PARK CITY — Films, of course, are the intended focus of the Sundance Film Festival ... but that's not true for all those streaming into Park City.

About 200 aficionados gathered Saturday to hear what filmmakers and a panel of experts had to say in a discussion dubbed "The Times, Did They A-Change?"

But the festival's other reality was evident on Main Street, where every year at this time people hoof it up and down the steep hill to see and be seen, where crowds gather for a chance to glance at "somebody" — or anybody, in some cases.

Sisters Mindy Atwood and Mary Kennedy flew in from Ohio hoping to see a few stars in Park City.

"We're determined to see a star," Atwood said while standing out in the cold. "What better place to come and stargaze?"

A few miles away at the Prospector Square Theatre, the panel discussion comparing today's counterculture with what it looked like in the 1960s fulfilled at least one intent of the festival, spelled out on buttons that urge people to "focus" on the films.

Movies like "Chicago 10," for example, are sparking heated conversations about the role of filmmakers who try to portray the subject of counterculture. The film's director, Brett Morgen, took plenty of heat during Saturday's discussion from panelists and audience members who were upset he wasn't a more accurate historian in his examination of the 1968 street fights between police and demonstrators during the Democratic National Convention and the aftermath.

"I think we need to be a little less precious with history," Morgen said.

When pressed for what kind of a message he was trying to send with "Chicago 10," Morgen said it was to compel the movie's viewers to "rise up," let their voices be heard and to take a more active role in society.

"There's a million things I didn't put in there," he told a woman in the audience who said she was disappointed with the film. Morgen said his intent was to create something that functioned more on an emotional or visceral level rather than to produce a detailed account of what happened during the 1960s.

While the panel discussion turned into a debate about Morgen's film, the conversation did dip into areas of activism and social change. The panel was asked what Americans learned from activism and the counterculture in the '60s.

"We learned that the world outside the U.S. matters," said panelist Patricia Zimmerman, a professor at Ithaca College. "What matters (today) is connecting with other people" who are not like ourselves, she added.

Back out on Main Street, people were trying to connect with people not like themselves in the form of their favorite Hollywood stars.

At the bottom of the street, where actors check in to the festival for their credentials, a steady stream of stars like Teri Hatcher, Christian Slater, Tara Reid, Molly Shannon, Jamie Kennedy — and on and on — stopped for photo ops with fans and media.

While the identities of some actors weren't obvious to sisters Atwood and Kennedy, they admitted to just having fun screaming and whooping when everyone else did.

---

E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com