Best of Fest

Best of Fest is for locals to get a chance to see two of the award winning films from Sundance when the festival is over. The tickets are free so we were very busy packing the theater as full as we could last night. I had to keep walking through and count seats, asking people to move in, are the people they're saving the seat for really coming back, etc.

After we loaded the theater there was one woman waiting in the lobby who asked to speak with me. (She asked if I was someone who had some "clout"--I hate that word.) I assumed she was just upset about not getting in to see the movie, but it was something much more elaborate. She then proceeded to tell me how several years ago she'd taken her four daughters to a beauty pageant and there she'd met James Baldwin. Apparently he'd just been through AA and they started talking and she wanted to mail him a Book of Mormon. He'd given her his address, but she'd lost it and wondered if I knew someone who could send it to him.??

I was kind of taken aback. Then she told me how she'd prepared the package, one for James Baldwin and one for Michael and Kathryn Douglas who she had also met. She had written a nice letter and packaged them up in manila envelopes, taped them up, and written her return address on each with their names for the delivery address. And she really just wanted someone to send them for her so she could get it off her chest. She really wouldn't take no for an answer, even though I kept telling her that I didn't want to take that responsibility. She'd say "Well I really feel like I have to do it because I came all the way downtown and I got a parking place and everything and I didn't get into the movie. I just want to feel like my time was worth it. You look like a nice girl, I can give these to you and you can find the right person to send them on."

Finally I just said I'd check with someone else, walked over to the other Sundance manager and asked her to pretend I was checking something, came back and told the woman again that I didn't want that responsibility. That I'm not part of Sundance staff, I don't know who would mail it for her or have that address information if anyone even did. I told her I was a volunteer manager and that I didn't want to and couldn't do anything for her. Then she asked if the people over at Trolley Square (where they were selling festival tickets and merchandise during the festival) might have more "clout." All I said was "maybe" and that got her off my chest. I really do feel sorry for her, but did she really think I was going to mail some packages to James Baldwin and Michael Douglas for her?

And that's how this year ended. Between shows I went to Squatters with the other manager, her husband, one of the volunteers, and his friend. It was fun to just hang out for a bit and I hope we all get together again before next year, but sometimes that's just the way it goes.