that my first experience at Sundance was with a short film, because there is absolutely no pressure and very few expectations. I did minimal press, watched more than 10 films, attended a few parties and most important, I had the opportunity to meet other up-and-coming writers and directors. (My short film screened with a short from Nicole Kassell, who went on to direct The Woodsman starring Kevin Bacon in 2004.) I anticipate that this year’s experience will be very different.
The most obvious difference this time around: we have an entourage! The list of people making the trek out to Park City includes the producers, many of the actors, the casting director (and her assistant), the costume designer (and her assistant), the co-composer, my Canadian agent, two Canadian publicists, a Los Angeles publicist, a producer’s rep and an international sales agent. My email inbox has increased tenfold. Emails with all the cc’s are flying back and forth!
The other difference is the pressure and the high expectations. It’s odd to suddenly be thrust into the foreground after spending years just quietly toiling away on this film. I’m still getting used to it. With three publicists on board, I anticipate I will be doing a lot of press. My producer told me today there will be three Canadian press cameras following me around! All the publicity will be helpful in achieving the main goals at this festival, which are to secure a U.S. distributor and to make some foreign sales. I hear that there is already a buzz building about this film, as key people have liked it and are spreading the word. Telefilm and B.C. Film have been wonderfully generous and are contributing to the marketing of our film, and the Canadian Consulate is throwing our premiere party, complete with two Mounties on guard at the door. Another possible goal of mine is to find an L.A. agent. I’m already receiving emails from L.A. agents who are interested in talking to me about representation, which, I hear, is pretty normal. Dealing with them reminds me of that film The Big Picture, where the Martin Short character, who’s an agent, tells the Kevin Bacon character, who’s an award-winning film graduate, “I don’t know you, I don’t know your work, but I think you’re very talented.”
I’ve already made a list of the films that I want to see, which include new works by Wim Wenders, Nicole Holofcener, Terry Zwigoff and Michel Gondry. I’m excited by the prospect of getting to meet these directors that I so admire and of discovering new talents. I’m excited to see American Blackout, about Cynthia McKinney, the black Congresswoman who opposed the war in Iraq. (During the Whistler Film Festival last year, I had the good fortune of sharing a ride back to Vancouver with Ian Inaba, the director of American Blackout.) I especially want to catch Isabel Coixet’s The Secret Life of Words with Sarah Polley. I’m a huge fan of Sarah’s. (Incidentally, Sarah and I both had our short films at Sundance the same year.)
And I must confess… I’m excited about the swag. On my previous visit, I received a complimentary PDA/pocket PC. I already know I’ll be receiving two high-end ski jackets… I’m bringing an empty suitcase…
My last time at Sundance, I remember running into a couple of Canadian directors with feature films at the festival. I remember how sleep-deprived and weary they looked. One of them might have even looked a little sweaty. I asked if they had seen any films. None of them had. They had spent the whole time trying to promote and sell their film. I remember thinking it must suck for them to miss out on all the fun. I wonder if some short-filmmaker will be thinking the same about me this year?
