Photo: Destin, Phoenix and Brad Henke during Short Term 12 Q&A

I apologize that these blogs are getting a tad less consistent and detailed. But I’ve been incredibly sleep-deprived and feel like I’m on a gradual decent into zombiedom (which I’m pretty sure isn’t a word, but I have lost the ability to care about such things). A lot has happened over the past two days, and I wish I had the time to explain it all in detail, but there are just too many things to do at this crazy festival.

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Today was a great day. I was able to get in five hours of sleep last night, which was a record for me so far. I hopped on a bus at 11:30 a.m. with 50 other filmmakers and we drove up into the mountains for the Directors’ Brunch. The food was delicious, and more importantly, free. The room was packed with some of the best filmmakers on planet earth.

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This morning I got on a big bus and drove through the mountains to the Directors’ Brunch. (This definitely felt like some weird form of summer camp, including the crush I had on the director I ended up sitting next to). The drive was beautiful and it was fun to hang out with other filmmakers. One of the directors I hit it off with was Laurel Nakadate, whose movie Stay The Same Never Change is playing in my same section New Frontiers. The films stars amateur actors in Kansas City who are filmed in their real homes. Peter Callahan (seen after the jump) is a really interesting filmmaker from New York; his movie Against the Current is about a guy who swims up the Hudson River and stars my favorite Mary Tyler Moore among others.

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It’s day three, and I’m having a good time. Nice sunny weather for the Directors’ Brunch today where all the directors go out and listen to Robert Redford give a talk. It’s pretty inspiring, at a nice location up in the mountains. Sundance is a weird place. Walking around Main Street, it’s part frat house, part rich persons’ haven, part grungy filmakers. It’s a weird mix of people that this town draws. I’ve seen a couple of movies, and now I’m just relaxing and getting ready for my premiere. I’m getting antsy for that to happen already after being here for three days. People are nice. That’s pretty much the story.

Last night at midnight, my film played for its very first audience at the Egyptian. In my wildest fantasies, I couldn’t have made up a better way to show this film: midnight on the first night of Sundance, at the Egyptian, in front of a fantastic horror film (we’re paired with Grace), surrounded by friends.  I still can’t get over that the first film I ever directed and took on the festival circuit is playing at Sundance. Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous, but I’ll tell you, it was more like a reunion than some kind of test or whatever I might have expected.

We had a huge group of people in the audience who were there specifically to support Rite, including actors Tabitha Morella and David Bickford, producer Aaron Goldstein, composer Kays Alatrakchi, and of course, my husband/associate producer/editor Ben Rock, along with a bunch of good friends. It was also coincidence time, because my friend Brandy Davis happened to be the volunteer working at the Egyptian, so she got to see the film. I even ran into an old co-worker from ten years ago!

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Today was a busy day at Sundance. Stella and I went to a few interviews to promote You Wont Miss Me — one with a biker radio station called Radio from Hell (see the picture below) and another with a Web site called Filmcatcher.

We walked around on Main Street, which is kind of a trip in an awesome way; the town is across between the Swiss Alps and Mrs. Claus. We also found these funny twins at a party. Park City is crawling with interesting characters like these two.

Stay tuned for more…

Overnight this place has transformed from a ghost town to a zoo. We checked in at Sundance headquarters, and the place was packed.  I met a group of filmmakers from Argentina who have a short called Plan B (which screened at Cannes last year), and they told me I could stay with them if I ever came to their country.  I don’t think they realize that I’m actually going to take them up on that.  Aside from all the free tickets and passes, Sundance provided a stipend for food and some free boots and a jacket from Timberline, which was great because my toes were cold.

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I don’t think I’ll ever forget when I found out my short Boutonniere got in. It was the night before Thanksgiving, 6:00 p.m., and my girlfriend and I had a delivery menu out, ready to order some Thai food. The phone rang and when I checked the caller ID, it said Sundance Institute. My heart stopped. I looked up at my special lady friend and told her it was Sundance. I’m not sure how well swearing goes over on this thing, but she proceeded to recite a long string of “No f***ing ways!”

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Today I flew on a plane to Park City. My flight left at 9 a.m. and it was snowing and freezing in New York. It was a ‘Sundance’ flight — full of people who seemed to know each other and were all going to the festival.

Stella [Schnabel] was on the flight, so were my parents and Kevin Bacon. It was a small plane without a lot of leg room and it felt like an unusually long flight. I kept wondering if the other people were important film industry people I should be talking to, but I didn’t know who they were, so I chatted with my immediate neighbors and then went to sleep.

When we got into Park City it was sunny and beautiful. Stella went to take a nap with James the make-up artist and Josephine (who also acts in You Won’t Miss Me) and I met up. Jo and I dropped our stuff off at our house and then went to registration which was a bit of an ordeal. There were a lot of details to cover in a short period of time like how many tickets I get, and to which screenings and parties, securing peoples’ badges, etc…

I’ve never been to Utah, before so my filmmaker coordinator Colleen was kind enough to explain the lay of the land. I knew the house we rented was near the library so I wanted to figure out where everything was in relation to the library.

Watch the video that I created exclusively for Flavorwire here.

So my plane didn’t crash into the Hudson. I got here safely. I’m in Park City, where it’s the opposite of what it is in New York; it’s not snowing, it’s beautiful and sunny here. I just checked into the filmmakers area, and there was Spike Lee checking in beside me and collecting his free Timberland boots and jacket just like me. I’m liking this festival thing so far.