Watermark is at the Sundance Film Festival!

It's time for the 2012 Sundance Institute Film Festival in Park City, Utah and for the first time in our 18 Ԛ½ year history, Watermark Media has been invited to cover it. (It helps too that the partner of one of Watermark's staff is a Patron of the Sundance Institute.) Mark Cady, Orlando sales and online marketing director, is representing Watermark alongside national news outlets including NBC and CNN.  

Mark and his partner, Carlos Archilla, will be reporting from Sundance through Jan 28th, providing photos and commentary on several films relevant to the LGBT community and one tied directly to Central Florida. Watch this space for updates all week long!

Read Watermark’s Sundance preview!

See a Shot on Site gallery of photos from Sundance!

Day 5: Awards!
Saturday night the Sundance Film Festival Award Ceremony took place in Park City, Utah. Watermark had the privilege to cover the ceremony from the first row with other major media outlets. The environment was festive as filmmakers, sponsors, actors, press and supporters lit up the audience.

The major prize of the night- The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, was presented by Director Justin Lin (The Fast and the Furious) to â┚¬Å”Beasts of The Southern Wildâ┚¬Â. This film is a great achievement in cinematography that tells the story of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her dad at the edge of the world as everything south of the levee is going under.

Other major Awards included:

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting:

Presented by Cliff Martinez to Ben Lewin for â┚¬Å”The Surrogateâ┚¬Â

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize:

Awarded to Macky Alston for â┚¬Å”Love Free or Dieâ┚¬Â

World Dramatic Jury Prize:

Awarded to â┚¬Å”Violeta Went to Heavenâ┚¬Â from Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain
One of the Producers who provided the most memorable accepting speech when accepting the Award she stated, â┚¬Å”my English is poor, please see the film and have lots of sexâ┚¬Â

World Documentary Jury Prize:

Awarded to â┚¬Å”The Law in These Partsâ┚¬Â from Israel

U.S. Directing Award:

Awarded to Lauren Greenfield for â┚¬Å”Queen of Versaillesâ┚¬Â

The Audience Awards went to:

U.S. Documentary:

â┚¬Å”The Invisible Warâ┚¬Â a story about the crisis of rape cases in the U.S. Military

U.S. Dramatic:

â┚¬Å”The Surrogateâ┚¬Â

Among the award presenters were the legendary actor Edward James Olmos and Julia Ormond (My Week with Marilyn and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

After the Award Ceremony we caught up with Lauren Greenfield, Director of â┚¬Å”Queen of Versaillesâ┚¬Â and she was excited about the Director Award and told us how much it meant to her making this film â┚¬Å”I just called Jackie (Siegel) and told her about the Award, she is so excitedâ┚¬Â she added.

We also caught up with Ben Lewin and Judi Levin, Director and Producer of â┚¬Å”The Surrogateâ┚¬Â and we congratulated them of their achievement. We asked about timing to broad theatrical release and Producer Levin noted, â┚¬Å”we are having a meeting next week. With the Oscar buzz, we might need to wait until the Fallâ┚¬Â and Oscar buzz is indeed true, the film and performances and truly Oscar-worthy.

We spent some time with the team from â┚¬Å”Love Free or Dieâ┚¬Â who were overjoyed with the Award.

The Award party afterwards was a lot of fun and a great opportunity for the audience, filmmakers and actors to spend a festive time together.

We would like to thank everyone at Watermark Media who made this reporting possible. We would like to acknowledge everyone at the Sundance Institute, the Film Festival Leadership including John Cooper- Director of the Sundance Film Festival, Trevor Groth-Senior Director of Programming, The Patron Circle Office and very importantly, the Managers of the Sundance Institute Press Office- Elizabeth Latenser and Casey De La Rosa for allowing Watermark Media to have this breakthrough coverage. Our gratitude goes to Mackey Alston and Bishop Gene Robinson for dedicating part of their busy schedule to conduct our interview. Thank you to Rory Kennedy, Ira Sachs, Ben Lewin, Lauren Greenfield, David France and many other Directors who shared with Watermark Media their directing experiences. More importantly, we want to thank all our readers for following this coverage. This report is dedicated to all of you.

Coming to Sundance expands your horizons and gives you a new life perspective to common and complex human issues. All of us feel more enriched as individuals by this experience.

Until Sundance 2013!

Day 4: Jan. 28, 2012
The day started by attending the screening of â┚¬Å”How to Survive a Plague.”

Long before social media, a group of mostly HIV-positive young men and women broke the mold as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical establishment. â┚¬Å”How To Survive A Plagueâ┚¬Â, chronicles the fight for life-saving drugs and the history of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) fighting for these issues. The film serves as a reminder of the plague that has taken millions of lives worldwide and the lives saved as a result of the actions taken by HIV/AIDS activists.  

Most of us remember it, but for a newer generation, the struggle against the U.S. Government and pharmaceutical companies is nothing more than a history lesson. And it's a history lesson that every gay man and women should know.  

