OU Students Visit Sundance

by Curt Cashour
For The Post

Coyote Ugly star Piper Perabo says "hi" to Ohio University.

Meeting the star of this summer’s barroom musical was part of OU senior Eric Desatnik’s workday. He and OU freshman Benji Kayne worked as crowd liaisons at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

The festival, which took place Jan. 18 through Jan. 28 in Park City, Utah, is a showcase for the year's best independent films. According to the festival's Web site (http://www.sundance.org/reg/overview.html), more than 20,000 people come to the festival each year. To handle the crowds and make sure things run smoothly, the festival enlists the help of about 1,100 employees, Kayne said.

"Basically, we did anything that needed to be done," Kayne said, referring to his and Desatnik's jobs at the festival. "We took tickets, organized waiting lists and escorted stars and their entourages."

While working at the festival, Kayne and Desatnik met many celebrities who were there to promote films.

"Probably the most famous person we met was Mick Jagger," Desatnik said. "Him and Lorne Michaels were there to promote a movie they produced called Enigma."

"We had about 30 seconds of small talk with him," Kayne said. "He was getting attention from lots of people, and you could tell he really knew how to handle it."

Another celebrity encounter had to do with actor Patrick Swayze. After Swayze had watched a showing of his movie, Green Dragon, Kayne and Desatnik overheard him say that he was going to stick around for the next film. The problem was that he did not have a ticket.

"Our bosses emphasized the fact that nobody was allowed to get into a film without a ticket, so we had to ask him to leave," Desatnik said.

"After we asked him to leave, he jokingly asked us, 'Do you know who I am?'" Kayne said. "But he didn't give us any trouble."

The Sundance Institute sponsors the festival. Press Office Manager Elisabeth Nebeker describes the institute as a "nonprofit organization committed to the development and support of independent filmmakers and other film and theater artists."

Nebeker said the films displayed at the festival come from entries submitted by filmmakers from all over the world. This year, judges at the institute pored over nearly 3,000 entries to select the 114 feature-length films that were showcased at the festival.

"Anyone can submit their film for review," Nebeker said. "They just have to have it in before our deadline (the first Friday in October)."

Films running at the festival are eligible to receive awards presented by the institute. Along with audiences, juries consisting of three to five people vote to determine the winners. Each jury specializes in one genre of film, but there are several juries. Two main types of awards are presented: jury awards and audience awards, Nebeker said.

This year, the Documentary Grand Jury Prize was given to Southern
Comfort, and the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize was presented to The Believer. The Documentary Audience Award went to two films, Dogtown and Z-Boys and Scout's Honor, while Hedwig and the Angry Inch took away Dramatic Audience Award honors.

The Sundance festival focuses on films, but the social aspects were the best part, Kayne said. While crowds of people waited to get into parties, festival employees Kayne and Desatnik were able to bypass the lines because their names were on guest lists. Their VIP status led them to performances by Radiohead, Everclear and Three Doors Down.

Working at the festival was more than a job for the students. It was an introduction to the world of celebrities — with surprises.

"That was the biggest shocker, "Kayne said. "That all these important people are really just people."