Filmmaker as indie as indie gets

"It's a roller coaster. Tragedy strikes. It's real as dirt," is all Kohs will say. "You have to see it."

The documentary will air again on Thursday, Jan. 24, at 4:30 p.m., also at the Treasure Mountain Inn, after which Kohs and Kleczewski will pack up their film cannisters and head back home. If they get picked up by a distributor, great; if not, well, it's not why they're here.

"I'd like to gain respect as a long-term storyteller," says Kohs, "whose day job is producing 30- and 60-second TV ads and spots (and who, Kleczewski points out in an aside, has won 10 Emmys working for NFL Films).

Or, more to the point, as a long-term storyteller who did it his way, "with no compromise for commerce sake."

"There are documentaries here at Sundance with $20 million budgets," he says. "At Slamdance, you can't go over $1 million."

So there you go, Andrea. At least we have a ballpark.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.