The audience was treated to the unannounced appearance of the director, producers and main subjects of the film, Peter Staley and Ron Gonldberg.  When asked what they thought was their most creative way to display their message, Staley said it was when they put a giant condom on Senator Jesse Helms home, a five-term Republican Senator from North Carolina who was very vocal against the need for prevention techniques.  Gonldberg jumped up and down with excitement and said it was when a group of them donned clown masks in the middle of a speech that made the assertion that the AIDS crisis was over.  

â┚¬Å”How To Survive A Plagueâ┚¬Â has been picked up by Sundance Selects for distribution.  

Among new and established filmmakers, Sundance opens the door to aspiring and new upcoming storytellers. We had the opportunity to meet with Jeff Williams and Gina Stoj from Theater 48 and we learned about the play â┚¬Å”Finding the Burnett Heart.” The play tells a story about a dysfunctional family where the grandson breaks his silence about his sexuality to his grandfather providing a cross-generational new view of a coming out story.  

We attended the highly anticipated, Hollywood star-studded Closing Film â┚¬Å”The Wordsâ┚¬Â

A well-established writer played by Dennis Quaid achieves greatness and is ready to launch his new novel â┚¬Å”The Words.” His novel tells the story about an aspiring young writer (played by â┚¬Å”the sexiest man aliveâ┚¬Â Bradley Cooper) that after finding another man's writings about his haunting memories, he claims this story of his own and writes a novel verbatim that propelled him to stardom.  When confronted by the original writer, now an old man (Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons) Cooper's character is cornered into admitting that he plagiarized the story. They decide to come clean about the truth.  His decision changes after he meets with the old man again who decides not to be a whistle-blower but he lays down his feelings and gives him a warning. The old man feels that he has already lost his wife and daughter and now he's lost his words. The story is not about â┚¬Å”the truth will set you freeâ┚¬Â but rather your decisions and choices in life will haunt you more than the facts themselves. Beautiful film and a great Closing Film for Sundance has been picked up by CBS Films with an expected fall release.

The last film of the night was â┚¬Å”Queen of Versaillesâ┚¬Â

Already shrouded in a veil of controversy, â┚¬Å”Queen of Versaillesâ┚¬Â is a story that follows the Siegels, a Central Florida family, who have built the largest time-share company in the world – Westgate Resorts. The documentary starts by portraying their lavish life during the building of their 90,000 sf home (the largest home in America) called Versailles. Unexpectedly as the documentary was being filmed, the business empire goes into financial crisis during the mortgage and financial collapse of 2008.  Their lifestyle collapsed and they have to become a more â┚¬Å”cost-consciousâ┚¬Â family. The story changed from it's original intent but more important, David, Jackie and the family change as individuals. With mixed reviews from the audience, the film shows that the financial collapse has affected Americans of all walks of life. The film has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures and it is expected a summer release.

Day 3: Jan. 27, 2012
Our day began with the opportunity to sit down privately with Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson, the subject of â┚¬Å”Love Free or Dieâ┚¬Â and the film's director Macky Alston.  Bishop Robinson granted us this interview in the shadows of the recent death of his mother and a broken leg from a fall.  His graciousness far exceeded our expectations upon learning of these tragedies.  

You may recall back in June 2003, the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire came under fire when it became the first to elect an openly gay man Bishop.  Since then, Robinson has been at the center of the contentious battle for LGBT people to receive full acceptance in the faith.  This belief almost caused a schism in the Anglican Communion and it is still a polarizing point of conflict in the Church.  

Growing up the son and grandson of Presbyterian Ministers, Alston said it was his calling as a gay Christian to make this movie about Robinson, who himself became a lightening rod for the change, that he himself had wanted all his life.  This documentary is unlike others about the Christian faith that have tried to defend gay rights through Scripture like â┚¬Å”For The Bible Tells Me Soâ┚¬Â and others.  Rather, it beautifully captures the history that we all had the opportunity to live and the struggle the Episcopal Church went through to overcome it's own prejudices.  â┚¬Å”Faith was a major part in making the film and religion is at the heart of our struggleâ┚¬Â said Alston.  

After seeing the film, as a Christian, it provided a platform from which to renew my faith in my own Church and the hope that God is calling us together as an issue of justice.  

Director Alston and Bishop Robinson, encourage us to support the mission for religious equality by seeing the film, and each one of us to â┚¬Å”move another oneâ┚¬Â to support equality and to spread the word.

â┚¬Å”Gay Pride is not a nightmare for God, rather it is God's dream to see it come to lifeâ┚¬Â â┚¬â€œ Bishop Gene Robinson.

The film has been selected for showing on PBS and they expect a possible Thanksgiving weekend release.

After the film we battled the falling snow and attended a filmmaker's reception on Main Street. It was well attended and it was discussed the collaboration and initiative of the Sundance Institute with emerging filmmakers.  Keri Putnam- Executive Director of the Sundance Institute offered the opening remarks.

