Support for PBS.org provided by:

What's this?

Visit Your Local PBS Station PBS Home PBS Home Programs A-Z TV Schedules Support PBS Shop PBS Search PBS
DOCUMENTARIES WITH A POINT OF VIEW

Watching the Inauguration at Sundance

January 20, 2009 12:17 PM, by Yance

Yance FordP.O.V. series producer Yance Ford writes in on Inauguration Day from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

It's a bright, chilly day here in Park City, and the mood on the streets, buses and in the coffee shops at Sundance is buoyant. Dozens of filmmakers have gathered here at the Sundance Documentary Fund's filmmaker lounge to watch the inauguration taking place in Washington, D.C. Cara Mertes (the director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Program, who also happens to be the former executive director of P.O.V.) and her staff have a jumbo projection screen at one end of the room and a flat screen TV at the other. I was among the early arrivals at the lounge, and helped rearrange the furniture so all the couches were facing the television — nothing like making yourself at home.

Watching the inauguration at the Sundance filmmakers loung

Watching the inauguration at the Sundance Documentary Fund's filmmaker lounge

There are more Emmy, Oscar and Sundance Audience Award winners in this room than you can shake a stick at. Filmmakers Pamela Yates, Rahdi Taylor and Paco de Onis, P.O.V. alums Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country and Flag Wars) and Anne Makepeace (Rain in a Dry Land and Baby, It's You), Women Make Movies Executive Director Debbie Zimmerman, former director of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and current executive producer at the International Center for Transitional Justice Productions Bruni Burres, film editor Mary Lampson, blogger and Austin Film Society communications manager Agnes Varnum, Shooting People's Ingrid Koop...the list goes on and on. It's great to be in the company of so many filmmakers and documentary industry forces on this historic day!

Heading into the second week of the Festival, the documentaries have generated a fair amount of excitement among audiences. The Reckoning premiere yesterday was packed; P.O.V. alum Eric Daniel Metzgar's film, Reporter, also played to a full house, a doc titled The Cove has been the talk of the last 24 hours and The Yes Men Save the World has sold out every screening. Go docs!

Today I'm off to see the doc We Live in Public, as well as a few panels at the filmmaker lodge. Happy Inauguration Day, everyone!

Tags: Documentary News, Sundance '09, film festivals, politics

Posted by Yance on January 20, 2009 12:17 PM | PermaLink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Comments

Post a Comment


Are you aware of our Comment Policy?

Are you having trouble posting comments to the P.O.V. Blog?

*Your email address is for internal purposes only and will not be published, shared or sold to other entities.

Email this Post


 @ 

 @ 





Recent Comments

  1. The film was very well done. I found myself however, wondering two things at the end. 1. Why did ... More »
    J.A. | January 20, 2009

  2. This is truly a wonderful moment in history. We have lived in the shadow of incompentence for eight ... More »
    Edward | January 20, 2009

  3. What an amazing story. I've researched a lot and viewed a lot of media about the Holocaust. The st... More »
    Amy | January 19, 2009

  4. You may use HTML tags for style and links. Does anyone know of live streaming on the net for the ina... More »
    Marilyn | January 19, 2009

  5. Dear Helen. After seeing last night for the first time this very special POV program on our local st... More »
    frederick Klotsch | January 17, 2009