Comments about ‘About Utah: Sundance a free-for-all for creativity, place for praise’

that's what counts.

After your initial column in this series, I was concerned you might turn in reverse-snobbery reports, sneerily dismissing the fest as mere Hollywood posturing and evidence of its out-of-touch-ness with the hoi polloi. Pleasantly disappointed. I think you may have actually grasped a bit of the magic that Sundance can offer if you peek behind the glitz. There is something special about the communal experience of watching a film in a crowded theater on the big screen (as opposed to at home alone on DVD). Add to that some remarkable stories (Amish rumspringa in "The Devil's Playground") and people (a Hiroshima survivor at Q&A after "White Flash/Black Rain") and visuals (any frame of "March of the Penguins") and look out! Sure, Sundance has some clunkers and too much celebrity focus, but what you remember are the irreplaceable experiences. If you had been there last year at a screening of "Precious" (under its original title "Push"), you would know what I mean.