Sundance a free-for-all for creativity, place for praise

PARK CITY — Ten days, nine "screenings," five snowstorms, two bottles of eye drops and one parking ticket later, Sundance Twentyten is history, for me anyway.

Arrivederci, Sundance. (Subtitle: So long, Sundance.)

I came into the annual film festival to see if I could get what it's about. I came away still not quite sure, which should make Robert Redford relieved.

What if guys like me figured it out? Once the mystery goes, there goes the festival.

One thing I did get is that Sundance is a free-for-all for creativity — not just in how people make movies, but how they walk, how they talk, how they dress, how they roll.

I was intrigued by what people wear. Scarves; long trenchcoat-type coats; boots in every shape, style and description. But somehow no one, I mean no one, dresses alike.

Something else I discovered is that Sundance is a place for praise.

And as connected as the world has become in the Internet Age, there's still no substitute for good, old-fashioned live applause.

I remember the night in the Eccles Theatre watching a film from Mexico called "Abel."

At the end of the movie, the director, Diego Luna, walked to the stage as 1,270 people gave him an ovation like he'd just liberated Paris.

More than anything, I think that's what filmmakers take from Sundance.

Another thing about Sundance: Spend enough time in line and it dawns on you that you are surrounded by people who not only take movie-watching very seriously, but have huge stamina for doing so.

On the day I watched four movies — for me, a new personal high — I was standing in line for No. 4, wobbling slightly, when I started talking to the man with the colorful scarf and stylish overcoat standing next to me.

"So how many's this for you today?" I asked, sure I'd be able to trump him.

"Let's see," he said, having to think.

Finally he said, "Six."

And that was for the fifth day in a row.

It turned out he was from Switzerland. Besides being a film critic, he helps acquire movies for a film festival in Zurich. ("You know," he explained, "the one where Roman Polanski was caught.")