(EDITOR: Many students imagine their work after School someday making it into the festival circuit. What many don’t realize is that, with the right dedication and hustle, their work AS STUDENTS can make it all the way to Sundance/Slamdance. Director Jonathan Langager’s thesis film Josephine and the Roach is premiering at Slamdance today. Below are his notes.)
Greetings from Park City. I’ve just arrived after a day of traveling (the last stretch being a very long and chilly shuttle trip from Salt Lake City).I’m here screening my thesis film “Josephine and the Roach” at Slamdance. The first screening is tomorrow (January 18th) at 12:30pm, the second is on Monday at 2:00pm.
I’ve been looking forward to this trip for quite some time. Well, for me “looking forward” resides in the blurred boundary between nervous excitement and abject terror. Park City, after all, is to filmmakers what the Vatican is to priests. It’s holy and somewhat mysterious– a place where powerful people gather to do powerful things. Saints are canonized. Films are financed. Drinks are imbibed. Hence the anxiety. “Networking” does that to me.
But, I’ve packed my screeners, postcards, and business cards. I am ready. If I hand these things to all of the fancy people that I meet, I will have done my job. And so, now that I’m actually here and somewhat prepared, my nervousness- the clammy palms and knotted stomach- has subsided. “Looking forward” has become just that. I am looking forward to the screenings, the Q&As, the Filmmaker Sled-off, the Hot Tub Summit, and the countless hours spent talking with filmmakers about film. I will simply ignore all of the “networking” and just make a few friends.
Until next time…