We finished the day by attending the screening of â┚¬Å”The Surrogateâ┚¬Â, a well talked about film currently in the Media.

The movie is inspired by the life of Mark O'Brien, a polio survivor paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on an iron lung for survival. In his life, Mark acquired a degree from Berkeley and became a poet.

The story concentrates on his desire to conquer his virginity. Mark O'Brien is portrayed by the Academy Award Nominee- John Hawkes who played this character to absolute perfection and charm. A devout Catholic, Mark seeks permission from his Priest, played by William H. Macy, to hire a sex surrogate to help in the journey to manhood. His priest, with some hesitation, blesses the plan. He hires an experienced surrogate, Sheryl, played by Academy Award Winner- Helen Hunt. In their sessions, Mark, not only conquers his fears about sexual intimacy but learns to truly love. The love at many times between him and his surrogate, felt reciprocated, so this added a dynamic story line that allows Mark's true charm and pure soul to be felt by those around him and by the audience. At the end he finds love in a hospital volunteer that accompanied him the 5 years of his life. With absolute brilliant performances, this story is tender, gracious, humorous, engaging and sensitive and it won all of our hearts.  We know it will win yours.

The Director Ben Lewin, who himself is handicapped, was very faithful to Mark's life in the film. Mark O'Brien left us with his incredible poetry and insightful writings. Sheryl is 67 and still works as a surrogate.

Tomorrow we will be reporting from the Closing Night at Sundance and on Saturday from the Award Ceremony.

Day 2: Jan 26, 2012
First film of the day – â┚¬Å”Keep The Lights Onâ┚¬Â Director Ira Sachs continues breaking ground with another contemporary look at an American gay relationship. This semi-autobiographical movie follows the life of two men in love brought together by a casual sexual encounter. Their volatile relationship was driven by their two addictive personalities. Sexual addition and drug addition converge to give these two characters definition and intensity while preserving a sometimes, elusive love.  This story of love, addition, intervention and relapse is well acted with a breakthrough performance by Danish actor Thure Lindhardt, well admired in his home Country and by Zachary Booth, an experienced actor with many gay roles in the past. Part of the magic of the film is that the actors did not rehearse their dialogues together making the experience more authentic for both, the actors and the audience.

We asked the Director, “Did you find healing by making this semi-autobiographical film?” He responded that his healing came through before filming and the film acknowledged his belief that the end of a relationship also serves as a new and redefined beginning. It shows a different side of addiction and how relationships quite often transform through different types of recovery.  

We were invited to a private screening for Sundance Institute Patron Circle members of the documentary â┚¬Å”Ethelâ┚¬Â and we had the privilege of a private reception with Rory Kennedy, director of the film, before the screening.

Eighty-five years in the making, â┚¬Å”Ethelâ┚¬Â is a rare introspective look into what it has been called “America’s Royal Family”. The story of this political dynasty is for the first time told by Ethel Kennedy describing her struggle to raise 11 children after her husband and U.S. Attorney General and Presidential Candidate, Robert F. Kennedy (Bobby) was assassinated in 1968.

Rory Kennedy is Ethel and Bobby’s eleventh child who was born six months after his assassination. It was during this private reception that we thanked her for her family's contribution to our Nation and asked what it has taken so long to present this story. Her response, â┚¬Å”frankly, no one had ever asked Ethelâ┚¬Â.  Ethel's story shows her strength and resolve to keep the family together upon adversity and to instill in her family the values of caring for humanity, the fight against social injustice and the care of people in need. She continues to be active today to carry on this mission. The audience responded with equal appreciation and was moved by the never before seen footage of the Kennedy's which showed their human side and family values.

Day 1: Jan. 25, 2012
The streets of Park City, Utah are full of snow after receiving 39 inches of new snow in past few days. Although the weather is cold, the spirits are warm and festive after announcing the Oscars nominations today. There are at least 9 Academy Awards nominees in attendance in Park City.

The day kicked off with a performance by James McCarthy, son of the legendary Beatle, Sir Paul McCarthy. The day continued with an extraordinary panel sponsored by GLAAD titled “Love Free or Die” about the film with the same title. Members of the panel included Ross Murray, GLAAD's Director of Religion, Faith and Values; Mackie Austin, Director of the film and the history-making Bishop Gene Robinson. The panel concluded that this film is the start of a movement to obtain religious equality and minimize the conflict that strikes LBGT people to live in peace with their religious beliefs. Bishop Robinson is sitting down with Watermark for a one on one interview on Thursday morning.

Walking on Main Street Park City takes another special meaning this year as it is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Winter Olympic Games!

The day ended by attending the great comedy titled “Goats”, a story about a man played by David Duchovny (The X Files) who leaves his desert home for a disciplined and structured Academy where he reconnects with his estranged father and confronts their family dynamics. With supportive performances by Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) and Ty Burell (Modern Family), it is destined to be a hit among all comedies this year.

In Sundance, you live and breathe the convergence of music, intellectual discussions, comedy and of course great Independent Cinema. — Mark