Film-makers picked up prizes galore at the official closing ceremony for this year's Sundance Film Festival (21 – 31 January 2010), which was hosted on Saturday night. Jim Owen was amongst the winners – picking up an Honorable Mention for his comedy short, Can We Talk? He received a travel grant through Film London's Film-makers' Festival Fund – allowing him to rub shoulders with the other 50,000 attendees. Read Jim’s blog about his experience of taking his short to the world’s leading independent film festival.


Saturday 23 January

AM
First up, at 11am, the directors’ brunch hosted by Robert Redford. It takes place in the Sundance Lodge – where Sundance originated and where the Sundance Labs happen. I plonk myself straight down opposite someone who’s the spitting image of Bill Gates. Then I realise it’s Bill Gates.

It’s interesting to talk to the US directors who’ve made low budget and micro-budget features - which is where I’ll probably attempt to go next, albeit in the UK. Unless the Weinstein brothers get wind of this Film London blog, which they probably will.

Robert Redford’s speech was inspirational. He talked about how the festival began and how he bought the Sundance Lodge from a sheep farmer. Turned out to be a cracking real estate move, that. It must be worth a fortune if he ever wants to sell it. He also said that he felt the films at this year’s festival had taken it back to its roots; back to human stories, told well. That was good to hear.

Festival director John Cooper reminded us all that we are now Sundance Alumni and with that will come future responsibilities. Bring ‘em on.

On the bus home, I meet director James Blagden. He plays me his brilliant animated short Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No.

PM
Our first screening was in a multiplex in Salt Lake City. The film went down well. I was surprised. I thought if ever there was an audience the film would polarise, it’d be the Mormon-heavy SLC.

I did a quick Q&A afterwards where I shook with nerves and gripped the mic with both hands. Thankfully nobody asked me a question with any long words in it. Swedish director Magnus von Horn joined me at the front. His film is like a punch to the gut. The opposite of mine. We joke about this. Nobody laughs. 

Magnus might look twelve years old, and only actually be twenty five, but he has the talent and maturity of a director ten times his (actual) age. That’s right, he’s already about 250 years old in film-making terms. Read about his film – The Echo.

Sunday 24 January

AM
Up very early to meet with an independent US financier. All goes well. He wants to have a look at a new script I’m going to write this year. It was a tricky pitch considering I don’t even have the seed of an idea yet. He said he was interested in securing anywhere between 500k and 5m US dollars for myself and my producer. I told him he really should read the script first, then make a call. I think he was new to the game. I did wonder as I left if he was the human equivalent to one of those emails you get saying you can have 100,000,000 quid if you give them all your bank details and your passport number.

PM
Hefty screening today – a 300 seater – at the Holiday Village Cinema. This time in Park City, which is the heart of Sundance. Dean Craig, writer of Death at a Funeral and the producer of our feature film (which is in development and doesn’t yet have a single penny invested in it) turns up for this one with his mate John Kesselman. John Kesselman is a screenwriter and director and a man that doesn’t stand whingers. Whenever Dean mentions “jetlag”, John quite rightly gives him a dead leg or arm. Sometimes both. This amuses everyone except Dean. I knock out a Q&A. Once you’ve done one…

Monday 25 January

AM
We find distribution for our film through IndieFlix. Scilla, whose idea the whole thing is (IndieFlix, I mean) agrees to take the film without so much as even watching it. She takes a punt on word of mouth. Brave lady. We tell her the film’s a bit rude. She doesn’t seem to care. Hands are shaken.

PM
Screening number three – final one for us before we leave – big old 500 seater in the Library Theatre. It feels good to be watching it with a big audience. People laugh, gasp and tut. Mainly laugh, though. It’s a great screening to end with. Sam (who plays Vince in Can We Talk?), Rach (Sophie, co-lead) and I do the Q&A. Someone asks what’s next for Rach. Rach says “back to porn, probably”. Then they ask Sam. Sam says “directing porn, probably”. The crowd love Sam and Rach. They steal my thunder. I don’t know why I bother inviting them on stage.

Sam gets approached by a huge Hollywood manager. Literally, he’s about 6’4”. Sam is untamable for the rest of the day. We’re all very chuffed for him – he deserves it; his performance in the film is superb.

Tuesday 26 January

AM
I meet with a manager. Not Sam’s, a different one. There’s more than one manager in LA apparently. I pitch her the new short film I’m writing. She laughs. Can’t ask for more than that, right? Apart from loads of help to raise the money for it. She says she’ll read it when it’s finished.

I try to grab the “check” to pay, but she wrestles it from me. Women don’t normally wrestle the bill like that, not the ones I know. The ones I know normally do a pretend wrestle. This was a proper full on, don’t-mess-with-me-LA-style wrestle. I let her pay.

PM
Next up I meet with Cullen and Juli who run the Sundance Labs. The Sundance Labs are legendary and some of the best mentorships in the world. Quentin Tarantino worked here under the guidance of Terry Gilliam while he wrote Reservoir Dogs. That’s good enough for me. I want a piece, badly.

Cullen and Juli like our film and encourage me to apply for the Labs – there’s a screenwriting Lab and a directing Lab. I’ll apply for the one in August. They remind me it’s extremely competitive. Two thousand plus apply each time and they only take five or six people. I suggest they should encourage more people to apply, say about a million, and then take maybe one person. Or half a person. Everyone leaves.

Next up is the Shorts Reception and Ceremony in a local bowling alley. They call everyone forward for the ceremony. Our jaws drop (and nearly our pants as well) when they announce we’ve won an Honorable Mention in Short Film-making. And so have six other film-makers, one of whom is James Blagden, the director I met on the bus, that first morning. The man deserves his Mention.   

The Jury Prize in Short Film-Making prize goes to Drunk History and The Jury Prize In International Short Film-Making goes to The Six Dollar Fifty Man – neither of which I’ve seen, but people tell me Drunk History made them cry with laughter. Sam, Rach, Ben and I are all whisked away with the other winners, to a room where we’re sat down to do a live interview. The interviewer is excitable. She wears a hot pink dress and a massive furry hat. Rachel swears, but in a decent context: “sh*t the bed, Welcome To The Riley’s is good”. Rach likes Jake Scott, you see. And his film.

I top it all off by playing arcade basketball with Tracey Chapman. She’s not very good at basketball. Better at writing songs. We then pay Sam $70 to run and jump into huge pile of snow. The whole night’s a sweet finale to a brilliant week. In fact, straight up, it’s been one of the best weeks of my life.


Watch some of Jim Owen’s short films and other bits and pieces on his official website: www.jamesowen.tv. If you liked this blog, then you may want to keep up with all his film-making babble on Twitter.

The next deadline for the Film-makers' Festival Fund is fast approaching – get your application in before 9 February 2010 if you would like to access a travel grant or strike a print for an overseas festival.