Sundance 2013

Remember when I blogged about Sundance 2011 and how I maybe, almost saw Dustin Hoffman?

Well, unlike that year, this year I actually went to a Sundance movie. Two, actually.

We started it off by going to see a movie called Jiseul at the actual Sundance Resort.

This movie was about  a massacre of people who lived on an island off the coast of South Korea, when the US Government said everyone living more than 5 miles off the coast of Korea was a communist and soliders had orders to shoot and kill them. A group of 60 people hid out in a cave, and the movie was about their story to survive.

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The movie was very artsy, and was all black and white. Some scenes were beautiful while other seens were hard to see what was going on and honestly, the movie left me a little confused. I wish the director had been there to explain things a little better.

If I had stopped here I don't know if I would have ever come back for another Sundance movie.

The real movie I wanted to see is called A River Changes Course. I waited in the waitlist for this movie since it was sold out by the time I bought my locals tickets. I'm so happy I got in!

This screening was in Park City and I got to finally feel the vibe of what Sundance is all about. This movie is a documentary about Cambodia (now do you see why I wanted to see this!) It follows the story of three teenagers in different parts of the country who are all effected in different ways by the changes that Cambodia is undergoing (overfishing, deforestation, and factories).

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This film was beautifully done. The director was there to talk about her experience in making the film which made  it even richer. I've seen a few documentaries about Cambodia, and this is by far the most real one I've seen. She was able to capture Cambodia and the stuggles the Khmer people face to a tee. There were so many times I smiled because I saw or heard small things I experienced on a daily basis while living there. I think it was so beautifully done because it was done from a Cambodian perspective, and it was just following their lives instead of a documentary done from a western perspective. If you have the opportunity to see this film. SEE IT.

I even got to speak Khmer with a group of women who were sitting behind me. One of them said my pronunciation was wonderful and said I spoke better khmer than her since she was born in the US. And then she asked me something I misunderstood and I looked like a total idiot. I'm just impressed I could speak at all after 5 months of being home. Oh, and the main girl in their group was from my province and knew another Peace Corps volunteer. In case any PCVs are reading this, they're going to do screenings of this movie all around Cambodia, so I'll share my info soon.

I am so glad I got to see movies this year and that I got to see both ends of Sundance, since you never really know what you're going to end up seeing.